Views > October 18, 2007

Suicide and Spin Doctors

There are many ways for the oppressor to force himself into the mind of the oppressed, but one surefire way is through indefinite detention. Never knowing when—or if—you will be released is a cruel form of psychological torture and allows you to keep hope while simultaneously filling you with fear

By H. Candace Gorman

Now that the U.S. military has “cleared” my notes, I can tell you about my July meeting at Guantánamo with my client Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi.

Al-Ghizzawi was visibly shaken when I entered the meeting room and he immediately told me of his despair over the May death of a fellow inmate, a young Saudi man named Abdel Rahman Al Amri. Al-Ghizzawi knew that Amri had been suffering from Hepatitis B and tuberculosis, the same two conditions from which he himself suffers. Like al-Ghizzawi, Amri had not been treated for his illnesses. Al-Ghizzawi, now so sick he can barely walk, told me that Amri, too, had been ill and then, suddenly, he was dead.

Al-Ghizzawi also mentioned that Amri had engaged in hunger strikes in the past but had stopped a long time ago because of his health. I knew about Amri’s death. I also know our military has called it an “apparent suicide.”

As I sat with al-Ghizzawi I found myself thinking about South African anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko. In his book I Write What I Like, Biko declares that “the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” There are many ways for the oppressor to force himself into the mind of the oppressed, but one surefire way is through indefinite detention. Never knowing when—or if—you will be released is a cruel form of psychological torture. It allows you to keep hope while simultaneously filling you with fear. South Africa’s apartheid government sharpened this tactic when it passed the Terrorism Act of 1967, which allowed the police to pick up Biko as a “suspect” involved in terrorism (“involvement” under that law was defined as “anything that might endanger the maintenance of law and order”) and detain him for an indefinite period without trial. Biko’s indefinite detention ended after only a month, when he suffered a brutal death at the hands of the South African police. The government claimed that Biko died as the result of a hunger strike. (In U.S. military parlance, that would be an “apparent suicide.”) Autopsy results later showed that Biko died of a head trauma and that his body was badly beaten. Our government officials, clever devils that they are, apparently learned from the “mistake” of South Africa and refuse to release Amri’s autopsy records.

Back in 2005, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld explained in a speech that Guantánamo is a great training ground for our interrogators because they learn what works and what doesn’t. The Pentagon’s little laboratory gathered speed last December when the military moved several hundred men into Camp 6. Included in the randomly selected group was al-Ghizzawi.

Camp 6 is worse than any of America’s supermax prisons because inmates are given little to occupy their minds as they sit in tiny cells with no natural light or air for at least 22 hours every day. The men are allowed one book per week, but it’s the same old books that have been around year after year. Guards also allow the men two hours of “recreation time” in four-foot-by-four-foot cages. As part of the experiment, the military plays with the “rec” times: Sometimes the guards show up at 3 a.m. for al-Ghizzawi’s recreation time. He is too polite to tell the guards what I would feel compelled to say. Instead he shows his dignity by refusing to stand in the dark. Other times, when the Cuban sun is at its hottest, al-Ghizzawi is offered the opportunity to stand in the metal cage under the blistering sun where there is no shade.

Al-Ghizzawi told me in July that he now finds himself talking out loud even though no one is there to talk to. We both know he is in dangerous territory. We talked about ways to help fight the mental deterioration, such as trying to read, exercising his body or focusing on his wife and daughter. Even though his body is already shot to hell with almost six years of physical and psychological abuse and medical neglect, at least he had been maintaining his mind. He was able to put his life in perspective. He had hope, though mingled with fear for the future. But now he can no longer read the books because his eyes too are shot, so he spends his days in tedious boredom. (In September, I requested that military officials provide him reading glasses, but what is the likelihood that they will give him glasses when they will not give him medical treatment?) So al-Ghizzawi spends his days pacing in his cell, washing and rewashing his clothes and preparing for the death he knows is looming.

When I left our September meeting a few days ago, al-Ghizzawi was doubled over in pain and gagging on his own phlegm. Again, I thought about Steven Biko and the young Saudi, Amri. I feared al-Ghizzawi may suffer a cruel, solitary death. I promised him the only things I could: that his death will not go unnoticed and that I will not let him be listed as an apparent suicide. Then I asked al-Ghizzawi to please not let them take his mind.

Until they clear my notes, his response is classified.

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• Reader Comments

  Once again, evidence has been presented with regard to the inhumane treatment of “prisoners” by the US Military.  That this policy is approved by the President and Vice President and yet impeachment is still “off the table” is reprehensible and appalling.  It seems that the military historians have researched what went on at Andersonville Prison during the Civil War.  It was a subtle, yet effective way of reducing the prison population by way of death—they created hope, then destroyed it, repeatedly and the men died of broken bodies and broken hearts.  Many of the Gitmo “detainees” are innocent men and yet there has been no national outcry about what we are becoming as a nation, as a people.

  Support the impeachment of Cheney and Bush—it is probably the only potentially effective tool available for changing the course of the Nation.  The elections will be too late.

  Herb H.

