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Inside Gitmo
The U.S. military detention center at GuantAnamo Bay--known to the public as Gitmo--has been called the American Gulag, a scene of medieval horrors where innocent farmers and goat herders swept up in Afghanistan and Iraq have been sequestered, tortured, and abused for years on end without access to legal counsel or basic medical services.Gordon Cucullu, a retired army colonel, was so appalled by these reports that he decided to see for himself. In a series of visits he inspected every corner of the camp and interviewed dozens of personnel, from guards and interrogators to cooks and nurses. The result--coming just as the Obama administration wants to close the facility--is a riveting description of daily life for both prisoners and guards. Cucullu describes the six camps reserved for different levels of compliance, details the treatment of prisoners, and examines their experiences in detail, including the techniques used to interrogate them, the food they eat, their medical care, how they communicate with one another, and the many ingenious ways they contrive to assault and injure their guards.While some prisoners were indeed treated harshly in the early days, when the hastily built camp was flooded with battlefield captures and fears ran high of another 9/11-style attack, Cucullu finds that these excesses were quickly corrected. Current treatment and oversight routines exceed the standards of any maximum-security prison in the world.Despite what the public has heard, these are not innocent goatherds but dedicated jihadists whose overriding goal--as they themselves candidly say--is to kill Americans. Should they now be released to return to the fight, perhaps on American soil? Read this book and decide for yourself.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 21, 2009
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June 5, 2024
A REASONED AND BASICALLY “SUPPORTIVE” VIEW OF THE FACILITY
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel wrote in the Preface to this 2009 book, “If detainees are indeed prosecuted in U.S. courts, the issue of evidentiary standards looms large, as does the handline of classified intelligence data. The battlefield is a poor environment for forensic criminal investigations, which may result in some detainees being summarily discharged. In addition, many of these detainees hold information that, if publicly release during a trial, would be considered a national security breach by intelligence services. Moreover, if detainees are acquitted, will they then be released into the U.S. population?... These and other problems remain to be resolved and are certain to be the focus of intense debate… This book is intended to give readers a clearer perspective on the camp, whose image has been clouded and concealed by misinformation and myth.”
He added in the Introduction, “Americans and the world at large have been treated to some rather outrageous claims concerning the Guantanamo facility, including allegations of torture, abuse, human rights violations, religious intolerance, sexual misconduct, and desperate hunger strikes. Over the course of multiple visits… backed by extensive research, I have determined that in fact some detainees were subjected to extremely harsh interrogation methods that are no longer allowed… That said, vigorous and prolonged investigations covering more than 24,000 interrogation sessions inside Guantanamo over a three-year period revealed a total of three violations, an amazingly low number considering the pressure-cooker atmosphere … as well as the early inexperience of military interrogators operating under incomplete and unclear rules.”
Later, he adds, “In order to earn the facts for myself, I made numerous visits to the detention facility at Guantanamo and interviewed scores of military and civilians serving there… I toured ever camp and facility associated with detainee support… I intend to show you the real Guantanamo. You will… form our own judgment as to whether continued detention of these men is legal, moral, and necessary… You will learn how the interrogation procedures work and why these dedicated specialists are still producing a wealth of actionable strategic intelligence.”
