veiled4allah: local twist to Muslim chaplain case

The Tacoma News Tribune reports that Captain James Yee, the Muslim chaplain who is being detained on suspicion of espionage (he has not yet been charged), was at one time stationed at Fort Lewis, an army base outside of Tacoma (Washington state's "second city" after Seattle).

When I read the article, I realized that I had seen Yee's name before. It's in an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from October 2001 about Muslims in the Army. Yee is quoted extensively in the article. Some highlights:

And in the first U.S. war with religious overtones, especially after calls by terrorists for "holy war" against the United States, Yee has become one of the most sought-after figures at the base, called upon to edify others about Islam and to elaborate on the relationship between soldiering and spirituality. "Most people want to know how Sept. 11 fits into Islam," said Yee, 33, a former Lutheran who specialized in air artillery defense and was a Patriot missile fire control officer before becoming a chaplain.

"What happened is un-Islamic and categorically denied by a great majority of Muslim scholars around the world," he said of the terrorists who commandeered passenger jets and slammed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing people from all faiths...

...As a chaplain, Yee is available as a ready counselor and sympathetic ear to soldiers of all faiths, as well as a spiritual leader for Muslim soldiers, just at Protestant, Catholic and Jewish chaplains lead services in their respective faiths.

"I serve all the soldiers here. The role of a chaplain is to help facilitate the free exercise of religion. That's our main job," Yee said. "Chaplains aren't in the soldier's chain of command, but provide another channel ... to share feelings or complain without ramifications."...

...These days, Yee and other Muslim chaplains find themselves not only edifying non-Muslims about Islam, but advising troops who follow the Quran and who wonder what Islamic law says about fighting other Muslims.

Such concerns generally are no different than those any soldier brings up when faced with combat, Yee said.

"Taking up arms and killing is an issue all soldiers have to deal with," said Yee, adding that some Muslims will feel a conflict between their faith and going to war no matter who is the enemy.

"I encourage them to go," Yee said...

...Yee recently wrote a piece for Fort Lewis' newspaper, the Northwest Guardian, titled "Islam, what is there to fear?"

"I wanted to address some of the reasons why people in the United States are having a difficult time distinguishing between the religion of Islam and the actions almost everyone witnessed on Sept. 11 by some Muslims," Yee said.

"When Mohammed Ali, the boxing champ, visited the attack site at the World Trade Center, a reporter asked him, 'How do you feel about the suspected hijackers sharing your faith?'" Yee noted. Ali answered, "How do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?"

The point, said Yee, is that while a person can be of a certain faith, his or her actions don't always fall within the teachings of that faith.

Added: Here's a similar article from later September 2001 from the Seattle Times (registration may be required). Yee is quoted again along similar lines in a Post-Intelligencer article from November 2001. Yee was also interviewed in November 2002 after reports that the D.C. sniper John Allen Muhammad had served at Fort Lewis and lived in the Seattle area (Scripps-Howard News Service, Tacoma News-Tribune)

Added 2: The Seattle Times now has a longer article about Yee. In other news, a Muslim Air Force translator who also worked at Guantanamo and who was arrested in July has been charged with espionage (more).

Added 3: The Olympian interviews Yee's family and friends.