SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Muslim chaplain at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo who counseled suspected terrorists and taught fellow troops about Islam is the first known U.S. soldier to be detained in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Army Capt. Yousef Yee, 34, who converted to Islam after being raised as a Christian, arrived at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba in November. His job was to teach fellow troops about Islam and counsel detainees suspected of links to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime or the al-Qaida terror network.
Military officials said Saturday that Yee — who was born James Yee but later took the Muslim name of Yousef — was detained on Sept. 10 in Jacksonville after returning from Guantanamo. He has not been charged.
A senior law enforcement official said FBI agents confiscated classified documents Yee was carrying and questioned him before he was turned over to the military.
Yee is being held at a military brig in Charleston, S.C. — the same place where officials are holding Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American-born Saudi who allegedly fought with the Taliban, and Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member charged with plotting to detonate a bomb.
"He had daily access to the detainees," said Capt. Tom Crosson, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command in Miami, who confirmed the military was holding Yee in South Carolina. "He is the first U.S. soldier that I know of to be detained and held since the war on terror began."
Yee, who is of Chinese descent and speaks Arabic, counseled the detainees, advised them on religious matters and made sure all of their dietary needs were met at the base in eastern Cuba.
Yee converted to Islam from Christianity in 1991 after his military studies at West Point. Yee’s parents still live in the house where he was raised in Springfield, N.J., neighbor Matteo Apicella said.
Yee left the Army for Syria, where he received religious training. He returned to the U.S. military soon after.
Yee is married. Prior to Guantanamo, he was stationed at Fort Lewis.
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