He explains, “The U.S. government asserts that while a small number of detainees may have been brought to Guantanamo in error, most of the detainees are not confused goatherd or opium farmers drafted into service by angry Taliban imams. Nor are they innocent travelers cynically captured and sold to coalition forces by bounty-hungry locals They are hard men who are rabid fundamentalist radicals … men who have dedicated their lives to the destruction of America and Western civilization.” (Ch. 1)
He states, “From the outset, it was the standard procedure to provide detainees three hot meals daily … [following] their Islamic halal dietary requirements… detainees were given religious rights and allows to pray daily, oriented in the direction of Mecca, and were soon given a Koran and prayer accoutrements.” (Ch. 3)
He notes, “Without doubt, [Khalid Sheikh Muhammad] KSM has been the highest-value target captured alive that we know. Results of his interrogation have led directly to thwarting other al-Qaeda operations and have pulled the curtain away from the super-secret methodology for recruiting, enabling, funding, and planning al-Qaeda terror attacks… KSM has taken credit for a lengthy list of additional terrorist operations, such as the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.” (Ch. 5)
He admits, “there were … attacks on guards and other detainees, and many weapons were discovered… detainees would pull the wire from their bunks and fashion shanks out of them. They learned that the metal ‘feet’ that straddled the Asian-style toilet in each cell could be removed… Once out, the sharp edges were used to cut and gouge… The ability of some of these detainees to fashion weapons almost from thin air was uncanny. They had learned their lessons well in the camps of Afghanistan.” (Ch. 6) He adds, “So far no one has been killed, but many attempts have been made on guards’ lives and several plots have been uncovered.” (Ch. 7)
He acknowledges, “Many human rights organizations have vociferously condemned the Guantanamo facility as being ‘inhumane’ and ‘abusive.’ One of the reasons they cite is that detainees are held in ‘isolation.’ … while detainees in Camp V are in fact segregated---one to a cell---they are not isolated. They see other detainees, and are permitted to converse across the hall and from cell to cell… detainees will also yell into the toilet piping to communicate with their fellows.” (Ch. 8)
He summarizes, “despite myths of collusion between medical personnel and interrogators, about mental health professionals using their skills against the detainees, the truth is that medial facilities at Guantanamo are highly supervised, tightly controlled, and all involved are concerned about the health and welfare of the detainees. They also take their unique mission very seriously and are determined that it be carried out in a most efficient, humane manner.” (Ch. 10)
He points out, “it was clear that the daily atmosphere is rife with harsh abuse: The prisoners are constantly assaulting the guards! Our young military men and women routinely endure the vilest invective imaginable, angry words laced with racial epithets and sexual threats and slurs. Detainees fluent in English… throw curses at the troops constantly, including death threats that also involve the guards’ families… the terrorists were threatening to reveal guards’ identities to their al-Qaeda colleagues still at large.” (Ch. 11)
He observes that “As the interrogators at Guantanamo say repeatedly, torture simply doesn’t work. This is widely acknowledged even among the most hawkish supporters of the war on terror… investigations … disclose, highly isolated, limited instances of inexcusable abuse have occurred at Guantanamo… That these abuses took place at all is terribly unfortunate. Critical to note, however, is that the abusive practices were corrected and offenders disciplined.” (Ch. 13)
He summarizes, “Guantanamo-derived information has been material in intercepting terrorist money-laundering operations, breaking up plots, destroying training bases, and capturing or killing additional terrorists… Because of classification and compartmentalization… the public may never know the extent and magnitude of the actionable intelligence that has been extracted in Guantanamo.” (Ch. 13) “These men were brought to Guantanamo originally not to prosecute them for crimes but to remove them from the battlefield. They were deemed sufficiently dangerous to pose a continuing threat to America. They cannot be released or transferred to countries that might arbitrarily release them back into the field.” (Ch. 14)
While one might “balance” this book with Erik Savar’s “Inside the Wire,” this book is a fascinating and vastly informative look at the controversial facility.
Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel wrote in the Preface to this 2009 book, “If detainees are indeed prosecuted in U.S. courts, the issue of evidentiary standards looms large, as does the handline of classified intelligence data. The battlefield is a poor environment for forensic criminal investigations, which may result in some detainees being summarily discharged. In addition, many of these detainees hold information that, if publicly release during a trial, would be considered a national security breach by intelligence services. Moreover, if detainees are acquitted, will they then be released into the U.S. population?... These and other problems remain to be resolved and are certain to be the focus of intense debate… This book is intended to give readers a clearer perspective on the camp, whose image has been clouded and concealed by misinformation and myth.”
