Around the World in 80 Books discussion

Start discussion here for Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi.

Got the book from the library today. Looking forward to discussing this heavy story.

I will probably start this tomorrow. Just glancing through it, I think it may be difficult to bear some of the things this man is put through.

I finished reading this book today and you can read my complete review here.

This is truly a tragic story. Slahi was supposed to be one of the lucky Mauritanians to have received university education abroad and come back to his impoverished country to contribute to society. However, his stint in Afghanistan to fight the communist regime (before 9/11) and his association with some prominent people in the Islamic terrorism world have made him a suspect target of the US government. Very unfortunate.

And that he had to lie to the interrogators towards the end and come up with some stories to satisfy their beliefs that he is a terrorist, truly depicts how Guantanamo Bay Prison is a completely pointless place. A very dark chapter in today's USA.

This story is so horrifying. As an American, it makes me ashamed that our government is treating people this way. Slahi comments that the US champions human rights, yet we are violating those ideals everyday with the torture and endless incarceration of these men without due process.

I have never understood why we don't take the men held at Guantanamo to trial. Now I see that we don't have evidence that would stand up in court. Slahi's writ of habeas corpus was approved by a district court judge in 2010 and he was ordered freed. An appeal was filed, and here we are over 5 years later with no idea when the appeals process will end. I think the government has locked the door and thrown away the key on these men. I am truly ashamed of my government's policies in this matter. I realize that I am only seeing one side of the story, but I don't think I will ever see a rebuttal to this story.

I recently got this from the library. Just reading the introduction brought me nearly to tears while being outraged at the same time. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the whole book.

Reading about what my country has done to human beings is horrifying. I'm reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me at the same time, and he wrote the following, which for me tied in directly with Guantanamo Diary:

America believes itself exceptional, the greatest and noblest nation ever to exist, a lone champion standing between the white city of democracy and the terrorists, despots, barbarians, and other enemies of civilization... I propose to take our countrymen's claims of American exceptionalism seriously, which is to say I propose subjecting our country to an exceptional moral standard. This is difficult because there exists, all around us, an apparatus urging us to accept American innocence at face value and not to inquire too much. And it is so easy to look away, to live with the fruits of our history and to ignore the great evil done in all of our names.

follow the river wrote: "I recently got this from the library. Just reading the introduction brought me nearly to tears while being outraged at the same time. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the whole book.

..."

I read Between the World and Me just before Guantanamo Diary and it's pretty hard to read these two back to back. I am Caucasian so I can't relate to Coates experience at all. But both of these books make me angry and ashamed of what we as a society allow to happen. We have turned a blind eye to these people, these prisoners at Guantanamo and these young black men in our own country. I know all of the Guantanamo prisoners aren't necessarily innocent, but our government doesn't seem to care about seeking the truth.

Laurie, what a coincidence that our reading schedules were so similar! Yes, I found it difficult to read both at once, so I put Guantanamo Diary aside until I finish Between the World and Me. I am also white, so it is quite a revelation to read these books. While reading the introduction to Guantanamo Diary, I kept thinking, "I had better never give up my American citizenship, because this is what the most powerful country in the world can do to me if I'm not a part of it." But while reading Between the World and Me, I realize that there are different shades of American citizenship and if a person doesn't fall into the white one, the powers that be can still do pretty much whatever they want with that person.

Yes, as Coates points out, we aren't all treated equally even as we walk down the street minding our own business. I have never feared being stopped by the police. I might find it annoying to be stopped, but I am not afraid of being injured by them. I simply never realized how real the possibility of police brutality at any time feels to black people. I am not sure that I would want to stay in the US if I felt that way all the time.

Well, I finally finished it. It was difficult for me to rate. On the one hand, Slahi's story is one that I think every responsible American citizen should be aware of. His ordeal is horrible and unjust, and that it was sanctioned by the American government makes it our responsibility to do something about it.

On the other hand, I found the writing stilted (which is no surprise considering he learned English from his captors), and the redactions didn't help. I felt like Slahi was holding himself back from really expressing how all of this affected him emotionally. I don't blame him for not wanting to go there, but it does make the book less powerful than it could be.

I was kind of depressed after finishing this. Upset for Slahi, ashamed of my government, and not really sure how I, a poor student, can change anything. May Slahi receive the justice and freedom he deserves, and may those who misused him pay for their crimes.

Oh, and we didn't learn a whole lot about Mauritania, did we? It sounds like an interesting country, though. Too bad there's not more literature from there.

The only aspect that I learned about Mauritania was how weak their government was (hardly sovereign) and about their marriage traditions (how the man visits the woman several times to see if they get along, and how men and women celebrate separately during the wedding party).

I like what you wrote about "Slahi holding himself back from really expressing how all of this affected him emotionally". Apart from the redactions, I also felt that something else was being left unsaid. But it was nonetheless depressing, especially knowing that he is still locked up in Guantanamo Bay. As the editor wrote, let's hope Slahi gets some sort of fair treatment and that one day we may read the entire story.