Part 2-- Gitmo Detainee: "Obama has perhaps broken the spirit of the detainees in a way the former administration could never."

By GottaLaff

UPDATE, JUNE 19, WATCH:

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UPDATE: There may have been some misunderstanding that Fayiz's quote is a reflection of my p.o.v.

This is from someone who has been imprisoned and tortured for nearly 8 years, with no known justification. He's feeling rather, well, impatient.

Of course President Obama has only been in office a few months, and things take time. I am reporting to you what I am hearing, from two people on the ground at Gitmo.

Original Post:

This is Part 2 of Fayiz al-Kandari's story. He is the Gitmo detainee who is being represented by Major Barry D. Wingard (original post here). I followed up my last piece with several questions to Wingard. Here, word for word, are the responses:

To your knowledge, did any private contractors interrogate Fayiz? Who exactly did?

Fayiz was interrogated over four hundred times, sometimes by military, civilians, and combinations thereof. What is interesting is that hundreds of photos were taken of him along with medical records in various stages of being broken physically. Unfortunately all the information above has been classified as top secret for "your protection," it has nothing to do with the exculpatory nature of the evidence.

I'd love some quotes from Fayiz. Can you give me any?

"Everybody has convinced themselves that GTMO is over and we can now move on to other, more pleasant topics, well I'm still here with not a single thing to show for it. This really would be much less frustrating if only I had done something to deserve the past seven and a half years being taken."

How is he being treated now?

Current treatment [Major Wingard provided the link; I am providing the excerpts]:

Guantanamo suicide exposes detainees' despair under Obama

(AFP) 5 June 2009 WASHINGTON - A Guantanamo prison detainee’s suicide earlier this week highlights the mental state of those locked up for seven years without trial and aggravated by disillusionment born from President Barack Obama, defense lawyers say.

‘Suicide is a humane response to intolerable conditions. Especially where there is no end in sight and that’s the case here,’ David Remes, a lawyer for 15 Yemeni detainees, told AFP.

After the new US president announced he would close the detention camp at the remote US naval base in southeast Cuba by 2010, ‘everybody expected Obama to move more swiftly’ to release inmates or at least improve conditions, Remes said. […]

Most Guantanamo detainees are still being held in isolation, in cells crudely furnished with a bunk, sometimes with no windows, under the perpetual glare of neon lights.

The new US administration, which has promised to abide by the Geneva Conventions on prisoners, has provided some improvements in the detainees’ lives, however.[…]

Most of the detainees, however, despite Obama’s overtures on closing the facility, remain depressed and desperate, said Remes.

Only two out of the remaining 240 detainees have been able to leave the camp since January.

‘These isolated improvements cannot offset the misery of solitary confinement, especially the conditions of solitary confinement that these men must endure,’ maintained Remes.

‘And they can’t offset the continued harassment by the guards, and the brutality of the guards.’

A majority of the detainees ‘are more discouraged because Obama seemed to bring new hope and that hope proved to be false, a false hope,’ he added.

[Human Rights Watch’s Stacy] Sullivan said many of the detainees are suffering severe psychological problems. [...]

'Obama ‘tried to improve the conditions, based on years of reporting of journalists, human rights groups ... He made a good effort to respond to this criticism. It’s just not enough.’

Major Barry Wingard, a military lawyer representing Kuwaiti detainee Fayiz Al Kandari, reported that his client said he knew that under former US president George W. Bush ‘we would never get justice, we knew we would never get out.’

According to Al Kandari, with Obama’s election, the prison population ‘held up the possibility that things were going to get better,’ Wingard said, adding that ‘they began to think like (they were) a human being again,’ Wingard said.

Continued harassment by guards, notably physically tough ‘cell extractions,’ are still taking their toll, said Wingard.

Al Kandari reported to his lawyer that ‘guys go and bring you out of your cell for any small infraction, such as a towel being hung in the wrong location.’

Such action has been increasing, said Wingard. When detainees are extracted, ‘someone accidentally steps on your hand, rips your head at the pressure points ... and you might be pepper sprayed in your face.’

Uncertainty itself, about not knowing when freedom will come, ‘is a form of abuse that does not heal like a bruise or broken bone,’ said Wingard.

‘But still, they’re still waiting, still no justice. Four months delay here, six months delay there, another eight months...’

Please tell me again how often you get to see Fayiz? Any idea if other detainees have a similar amount of access to their attorneys?

I see Fayiz every month for multiple visits. I have established a level of trust with him that is difficult to do considering I wear the same uniform as his jailers. Overall, 70% of the detainees outright reject their lawyers, 30% are lukewarm etc... Remember there are military/criminal lawyers and civilian/civil (Habeas lawyers).

As a lawyer, you have to be pretty objective in order to come up with arguments, etc. But how do you feel about all this, and how does that affect you as you work?