He added in the Introduction, “Americans and the world at large have been treated to some rather outrageous claims concerning the Guantanamo facility, including allegations of torture, abuse, human rights violations, religious intolerance, sexual misconduct, and desperate hunger strikes. Over the course of multiple visits… backed by extensive research, I have determined that in fact some detainees were subjected to extremely harsh interrogation methods that are no longer allowed… That said, vigorous and prolonged investigations covering more than 24,000 interrogation sessions inside Guantanamo over a three-year period revealed a total of three violations, an amazingly low number considering the pressure-cooker atmosphere … as well as the early inexperience of military interrogators operating under incomplete and unclear rules.”
Later, he adds, “In order to earn the facts for myself, I made numerous visits to the detention facility at Guantanamo and interviewed scores of military and civilians serving there… I toured ever camp and facility associated with detainee support… I intend to show you the real Guantanamo. You will… form our own judgment as to whether continued detention of these men is legal, moral, and necessary… You will learn how the interrogation procedures work and why these dedicated specialists are still producing a wealth of actionable strategic intelligence.”
He explains, “The U.S. government asserts that while a small number of detainees may have been brought to Guantanamo in error, most of the detainees are not confused goatherd or opium farmers drafted into service by angry Taliban imams. Nor are they innocent travelers cynically captured and sold to coalition forces by bounty-hungry locals They are hard men who are rabid fundamentalist radicals … men who have dedicated their lives to the destruction of America and Western civilization.” (Ch. 1)
He states, “From the outset, it was the standard procedure to provide detainees three hot meals daily … [following] their Islamic halal dietary requirements… detainees were given religious rights and allows to pray daily, oriented in the direction of Mecca, and were soon given a Koran and prayer accoutrements.” (Ch. 3)
He notes, “Without doubt, [Khalid Sheikh Muhammad] KSM has been the highest-value target captured alive that we know. Results of his interrogation have led directly to thwarting other al-Qaeda operations and have pulled the curtain away from the super-secret methodology for recruiting, enabling, funding, and planning al-Qaeda terror attacks… KSM has taken credit for a lengthy list of additional terrorist operations, such as the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.” (Ch. 5)
He admits, “there were … attacks on guards and other detainees, and many weapons were discovered… detainees would pull the wire from their bunks and fashion shanks out of them. They learned that the metal ‘feet’ that straddled the Asian-style toilet in each cell could be removed… Once out, the sharp edges were used to cut and gouge… The ability of some of these detainees to fashion weapons almost from thin air was uncanny. They had learned their lessons well in the camps of Afghanistan.” (Ch. 6) He adds, “So far no one has been killed, but many attempts have been made on guards’ lives and several plots have been uncovered.” (Ch. 7)
He acknowledges, “Many human rights organizations have vociferously condemned the Guantanamo facility as being ‘inhumane’ and ‘abusive.’ One of the reasons they cite is that detainees are held in ‘isolation.’ … while detainees in Camp V are in fact segregated---one to a cell---they are not isolated. They see other detainees, and are permitted to converse across the hall and from cell to cell… detainees will also yell into the toilet piping to communicate with their fellows.” (Ch. 8)
He summarizes, “despite myths of collusion between medical personnel and interrogators, about mental health professionals using their skills against the detainees, the truth is that medial facilities at Guantanamo are highly supervised, tightly controlled, and all involved are concerned about the health and welfare of the detainees. They also take their unique mission very seriously and are determined that it be carried out in a most efficient, humane manner.” (Ch. 10)
He points out, “it was clear that the daily atmosphere is rife with harsh abuse: The prisoners are constantly assaulting the guards! Our young military men and women routinely endure the vilest invective imaginable, angry words laced with racial epithets and sexual threats and slurs. Detainees fluent in English… throw curses at the troops constantly, including death threats that also involve the guards’ families… the terrorists were threatening to reveal guards’ identities to their al-Qaeda colleagues still at large.” (Ch. 11)
He observes that “As the interrogators at Guantanamo say repeatedly, torture simply doesn’t work. This is widely acknowledged even among the most hawkish supporters of the war on terror… investigations … disclose, highly isolated, limited instances of inexcusable abuse have occurred at Guantanamo… That these abuses took place at all is terribly unfortunate. Critical to note, however, is that the abusive practices were corrected and offenders disciplined.” (Ch. 13)
He summarizes, “Guantanamo-derived information has been material in intercepting terrorist money-laundering operations, breaking up plots, destroying training bases, and capturing or killing additional terrorists… Because of classification and compartmentalization… the public may never know the extent and magnitude of the actionable intelligence that has been extracted in Guantanamo.” (Ch. 13) “These men were brought to Guantanamo originally not to prosecute them for crimes but to remove them from the battlefield. They were deemed sufficiently dangerous to pose a continuing threat to America. They cannot be released or transferred to countries that might arbitrarily release them back into the field.” (Ch. 14)
While one might “balance” this book with Erik Savar’s “Inside the Wire,” this book is a fascinating and vastly informative look at the controversial facility.
