GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - I am writing from the darkness of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo in the hope that I can make our voices heard by the world. My hand quivers as I hold the pen.
In January 2002, I was picked up in Pakistan, blindfolded, shackled, drugged and loaded onto a plane flown to Cuba. When we got off the plane in Guantanamo, we did not know where we were. They took us to Camp X-Ray and locked us in cages with two buckets - one empty and one filled with water. We were to urinate in one and wash in the other.
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.
During the first few years at Guantanamo, I was interrogated many times. My interrogators told me that they wanted me to admit that I am from al-Qaida and that I was involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States. I told them that I have no connection to what they described. I am not a member of al-Qaida. I did not encourage anyone to go fight for al-Qaida.
Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden have done nothing but kill and denigrate a religion. I never fought, and I never carried a weapon. I like the United States, and I am not an enemy. I have lived in the United States, and I wanted to become a citizen.
I know that the soldiers who did bad things to me represent themselves, not the United States. And I have to say that not all American soldiers stationed in Cuba tortured us or mistreated us. There were soldiers who treated us very humanely. Some even cried when they witnessed our dire conditions.
Once, in Camp Delta, a soldier apologized to me and offered me hot chocolate and cookies. When I thanked him, he said, "I do not need you to thank me." I include this because I do not want readers to think that I fault all Americans.
But, why, after five years, is there no conclusion to the situation at Guantanamo?
For how long will fathers, mothers, wives, siblings and children cry for their imprisoned loved ones? For how long will my daughter have to ask about my return? The answers can only be found with the fair-minded people of America.
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.
Show the world the letters I gave you. Let the world read them. Let the world know the agony of the detainees in Cuba.
Jumah al-Dossari is a 33-year-old citizen of Bahrain. This column was excerpted from letters he wrote to his attorneys and published originally in The Los Angeles Times. Its contents have been deemed unclassified by the Department of Defense.
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Perhaps you've already read al-Dossari's account - seeing as how it's been circulated worldwide by virtually every media outlet and left-wing blogger. I can't speak on Mr. al-Dossari's guilt or innocence, but
why are we allowing this guy to hold the U.S. hostage from his prison cell?
Seems we have some things terribly backward here, we have a guy from Bahrain that says he's been to the U.S., likes the U.S. and wants to become a citizen, yet in his lengthy account doesn't seem to tell us why he was in Afhganistan, headed to Pakistan precisely when we were prosecuting a war there.
Then, we have the story of a black college student in North Carolina that's been so oppressed to be - as Kathleen Parker put it - "reduced by centuries of white-male oppression to stripping for food and tuition."
Before any charges were filed, "students produced a "wanted" poster with photos of team members and demonstrated with signs reading, "It's Sunday morning, time to confess." Not only that, a "Group of 88" Duke faculty members "ran an ad demanding that the lacrosse team players confess."
So we convict the rich white kids, demanding a confession, but exonerate the guy in Afghanistan. Does that make sense? |
