Gitmo alum gives accomodations low rating

The Washington Times‘ Ayesha Nasir surprises us with the story that a former Gitmo detainee doesn’t like the way he was treated during his five year stay at Guantanamo;

Sometimes he wakes up drenched in cold sweat, his fingers tightly clenched into fists, remembering the time he says he was locked in an isolation cell where huge floodlights remained switched on for 24 hours.

“It was like a cage – smaller than a grave.” He said the space measured just 6 feet by 4 feet.

On other occasions, he said, he recalls seeing the Koran being desecrated by U.S. officials.

Yes, I have it on good authority that President Bush rotated his staff through Guantanamo so they could take turns desecrating the Koran – part of the sophomoric ritual of becoming a member of Bush’s staff. I think Cheney went twice. No one, including some guards, leaves Guantanamo without hinting that some Korans were desecrated. There’s been no evidence of the practice – just the empty words of a few malcontents trying to incite the Islamic world into another violent frenzy.

Mr. Iqbal also asserted that female guards touched his genitals, a charge that seems to go beyond what other former prisoners have reported happening at Guantanamo. “They did horrible things to me… sexually, I mean,” he said.

I’m sure Mr. Iqbal, unfortunate name aside, thinks everyone is trying to touch his genitals. I doubt any woman would want to avail herself of that opportunity. Genitals that touch goat shall never touch mine.

He said that when he returned, he couldn´t walk without assistance, he had an infection in his left ear and was dependent on high doses of antibiotics and antidepressants.

His physical condition had worsened because, according to a medical report filed by his physician at Guantanamo, Mr. Iqbal repeatedly refused medical attention.

“The American doctors repeatedly told me they did not treat me as a patient, rather they looked upon me as an enemy,” he said. “Why should I let anyone who thinks so operate on me?”

I’m sure if anyone besides the Washington Times had printed this story, we wouldn’t have read that admission from Ick-balls that he refused medical attention.

He was arrested in Indonesia and suspected to be a cohort of Richard Reid, the failed “Shoe Bomber”. He spent a year being shuttled back and forth across the Islamic world from Indonesia to Egypt until finally landing in Guantanamo.

After almost a year, he was told that U.S. officials were satisfied that he was innocent but could not send him home. “I was told that I would be taken to Guantanamo, where I would receive an apology and then I would go home,” he said.

Yes, that’s what we do – send people to Guantanamo to be released. They get a great big send off and an apology, a couple of weeks on the beach sipping mojitos and getting their genitals touched by female interrogators – then off they go.

I can almost see him now talking to the interviewer;

Category: Politics