April 24, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “A MUST READ FOR ANYONE WITH AN OPINION ON… OR A QUESTION ABOUT GITMO!”
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Like most people in the world… all I had heard about was the horrendous treatment of prisoners at Gitmo. As an honorably discharged Viet Nam era Veteran, I was even heavily swayed by a prior book by a newly graduated law student’s descriptions of her experiences at Gitmo. The preponderance of dehumanizing media reporting was making me worry about the moral leadership of my country. Obviously the author of this book, retired Army Colonel Gordon Cucullu, was engulfed with the same sickly feeling. Thank goodness Colonel Cucullu decided to get to the bottom of things… by going to Gitmo… walking and inspecting almost every square foot of the prison… interviewing guards… doctors… nurses… and interrogators. The author debunks almost every single slanderous, defaming, exaggeration and lie… that has been slung at this great… but not perfect… country of ours.
Throughout this detailed and heavily documented book the author does away with the false claims of lack of respect being shown to the Koran… removes all doubt as to hideously described tortures… other than honestly confirming some torture for a very short time in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 while America was still reeling from the hideous attacks… before the current controls and guidelines were quickly put in place. I’m sure the media does not publicize that the detainees get better food than our own guards at Gitmo… we spend $34.00 per day on food for detainees… while we spend only $17.00 per day on food for our soldiers in combat.
They also don’t publicize the medical attention that is at the beckon call of all prisoners. Detainees get better medical attention than any of them ever got in their own country… “The detainees have ultramodern digitalized X-ray equipment in their hospital that is NOT available to the soldiers and civilians at the Guantanamo Base.” If they don’t feel well in the morning… they simply complain and get taken to the infirmary… where among other things… they share and disseminate information that can be used to start hunger strikes… or even lead to clandestine signals to outside cells through meetings with lawyers.
Colonel Cucullu also shines a light on the standardized detainee declarations such as: “I’m just a farmer”… “I’m just a shepherd”… and also the immediate decrying by each and every detainee about the cruel torture and brutalization… which always seems eerily similar… and here’s the reason why: They have found Al Qaeda training manuals… which instruct their followers on what to claim is their occupation… and what type of torture they should bemoan to the always gullible world press. The United States has gotten a costly education as to the type of individuals that wind up in Gitmo… “THE WORST OF THE WORST… WITH A STATED GOAL TO CAPTURE GUARDS OR INTERPRETERS AND KILL THEM OR HOLD THEM FOR BLACKMAIL PURPOSES; FAILING THAT, TO TORTURE, DISMEMBER AND BEHEAD ANY AMERICAN THEY COULD CATCH.”
The guards are called every denigrating racial and human slur in the book… yet they can’t answer back… they are attacked… yet they can’t strike back… the detainees “THROW SPIT, URINE, FECES, VOMIT, AND SEMEN AT GUARDS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY… THEY CURSE, THREATEN, AND TELL GUARDS THAT THEY WILL HAVE THEIR AL QAEDA FRIENDS RAPE AND MURDER THEIR FAMILIES”… yet they can’t retaliate or they’ll be court martialled.
