Priest expresses shock at arrest of Muslim chaplain he supervised

Published: 2003-10-01

SLATERSVILLE, R.I. (CNS) -- The arrest of Muslim Army chaplain Capt. Yousef Yee for allegedly possessing classified documents "blew my mind," said Father Raymond A. Tetreault, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Slatersville and Yee's former supervisor. "He seemed to be more knowledgeable about the military way," said Father Tetreault, a lieutenant colonel in the 43rd Military Police Brigade of the Rhode Island Army National Guard, in an interview with The Providence Visitor, diocesan newspaper. Father Tetreault served as senior chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, the military base where hundreds of alleged members of al-Qaida were detained following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. He served there from May through December 2002, leaving a month after Yee began his tour at the base. "When Yee came in, we (chaplains) told him that he had to be careful," Father Tetreault recalled. "He said, 'No problem. I'm a West Point graduate. I know what to do.'" Yee was being held in a Navy brig in South Carolina following his arrest Sept. 10 after several hours of questioning by FBI agents and military teams.

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