Guantanamo Spy Case Ahmad Dreyfusses

Remember when the White House and the press went nuts over the alleged spy ring of interpreters in Guantanamo?

Well, just like many of the other roundups of usual suspects this one is devolving into a feeble example of assuming muslims are spys.

USA Today has a lengthy story, excerpts:

It was a shocking allegation: U.S. servicemen at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba were spying on America, and secretly helping suspected terrorists held there...

But then in March, the Army abruptly dropped attempted espionage charges against Capt. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo whom authorities had described as the spy operation's "big fish." Military officials said that pursuing a case against Yee would force them to reveal national secrets; critics questioned whether the Army really had a case.

Now, the case against the second man charged in the spy ring, Air Force translator Ahmad Al Halabi, appears to be foundering as well — just six days before his court martial is set to begin in California.

Prosecutors who accused Al Halabi of trying to pass more than 200 secret documents to U.S. enemies have not produced evidence that he tried to pass secrets to anyone. And now, they say that all but one of the documents Al Halabi had are not, in fact, "classified."

The prosecutors' move is the latest turn in a case that has been troubled almost from the start, according to military court papers obtained by USA TODAY. Al Halabi's attorneys portray the case as a wayward product of religious bigotry, hysteria about terrorism and a shoddy investigation led by an ambitious probationary agent. The attorneys say overzealous prosecutors turned error into fact to create a far-fetched espionage plot.

Is there even a Major Esterhazy in this mess?