“The cases at Gitmo have been thoroughly documented not only by the military itself but by outside agencies including the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice… that said, VIGOROUS AND PROLONGED INVESTIGATIONS COVERING MORE THAN TWENTY-FOUR-THOUSAND INTERROGATION SESSIONS INSIDE GUANTANAMO OVER A THREE YEAR PERIOD REVEALED A TOTAL OF THREE VIOLATIONS.” That’s a record that for some reason doesn’t make the nightly news.
What kind of people are detained here??... Here’s an answer from someone who knows… “Major Timothy O’Reilly, who worked as a Gitmo operations officer in 2005, said that he had never really encountered what he considered evil men before. “I worked as a defense attorney for years in the California penal system,” he said. “But it wasn’t until I walked those blocks and looked into some of those eyes that I realized what true evil was.” “I read the classified reports of what they had done in al Qaeda or the Taliban. These were people who had committed the most awful crimes, who lacked even the most basic humanity when it came to the victims of their actions. They weren’t soldiers; they were stone, conscienceless killers. You could see it in their eyes.” “How would he describe the look?” “THERE WAS AN EMPTINESS OF ALL HUMANITY IN THOSE EYES. IT WAS VACUOUSNESS OF A SOUL.”
**When confronted at Guantanamo by an angry sergeant from his home state, Senator Ted Kennedy was asked where he wanted to keep “people like that who want to kill you and your family.” “HE WAS UNABLE TO DO MORE THAN SHRUG AND WALK AWAY.”
There better be a better answer than that!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like most people in the world… all I had heard about was the horrendous treatment of prisoners at Gitmo. As an honorably discharged Viet Nam era Veteran, I was even heavily swayed by a prior book by a newly graduated law student’s descriptions of her experiences at Gitmo. The preponderance of dehumanizing media reporting was making me worry about the moral leadership of my country. Obviously the author of this book, retired Army Colonel Gordon Cucullu, was engulfed with the same sickly feeling. Thank goodness Colonel Cucullu decided to get to the bottom of things… by going to Gitmo… walking and inspecting almost every square foot of the prison… interviewing guards… doctors… nurses… and interrogators. The author debunks almost every single slanderous, defaming, exaggeration and lie… that has been slung at this great… but not perfect… country of ours.
Throughout this detailed and heavily documented book the author does away with the false claims of lack of respect being shown to the Koran… removes all doubt as to hideously described tortures… other than honestly confirming some torture for a very short time in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 while America was still reeling from the hideous attacks… before the current controls and guidelines were quickly put in place. I’m sure the media does not publicize that the detainees get better food than our own guards at Gitmo… we spend $34.00 per day on food for detainees… while we spend only $17.00 per day on food for our soldiers in combat.
They also don’t publicize the medical attention that is at the beckon call of all prisoners. Detainees get better medical attention than any of them ever got in their own country… “The detainees have ultramodern digitalized X-ray equipment in their hospital that is NOT available to the soldiers and civilians at the Guantanamo Base.” If they don’t feel well in the morning… they simply complain and get taken to the infirmary… where among other things… they share and disseminate information that can be used to start hunger strikes… or even lead to clandestine signals to outside cells through meetings with lawyers.
Colonel Cucullu also shines a light on the standardized detainee declarations such as: “I’m just a farmer”… “I’m just a shepherd”… and also the immediate decrying by each and every detainee about the cruel torture and brutalization… which always seems eerily similar… and here’s the reason why: They have found Al Qaeda training manuals… which instruct their followers on what to claim is their occupation… and what type of torture they should bemoan to the always gullible world press. The United States has gotten a costly education as to the type of individuals that wind up in Gitmo… “THE WORST OF THE WORST… WITH A STATED GOAL TO CAPTURE GUARDS OR INTERPRETERS AND KILL THEM OR HOLD THEM FOR BLACKMAIL PURPOSES; FAILING THAT, TO TORTURE, DISMEMBER AND BEHEAD ANY AMERICAN THEY COULD CATCH.”
