shadows in action

The Seattle Times: James Yee Investigation
|"Some of the things he said sounded extremely sympathetic to the detainees," said Army Reserve Capt. Jason Orlich, a newly arrived intelligence officer. "I mean, it made the hair on the back of your neck stand up at attention."

That simply, Capt. James Yee became a suspect.

For the next two years — 76 days of it in solitary confinement — Yee would live under the cloud of treason. On Friday, he walked away from the Army with an honorable discharge but forever scarred by the treatment he received from his colleagues in arms.

This week, The Seattle Times will give the first detailed account of how this highly praised officer went from soft-spoken defender of Islam to accused spy.

It is a story of officers so eager to root out traitors that they let small suspicions and misunderstandings escalate into an international investigation, then zealously tried to salvage the case as it unraveled.

At the same time, it is a story of the enormous challenges of a war in which "the enemy" is defined not by national borders but by ideology, in which a nation burned by overlooking a villainous plot is determined not to miss another.

It is a story of post-9/11 America. |