That we roam the planet as if we were the appointed cop on the beat is itself a statement of self-righteousness. And, on our 'patrol' around the world, we stop here and there when we see activities that we deem to be violations of human rights along with a long list of other 'crimes' we feel compelled to thwart. All of this is done under some veil of 'moral superiority' with which we have anointed ourselves.
Our corporate media constantly remind us of the moral failures of the Islamic State with headlines of a beheading which is presented as something to outrage us to the extent we will approve of anything our government will be required to do to end such brutal, unethical and uncivilized activity by those 'over there' who we perceive as barely human.
That our own history is filled with equal and worse offenses escapes our notice. And when faced with some of our moral short-comings, we can easily excuse ourselves because the seemingly evil we did was done to lesser creatures... Native Americans, Africans, and Muslims.
Such is the feeling to what is among the very worse offenses against everything we claim to stand for when we are presented with our record at Guantanamo Bay. There is probably no modern day equal to our outrageous behavior at Guantanamo Bay.
That we don't do this in our own country, but carry out these procedures on foreign soil speaks loudly in and of itself. The history of how we acquired the location is not something that would make many Americans proud. That the entire world is aware and condemns what we do there is of no consequence. We are not effected by the fact that it is both immoral and illegal by any and all standards in the world. We are there breaking every rule in the book while pointing our finger around the world accusing others of whatever we wish to accuse them of doing... or preparing to do...
It is like that in Guantanamo Bay... tortured and held captive in horrific conditions for something we suspect one may have been thinking of doing... not something that they have done, but for what we suspect they may have been planning to do...
Such is the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, held for much of his life and never charged with having done anything...
Our corporate media constantly remind us of the moral failures of the Islamic State with headlines of a beheading which is presented as something to outrage us to the extent we will approve of anything our government will be required to do to end such brutal, unethical and uncivilized activity by those 'over there' who we perceive as barely human.
That our own history is filled with equal and worse offenses escapes our notice. And when faced with some of our moral short-comings, we can easily excuse ourselves because the seemingly evil we did was done to lesser creatures... Native Americans, Africans, and Muslims.
Such is the feeling to what is among the very worse offenses against everything we claim to stand for when we are presented with our record at Guantanamo Bay. There is probably no modern day equal to our outrageous behavior at Guantanamo Bay.
That we don't do this in our own country, but carry out these procedures on foreign soil speaks loudly in and of itself. The history of how we acquired the location is not something that would make many Americans proud. That the entire world is aware and condemns what we do there is of no consequence. We are not effected by the fact that it is both immoral and illegal by any and all standards in the world. We are there breaking every rule in the book while pointing our finger around the world accusing others of whatever we wish to accuse them of doing... or preparing to do...
It is like that in Guantanamo Bay... tortured and held captive in horrific conditions for something we suspect one may have been thinking of doing... not something that they have done, but for what we suspect they may have been planning to do...
Such is the story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, held for much of his life and never charged with having done anything...
Guantanamo Diary
by Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Hardback --- RRP £20.00 --- Our price £15.00 --- You save £5.00 (25%) 2 Review(s) | Add Your Review
Since 2002, Mohamedou Ould Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although he was ordered to be released by a federal judge, the US government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go. This is his personal memoir, that is terrifying, humorous and surprisingly gracious.
Availability from the Guardian BookShop: Not in stock at the moment. More on the way, but please be aware that delivery may take longer than usual.
by Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Hardback --- RRP £20.00 --- Our price £15.00 --- You save £5.00 (25%) 2 Review(s) | Add Your Review
Since 2002, Mohamedou Ould Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Although he was ordered to be released by a federal judge, the US government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go. This is his personal memoir, that is terrifying, humorous and surprisingly gracious.
Availability from the Guardian BookShop: Not in stock at the moment. More on the way, but please be aware that delivery may take longer than usual.
Little noted by a mainstream media willfully blind to America's ongoing human rights abuses, Mohamedou Ould Slahi's "endless world tour" of detention and torture over 14 harrowing years at Guantánamo may come to a close after being cleared Wednesday for release. An electrical engineer, victim of this country's rendition program, and reportedly Gitmo's most tortured prisoner, Slahi was kidnapped shackled and blindfolded from his native Mauritania, swept away to Jordan and Afghanistan, and landed in Guantánamo as prisoner #760.
In his searing memoir Guantánamo Diary, published internationally after a six-year legal battle and over 2,500 redactions, he documents his years-long nightmare, from his first "taste of helplessness" through a litany of tortures - beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, forced feeding, strobe lights, loud music, death threats, rape threats against his mother - followed by "additional interrogation techniques” personally approved by Donald Rumsfeld - forced salt water drinking, hours-long beatings while immersed in ice - until, broken, he began making false confessions to whatever would end the pain, telling his abusers, "If you want to buy, I am selling.”
First cleared by a judge in 2010, Slahi languished in legal limbo until his lawyers pressured officials for a hearing last month where even his guards proclaimed him "polite, friendly and respectful." Through it all, Slahi - it is vital we remember this - was never charged with a crime. Even Mark Fallon, deputy commander of the now-defunct criminal investigative task force at Guantánamo, calls Slahi's fate "shameful" and his years of torture "unwarranted, unnecessary, and obviously totally ineffective...(He) continued to be held for years, not based on what he did to us, but on what we did to him.”
It remains unclear when or even if Slahi will be freed. He is said only to want to see his family, and to be, unimaginably, without rancor toward his tormentors.
In his searing memoir Guantánamo Diary, published internationally after a six-year legal battle and over 2,500 redactions, he documents his years-long nightmare, from his first "taste of helplessness" through a litany of tortures - beatings, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, forced feeding, strobe lights, loud music, death threats, rape threats against his mother - followed by "additional interrogation techniques” personally approved by Donald Rumsfeld - forced salt water drinking, hours-long beatings while immersed in ice - until, broken, he began making false confessions to whatever would end the pain, telling his abusers, "If you want to buy, I am selling.”
First cleared by a judge in 2010, Slahi languished in legal limbo until his lawyers pressured officials for a hearing last month where even his guards proclaimed him "polite, friendly and respectful." Through it all, Slahi - it is vital we remember this - was never charged with a crime. Even Mark Fallon, deputy commander of the now-defunct criminal investigative task force at Guantánamo, calls Slahi's fate "shameful" and his years of torture "unwarranted, unnecessary, and obviously totally ineffective...(He) continued to be held for years, not based on what he did to us, but on what we did to him.”
It remains unclear when or even if Slahi will be freed. He is said only to want to see his family, and to be, unimaginably, without rancor toward his tormentors.
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