  Posted by herbmila on Oct 23, 2007 at 8:09 AM

  I find it hard to believe that this is happening again and again: from “noble&Nobel;” physicists in WW2, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, from Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Korea, to Iraq 1&2;, to Afghanistan, to story-tales about Al-Kaida’s might, to history repeating from attacking our old friend Saddam and our once friendly country and its people (Iraq), to attacking our old enemies and our old friends, our old buyers of chemical, biological and normal weapons - Iran (remember “Iran-Contra”, when we were selling chemical agens to Iraq and helped them build chemical weapons, but at the same time we were selling guns to Iran, too, and with that money we were funding OUR OWN TERRORISTS in Latin America, our neighbourhood? Remember that?)

  So I must say I really find it hard to believe that this is happening and that no one is responsible. In Guantanamo “prisons”, like in many other “prisons” and many other dirty “CIA wars” and “USA interventions”, innocent people - like you and me, people with families, friends, people with their lives… are losing lives, loosing families, loosing everything, so that imaginary American Empire and Rich Elite of America can stay in power for a decade more, a century longer, a million or a billion dollars more…

  We went to war because Saddam was a bad guy. He was a good guy actually, but one day we realized he was no more. Than we assumed they wanted to build what we already had in large quantity - in tens of thousands, THE BOMB. Atom bomb. Yup, we have that sh*t in thousands, WE EVEN TRIED IT a couple of times ON REAL PEOPLE. We assumed that it would be bad idea to let our friend Saddam have A-bomb, and perhaps H-bomb few years or a decade later (Hydrogen bomb - also a part of WHAT WE ALREADY OWN, and we were aware of the fact that Saddam knows too much about us, and, finally, they were sitting atop the planet’s third largest reserves of petroleum. Why not - we will bomb them a little. Besides, we might even earn ourselves a few bucks: I will sell weapons, you will produce it, he will sell food to our army, she will…

  “Detainees” in Guantanamo are people that should be faced with fair trial - like every man on Earth, or set free.

  All Americans - whether voted for this or that oarty - should be held responsible for each and every act of terrorism their country, their county’s army or their countr’ys secret/intelligence services do in any part of the world. Why should anyone feel free to live in a country that violates almost each and every international law and human right, and to again and again vote for Reagans, Bushs, Clintons, etc.? Why would it be normal not to do anything when my country does terrible things in my name? Why is that considered normal in USA? And not normal to talk about it and to DO SOMETHING about it? ... Ah, yes: The Media, fat people, McDonald’s and Burger Kings, celebrities, cheap fuel, “American freedom”, “American way of life"… Yes, we want petrol to stay cheap, we want no one else to have disastrous nuclear weapons and all other sorts of weapons of mass destruction(s), we want to have control over the world… and our Media will explain to our average Bob that it is all because of Freedom, our precious Freedom.

  Gee, how stupid people must be to believe such crap.

  And if you would ask them where and who invented the game called “CHESS”, I bet no one would ever think of Iraq…

  I guess we all would be concerned if one fo our guys was treated this Gtmo way; he would have all prime times for his story, so that we all hear, se, and know how evil the enemy is. However, we don’t give a dime about people in Guantanamo, because we “assume” they are guilty. ...So they don’t need trials, they are guilty and should serve as an example to others (i.e. to potential terrorists).

  Posted by koja on Oct 23, 2007 at 9:35 AM

  [...]
  I guess one day in near future some people, somewhere, will start abducting us so that we can see, first hand, how Guantano looked like. Only these kidnaping swill take place in Latin America, in Asia, in Europe, in Australia, and even in our dear US. Just wait and see… In a few years, not more. Why? Because ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! If we don’t change our political and military system that attacks random countries, we should expect that the war comes back to us.

  People, please, download any TORRENT program, like uTorrent (that one is the smallest), and start downloading documentaries. You will find many here: http://www.torrent-finder.com/
  ...and here: http://www.mvgroup.org/ (free membership, documentaries only)

  We should all realize Guantanamo is one of many injustices our political system and our “American way of life” produced. We should all do something about it, not just talk to each other - because we already know, but talk to OTHERS, talk to Senate, talk to Congress, talk to President…

  I feel sorrow for the destiny of those people in Guantanamo is sad. I guess not many of them will be alive in a year or two, and even if they will be ... what’s the point when they are tortured day after day? Imagine it was you in their place…

  Posted by koja on Oct 23, 2007 at 9:36 AM

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Also by H. Candace Gorman

• The Hippocratic Oath Dies in Gitmo
  
• Catch-22 in the 21st Century
  Government censors are making like Joseph Heller's character Yossarian and blacking out random information in letters from Guantánamo that has nothing to do with "national security"
• Third Time’s the Charm?
  The military didn't even bother to retain most of the documents from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals conducted in 2004, so the government has no documents showing any reason for holding these men
• Suicide and Spin Doctors
  There are many ways for the oppressor to force himself into the mind of the oppressed, but one surefire way is through indefinite detention. Never knowing when--or if--you will be released is a cruel form of psychological torture and allows you to keep hope while simultaneously filling you with fear
• Inside the Secret Facility
  In an Orwellian twist, the U.S. government monitors all correspondence between a Guantánamo attorney and her client
• Gitmo’s Last Honest Man
  Abraham found that "evidence" was generally gathered by inexperienced staff with little legal or intelligence training, and he got no assurance that he was given access to all available evidence on a detainee

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