CAIR Representative on CNN\'s Wolf Blitzer Reports

BLITZER: That was U.S. Army Captain James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, now being held for suspected security breaches. Also held, Air Force translator Ahmed Al Halabi. He’s charged with espionage and aiding the enemy. Is there a terrorist connection? Are Muslim members of the U.S. military being unfairly singled out? Joining me is Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Ibrahim, thanks very much for joining us. This is pretty shocking stuff. It must be a nightmare for American Muslims, in particular?
IBRAHIM HOOPER, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Unfortunately, the American Muslim community is already under suspicion. And this kind of unfortunate incident only adds to that burden. And we see—like we had Senator Schumer exploiting the situation to try and further disenfranchise and marginalize American Muslims.

BLITZER: When you say exploit the situation, he’s obviously concerned...

HOOPER: Schumer has a long history of jousting with the American Muslim community and its leadership. He’s using this to further his political agenda. But first...

BLITZER: Let me press you on this, because on this particular—he’s, obviously, concerned that maybe there’s a security breach...

HOOPER: He’s throwing out these hot button terms, Wahabi, militant, extremist. He never names names. He never gives evidence. So people are left thinking there is a vast conspiracy out there. And it’s just nonsense.

But first of all, if there was treason, if there was espionage, if there was any law that was broken, people should be punished. That, the American

Muslim community...

BLITZER: And this particular case, Al Halabi is specifically charged with -- and we’ll put it up on the screen—espionage, aiding the enemy, false statements, bank fraud, failing to obey orders. Obviously, those are among the most serious kinds of charges.

HOOPER: If they’re true, bring evidence in an open court of law, try him, convict him, punish him.

BLITZER: But you have confidence in the military code of justice?

HOOPER: I think the facts aren’t all out yet. I think, we need to see what’s really there. What we’re hearing are leaks, behind the scenes reports. We need to see actual evidence. We need to see it in open court and be judged by reasonable people.

BLITZER: As you know, a lot of Muslims in the United States, indeed a lot of non-Muslims are pretty angry about what’s happening at Guantanamo Bay. There are laws, obviously, that U.S. military personnel have to obey. Is there a sense that some American Muslims in the U.S. military may be so upset about what they see happening at Guantanamo Bay, they may decide to take matters into their own hands?

HOOPER: We don’t know, because we don’t know what the conditions are down there. Everything is shrouded in such secrecy we don’t know what’s happening. That adds to the mystery of the situation. If they would allow the inspectors to go in, somebody to go in and say, here’s what’s happening, that would open up the situation quite a bit. I don’t think we have seen all the facts in this case.

BLITZER: We have seen very few of the facts so far. We got a limited amount of information. I want to show our viewers, Ibrahim we want to show you as well, we just got a picture of Mr. Al Halabi. There he is Ahmad Al Halabi, the senior airmen. This is the first time we’ve seen a picture of this man accused of espionage, aiding the enemy and these other charges. What’s been the reaction in your community since word came earlier this week of these two cases?

HOOPER: I think the Muslim community and the Arab American community are shell shocked at this point. They’re seeing a stream, a drum beat of these kinds incidents, one after another. And we’re not seeing support from political circles from elected officials, from opinion leaders. In fact, why aren’t we hearing President Bush come out and defend the patriotism of the thousands of American Muslims who are serving loyally in the military instead of focusing on these two cases and, again, focusing on the religion? Let’s judge the case based on the evidence, not on religion or ethnicity.

BLITZER: Fair enough. Thanks very much Ibrahim Hooper for joining us.