The LA Times is marking the fifth anniversary of the opening of America's Caribbean gulag at Guantanamo by publishing a letter from one of its prisoners. Its powerful reading:
At Guantanamo, soldiers have assaulted me, placed me in solitary confinement, threatened to kill me, threatened to kill my daughter and told me I will stay in Cuba for the rest of my life. They have deprived me of sleep, forced me to listen to extremely loud music and shined intense lights in my face. They have placed me in cold rooms for hours without food, drink or the ability to go to the bathroom or wash for prayers. They have wrapped me in the Israeli flag and told me there is a holy war between the Cross and the Star of David on one hand and the Crescent on the other. They have beaten me unconscious.What I write here is not what my imagination fancies or my insanity dictates. These are verifiable facts witnessed by other detainees, representatives of the Red Cross, interrogators and translators.
[...]
I would rather die than stay here forever, and I have tried to commit suicide many times. The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people, and I have been destroyed. I am hopeless because our voices are not heard from the depths of the detention center.
If I die, please remember that there was a human being named Jumah at Guantanamo whose beliefs, dignity and humanity were abused. Please remember that there are hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo suffering the same misfortune. They have not been charged with any crimes. They have not been accused of taking any action against the United States.
Five years of this obscenity is five years too long. Guantanamo delenda est - Guantanamo must be closed.
So in summary, the list is:
ReplyDelete*assaulted me/beaten me unconscious
If that were true, there would be much more allegations along this line.
*threatened to kill me/daughter
See above.
* placed me in solitary confinement,
* and told me I will stay in Cuba for the rest of my life.
* deprived me of sleep,
* forced me to listen to extremely loud music
* shined intense lights in my face
* They have placed me in cold rooms for hours without food & drink
* or the ability to go to the bathroom
* or wash for prayers
* wrapped me in the Israeli flag
* told me there is a holy war...
These ones fall into the "oh, the humanity! slot.
I mean, someone (gasp) told him (gasp) he would spend the rest of his life in Cuba. Does he really think they wouldn't tell him that?
I especially like the "wrapped me in the Israeli flag" - this says more about the man than his alleged interrogators.
Alright. Then lets have yo kept awake for a couple of nights by loud music. In a cold room, without food or drink. And with nobody to talk to apart from the people shining lights innto your face.
ReplyDeleteYes Scrubone, in a totalitarian system this stuff would be preliminary formalities before the real torture starts. In a democracy supposedly under the rule of law however, it's the kind of shit that in theory should be resulting in high-level investigations and a bunch of people losing their jobs. I've been filing the USA in the latter category - are you suggesting that's mistaken?
ReplyDelete