The guards are called every denigrating racial and human slur in the book… yet they can’t answer back… they are attacked… yet they can’t strike back… the detainees “THROW SPIT, URINE, FECES, VOMIT, AND SEMEN AT GUARDS AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY… THEY CURSE, THREATEN, AND TELL GUARDS THAT THEY WILL HAVE THEIR AL QAEDA FRIENDS RAPE AND MURDER THEIR FAMILIES”… yet they can’t retaliate or they’ll be court martialled.
“The cases at Gitmo have been thoroughly documented not only by the military itself but by outside agencies including the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice… that said, VIGOROUS AND PROLONGED INVESTIGATIONS COVERING MORE THAN TWENTY-FOUR-THOUSAND INTERROGATION SESSIONS INSIDE GUANTANAMO OVER A THREE YEAR PERIOD REVEALED A TOTAL OF THREE VIOLATIONS.” That’s a record that for some reason doesn’t make the nightly news.
What kind of people are detained here??... Here’s an answer from someone who knows… “Major Timothy O’Reilly, who worked as a Gitmo operations officer in 2005, said that he had never really encountered what he considered evil men before. “I worked as a defense attorney for years in the California penal system,” he said. “But it wasn’t until I walked those blocks and looked into some of those eyes that I realized what true evil was.” “I read the classified reports of what they had done in al Qaeda or the Taliban. These were people who had committed the most awful crimes, who lacked even the most basic humanity when it came to the victims of their actions. They weren’t soldiers; they were stone, conscienceless killers. You could see it in their eyes.” “How would he describe the look?” “THERE WAS AN EMPTINESS OF ALL HUMANITY IN THOSE EYES. IT WAS VACUOUSNESS OF A SOUL.”
**When confronted at Guantanamo by an angry sergeant from his home state, Senator Ted Kennedy was asked where he wanted to keep “people like that who want to kill you and your family.” “HE WAS UNABLE TO DO MORE THAN SHRUG AND WALK AWAY.”
There better be a better answer than that!
February 2, 2019
Jau kurį laiką ieškau kitos knygos apie Guantanamo bazę, norimos neradau, bet aptikau šitą ir nutariau pabandyti. Skaitėsi ne itin lengvai, bet su pertraukomis pagaliau šią knygą įveikiau. Tai daug įdomių faktų apie Guantanamo bazę (kalėjimą) atskleidžiantis kūrinys, čia pasakojama ir apie bazės istoriją, ir apie kai kuriuos ten įkalintus asmenis, pareigūnų darbą, bendrą tvarką, pateikiamas šioks toks bazės išdėstymo planas, gana smulkiai pasakojama apie kiekvieną iš pastatų.
Bendrai imant visi faktai labai įdomūs, tačiau truputį sausoki, o dėl specifinių terminų anglų kalbos lygis kiek sudėtingesnis, kas irgi apsunkina skaitymą. Sakoma, kad viskas tikra istorija, bet man nepatinka pats faktas, kad daug medžiagos buvo surinkta iš interviu ar vizitų metu. Iš asmeninės patirties žinau kaip būna kai ruošiamasi vizitams ir tikiu, kad daugybė dalykų buvo nuslėpti, nes taip vyksta visur kai į bet kokią valstybinę ar viešojo sektoriaus įstaigą atsiunčiami svetimi asmenys, nesvarbu, inspektoriai, žurnalistai, gydytojai ar panašiai.
Žinoma, čia yra pateikta atvejų apie neteisingą elgesį su kaliniais, bet man pasirodė gana paviršutiniška, manau, kad prieš leidžiant knygą, rankraštį peržiūrėjo atsakingi asmenys ir dalis informacijos yra nepaviešinta. Galiu ir klysti, bet būtų daug įdomiau rasti ten kalėjusio asmens istoriją, kad susidarytų aiškesnis vaizdas. Vis dėlto, kadangi knygų apie šią vietą nėra daug, reikia pagirti autorių už bandymą.
Patiks tiems, kas domisi kalėjimais, dokumentika, žmogaus teisių pažeidimais.
