Former Gitmo Guard Tells All

Army Private Brandon Neely served as a prison guard at Guantánamo in the first years the facility was in operation. With the Bush Administration, and thus the threat of retaliation against him, now gone, Neely decided to step forward and tell his story. “The stuff I did and the stuff I saw was just wrong,” he told the Associated Press. Neely describes the arrival of detainees in full sensory-deprivation garb, he details their sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, an isolation regime that was put in place for child-detainees, and his conversations with prisoners David Hicks and Rhuhel Ahmed. It makes for fascinating reading.

Full story here - www.harpers.org...

I still can't believe that Bush got away with what went on (and is still going on) in some of these prisons. The America(ns) I know wouldnt go for some of these things, especially if we knew that these actions were committed by our fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters...


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[edit on Wed Feb 18 2009 by Jbird]

You just automatically assume this guy is telling the truth? From what I understand, the GTMO detainees have been treated better than American inmates in American prisons.

I can't imagine that this is the only thread concerning this but its the only one I have found.

I listened to his interview with Rachel Maddow. He didn't say anything that is unusual. If you have ever worked in a jail, you have seen much worse than what this guy talked about. I think he was there for the "honeymoon" phase. (I know what that is like too) The millieu of the place hasn't been established yet and people haven't gone to the "dark side" (sort of speak) yet. I imagine the real hell for the prisioners ramped up towards the end of the first year.

Now, if it didn't, and what he said was the worst it got or that he witnessed, then there are many people sitting in American jail intakes that would appreciate being moved to Gitmo. Not to mention having to admit that Rumsfeld, Bush, and Cheney were speaking the truth about the treatment there....Nothing in my experience would lead me to believe that Gitmo was better than jail....but if it was...then I tip my hat to who ever ran or is running the place.

From the point of view of the detainees:

www.amazon.com...

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235120504&sr=1-1

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235120504&sr=1-2