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The U.S. military detention center at GuantÁnamo 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.
Maps x
Preface: Close Gitmo? xiii
Introduction: Guantánamo: Myth and Reality xvii
1 Why Guantánamo? 1
2 Muhammad al Qahtani: A Terrorist Case Study 17
3 In the Beginning: Camp X-Ray 41
4 Camp Delta's Mission: A Work in Progress 71
5 Meet the "Foreign Fighters" 87
6 Maximum Security: Camps I, II, and III 147
7 Compliance Rewarded: Inside the Camp IV Wire 181
8 Segregation and Supervision: Camps V and VI 196
9 Camps Echo, Iguana, and a "Secret" CIA Installation 225
10 Daily Life at Gitmo 245
11 Meet the American Military 272
12 Hunger Strikes: Asymmetrical Warfare in Action 296
13 The Value of Intelligence 335
14 The Future of Guantánamo: Critiques and Recommendations 356
Glossary of Military Terms 385
Acknowledgments 389
Notes 397
chance57
Posted November 21, 2010
There have many horrific storied in the past years about the tortures and perils of Guantanamo Bay. Stories that sound to terrible to be true, begging the question, are they really true? The book Inside Gitmo by Gordon Cucullu provides facts to these stories and explores the truth behind the myths of Guantanamo Bay. In doing so he finds new stories to be told, un-heard facts about the prison. He also puts and end to other stories that are circulating around this so called "horrible" place. I personally like this book and all the new knowledge i gained from it. It shows you whats really going on down there instead of you having to just believe the common stories you hear. With so much research and first hand experience put into this book, there is no doubt that what your reading is the truth. I recommend this book to someone who likes to read about war, prison, the government or anyone who just wants to read a good book and learn a little bit about there country and whats going on down in Guantanamo Bay. I haven't read any other books quite like this but other books i like that i would recommend that are sort of the same topic is "My Hitch in Hell" and "The Band of Brothers" (book version). This was overall a great book and i would give it a 9 out of 10!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.It is clear from reading Inside Gitmo, that the author has invested much of himself, both personally and professionally, in order to finally provide some truths to counter what has been written about Guantanamo Bay to date. The research is top notch....see the companion website for sources listed including links to online documentation which is fantastic. As a masters student of International Relations who is currently researching this topic for my thesis, I have found Lt. Col. Cucullu's book an absolute necessity. This is an amazing book, I would recommend it to anyone who is wanting to know what is really going on inside Gitmo. Many thanks to Lt. Col. Cucullu for bringing these facts to light.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 30, 2009
This book should be a must read for all. It gives an insight into what our Military does for us. The facts about how we pamper the enemy is done by no other country in the world. I would recommend this book to all searchers for the truth. The truth is told both good and bad.
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Overview
The U.S. military detention center at GuantÁnamo 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...