Objectivity: The government refuses to speak in specifics to prevent specific questions being asked. Currently I am heartened that the government acknowledges that it lacks the evidence to gain a conviction in a "regular court" (Federal District Court) but I am equally concerned that they are designing a system to assist the Prosecution. There are many ways to game a system based on precedence that is starting on day one when it begins such as rules of evidence, classification of exculpatory evidence, resources for witnesses, etc..

In your bio, you call the horrific treatment Fayiz got, "enhanced interrogation techniques"... Why don't you refer to them as "torture"?

Torture is a legal term decided in a court of law and not among talking heads on cable news shows. If breaking a mans ribs with fists or beating him with a chain is "enhanced interrogation" then so be it.

Are you optimistic that we can get back to upholding the ideals of justice as it should be? And that this kind of treatment, bounty hunting, etc. has ended/will end under Obama?

Obama: Obama has perhaps broken the spirit of the detainees in a way the former administration could never.

Fayiz: "when they used to short shackle me to the floor for 36 hours at a time, I knew not to eat or drink the day before and I kept my eyes shut because just seeing them come in the middle of the night with the dogs in a strobe lit room was terrifying to me. I learned to cope and could deal with it. When the new administration offered hope, that was something placed inside my soul, something that cannot be expelled or prepared for."

How can the U.S. justify holding all these people for years without trials? Comment?

The US cannot justify holding the detainees without some form of an Article 5 hearing which should have been done in 2002 or 2003.

Is there anything you or anyone, including Fayiz, can do to lessen the resentment, fear, etc. that's so prevalent?

As long as the US government continues to use justice like a magician uses a rabbit in his show, then no, I have little faith. Currently the government is preparing to create a system "not designed to help me" Fayiz says.

To date, the government has not produced a single tangible piece of evidence against Fayiz, just like Boumedian who was released last week after 7 ½ years. Amazingly Fayiz wants to be released and go home and start a business and a family.

They have not been able to break Fayiz in over 400 interrogations which scares the shit out of them and obviously proves "he is super Al Queda" according to his Annual Review Board (ARB) allegations.

He also attempts to help others read and exercises in his cell. Honestly he could care less about the US.

Fayiz: "If the US believed they really had the worst of the worst, they had an opportunity to convert every detainee with education and understanding. Unfortunately, the US chose the wrong course and has released 2/3 (550) of everyone ever held here. Education can counter ignorance from both countries, the people in the US who hate Muslims are the same as the Muslims who hate the US. Ignorance is what feeds intolerance and vice versa."

Here's one more question, but it is not directed at either Barry Wingard or Fayiz al-Kandari: Why are these atrocities allowed to continue in the name of the United States of America?

After November 4, 2008, I thought I'd have the answer to that one. I was mistaken.

Major Wingard and I agree that both Democrats and Republicans share some blame here. Many Democrats should have spoken up, and they didn't. To this day, only a handful have. It boggles the mind.

So, kudos to any in the military (especially lawyers), Democrats and Republicans who opposed the former administration. To emphasize that point, allow me to quote Major Wingard, from a recent e-mail:

Soldiers are taught early on that you will abide by the Geneva Convention; so it comes as no surprise to me that the military as a whole and more particularly officer’s, especially senior ones oppose mistreating captives. The idea of torturing detainees is beyond belief. Remember, the act of surrender involves a leap of faith that captors will not treat those captured in a barbaric way ever, period. As military officers, we strongly encourage surrender without incidence in every circumstance.

The DOJ are the masterminds who came with idea of beating people results in good information. The DOJ also designed the Commissions process; it really should be called the "Department of Justice Commissions" and premised on their “torture memo” principals. I guess if you believe beating individual’s results in good intelligence, then it only follows that hearsay evidence is “presumptively” reliable and “Santa is making a list and checking it twice.” Things play out a little differently when wearing body armor in 130 degree war zones then they appear in air-conditioned office buildings in DC.

Note: I am extremely proud of our military, our kids are some of the bravest and most selfless citizens I have ever me. You can point to specific instances where junior officers and soldiers lost their nerve and succumbed, but divided by the number of daily interactions, abuse was extremely rare and minimal.

I am especially proud of the senior military JAG attorneys who held tightly to their independent judgment and refused to buckle under the former administration and their desire for quick convictions. America maintains the most chivalrous officer corps in the world.

The US military kicks serious ass when used as it is designed: We break things and kill people, period.

I do love the military, and would never disrespect it. It’s just a shame we are so damn obedient to the smooth faced lawyers and politicians.

I think to draw lines like democrat/liberal good and republican/bad allows Fayiz to be imprisoned while "the teams change sides." Call it what you will, blame whomever you want to blame, make yourself feel as good as you can, but let's end this in whatever combination of peoples and policies we can. I would say invite everybody to the show and alienate as few as possible, at least initially.

Major Wingard, I salute you.