Bendrai imant visi faktai labai įdomūs, tačiau truputį sausoki, o dėl specifinių terminų anglų kalbos lygis kiek sudėtingesnis, kas irgi apsunkina skaitymą. Sakoma, kad viskas tikra istorija, bet man nepatinka pats faktas, kad daug medžiagos buvo surinkta iš interviu ar vizitų metu. Iš asmeninės patirties žinau kaip būna kai ruošiamasi vizitams ir tikiu, kad daugybė dalykų buvo nuslėpti, nes taip vyksta visur kai į bet kokią valstybinę ar viešojo sektoriaus įstaigą atsiunčiami svetimi asmenys, nesvarbu, inspektoriai, žurnalistai, gydytojai ar panašiai.
Žinoma, čia yra pateikta atvejų apie neteisingą elgesį su kaliniais, bet man pasirodė gana paviršutiniška, manau, kad prieš leidžiant knygą, rankraštį peržiūrėjo atsakingi asmenys ir dalis informacijos yra nepaviešinta. Galiu ir klysti, bet būtų daug įdomiau rasti ten kalėjusio asmens istoriją, kad susidarytų aiškesnis vaizdas. Vis dėlto, kadangi knygų apie šią vietą nėra daug, reikia pagirti autorių už bandymą.
Patiks tiems, kas domisi kalėjimais, dokumentika, žmogaus teisių pažeidimais.
November 16, 2021
Inside Gitmo is a well written documentation of the notorious prison camp in Cuba. It covers not only the historical perspective but nearly every other aspect of Gitmo. Reading it gave me a whole new perspective of the importance of Gitmo.
January 15, 2025
Decent read, but not a book I have kept in my personal library.
July 22, 2022
I'm amazed at what US troops at Guantanamo had to go through from the inmates, dangerous Al Qaeda terrorists who were treated with white gloves while our guards were smeared by the media and the politicians who should have had their back. The terrorists told guards that they would tell their Al Qaeda friends their names and that they would hunt them down and murder their families. They called black guards the N word endlessly. They called the female guards B****** and whores endlessly. They tried to find ways to harm the guards through improvised weapons to stab, cut, and murder the guards, and it's only due to the guards diligence no one was killed. I'm surprised Guantanamo Guards showed so much restraint while prisoners threw food in their face, cursed them, assaulted them, and even threw urine, feces, even semen, at the guards. One guard was punished for hitting an inmate with his radio, despite the fact that inmate was biting another guard. What? Give me a break. I can't believe our servicemen were treated so poorly while the inmates got the good they wanted, air conditioned units, etc. Even lawyers for the inmates were giving them advice on how to instigate an issue with the guards. It's unbelievable. What's shocking is the inmates, when they heard the Democrats had won the House and Senate elections in they celebrated saying that this was a victory from Allah. It seems Al Qaeda knows the Democratic Party are WEAK on defending America,, treating terrorists like victims while treating our servicemen like brutes. God bless our American soldiers who protected us from some of the most dangerous people on the planet. You are owed such a debt of gratitude for all you did for your country. #NeoConACTION & #V4Victory!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2012
Inside Gitmo is a work best read by the casual reader not involved in military or detention operations. It is a well-written "tour guide" of the history of Gitmo and it's more prominent occupants. However it has no true analysis of either the broader questions of military interrogation or the finer points of military detention operations that would make this truly useful to professionals. In addition, author's tendency to intertwine speculation and supposition and to clear discarding of any author objectivity lessens the scholarly value of such a work. In the end it is a mildly interesting history of Gitmo and some of its detainees - well researched and written but doesn't go beyond that.
September 17, 2009
Very good book. Very well written, with a lot of research. Whoever thinks the U.S. should close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay should read this book.
July 30, 2018
Somewhat tedious and needs editing, as it repeats things. For anyone who wants to know the truth instead of the "fake" news on the detainees and their imprisonment.
June 19, 2019
Very Interesting
A very interesting and informative read. I learned so much about Gitmo and what's going on there. It does seem to be as they say, a necessary evil.
A very interesting and informative read. I learned so much about Gitmo and what's going on there. It does seem to be as they say, a necessary evil.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews