Inside Guantanamo Bay
Just read this interesting interview / article from The Observer (Part 1, Part 2). It deals with the experiences of the Tipton Three (Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul), recently returned to the UK from Guantanamo Bay.
It's quite a long read, and it does take a sensationalist tone in places (the subject matter is sensational enough without requiring a reference to 'Jail Hell' in the title), but it provides for very interesting reading. Not least is how three young English men could have ended up being detained for over two years just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even more interesting is their assertion that that UK government was complicit in their Camp Delta detention from the beginning (despite public claims of opposition).
That the combined military and intelligence services of the US and UK could perpetuate such a colossal f*** up (epitomized by 20 year old interrogators asking where surface-to-air missiles could be purchased in Tipton) for two years is terrifying. It also sounded like the camp had gone in the direction of cultural revolution like denouncements among the detainees towards the end of the Tipton Three's time there. Who knows what sort of damaging misinformation this might lead to.
(I should also say that the revelation that Guantanamo has a McDonalds is completely blowing my mind.)
It's quite a long read, and it does take a sensationalist tone in places (the subject matter is sensational enough without requiring a reference to 'Jail Hell' in the title), but it provides for very interesting reading. Not least is how three young English men could have ended up being detained for over two years just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even more interesting is their assertion that that UK government was complicit in their Camp Delta detention from the beginning (despite public claims of opposition).
That the combined military and intelligence services of the US and UK could perpetuate such a colossal f*** up (epitomized by 20 year old interrogators asking where surface-to-air missiles could be purchased in Tipton) for two years is terrifying. It also sounded like the camp had gone in the direction of cultural revolution like denouncements among the detainees towards the end of the Tipton Three's time there. Who knows what sort of damaging misinformation this might lead to.
(I should also say that the revelation that Guantanamo has a McDonalds is completely blowing my mind.)