I Grew Up in Guantanamo: Now That You Have Heard My Story, You Cannot Turn Away

[babylonsister]

Fahd Ghazy
Detainee, Guantánamo Bay

I Grew Up in Guantanamo: Now That You Have Heard My Story, You Cannot Turn Away
Posted: 12/09/2014 2:23 pm EST Updated: 12/09/2014 2:59 pm EST

Fahd Ghazy has been illegally detained at Guantánamo since he was 17. He is now 30 years old. He has been cleared for release since 2007. He is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights.


To begin, please forgive me for not saying the right things or making the right points. There are different cultures between us and many different experiences.

It hurts me that I do not have the privilege to express myself. I want to have the honor to speak out in my own voice and reach you directly -- you who are thinking people. I want to say thank you for caring. You are willing to view me as a human being and that is something so precious to me.

My exposure to the world came through Guantanamo. I was 17 when they sent me here. At that time, I had rarely seen a television or heard a radio. Every significant event in my life, from funerals, to my own wedding, to the birth of my beloved daughter, Hafsa, happened in the Diwan of my own home. Now I am almost 31.

That means I grew up in Guantanamo. I grew up in this system. I grew up in fear. I hope that helps you to understand me.

I hope I will be heard.

Here, at Guantanamo, I am never heard. I am only ignored. In 13 years of imprisonment without charge, I've never been able to tell anyone who I really am.

I am not ISN 026. That is the government's number.

My name is Fahd Abdullah Ahmed Ghazy. I am a human being -- a man -- who is loved and who loves.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fahd-ghazy/i-grew-up-in-guantanamo-n_b_6296504.html

[Autumn]

1. "I am starving for those moments," my God.

What have we allowed.

[babylonsister]

2. I know. This broke my heart. nt

[bravenak]

3. I am ashamed.

[sabrina 1]

4. It is heartbreaking, criminal beyond words, and shameful that

our leaders refuse to hold their own Criminals accountable for this.

I had to stop reading about these victims a while ago because I found it so disturbing. At one time I followed all their stories and the efforts to get them some justice. I had hope then that once we got rid of Bush and his cabal of War Criminals, we would see these crimes punished.

Now I have no hope. I wish I could tell this man that not all Americans are responsible for this, that we DO and always have viewed him as a human being.

And that we don't think 'we did some things wrong'. We KNOW that our leaders committed horrendous War Crimes.

[aspirant]

5. I have been taught

That first you must forgive and only then can you finally forget

I've been digging very deep for forgiveness but it hasn't come yet.

[sabrina 1]

9. Yes, I was taught that too. But so long as the torture continues for these

poor people, and we know that it is continuing, this man should not be separated from his loved ones, he never should have been, there is no reason for this. Force feeding, that too is still ongoing.

Some of the people in Guantanamo have tried desperately to cry out to the world for help. They use hunger strikes to do so. And our country force feeds them.

I don't think forgiveness can come until there is justice for the victims.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Some folks. We imprisoned some folks about my daughter's age and thew away the key.

But don't get sanctimonious.

[annm4peace]

7. some of us have been protesting torture and Guantanamo for the last 8 years

it is heart breaking. In those early years I would search for their names and any info about them. I would make placards with their names, ages, what happened to them. where they were from, etc. And we would have marches or rallies and wear those placards. Demanding torture stop and prosecute those who ordered and authored torture.. and Close Guantanamo Now.
at one time I found the simple but very informative website CagePrisoners.. you just had to click on different prisons like Guantanamo or countries that had black sites. It would have a detainees name... sometimes it would have lots of personal info, how they were captured. letters from their family members. I would cry every time I looked through the info to make the placards. I would say a prayer as I wrote their names... that they would soon be with their families, that they would be safe when they got home, that they would see their family, that they would mentally and physically heal.. that their families would be ok and survive as they were held.. I can't tell you how many protest, marches, or rallies we would.. some years could be 10, others, some in the group stood or kneeled in front of the Federal building every day for year.

They were just 8x11, I printed them on the computer on card stock paper after having to make them for the 3 or 4th time because they would get torn as people wore them at 2-3 events.. I laminated them... people always wanted some of the same placard they had before..like we individual were holding that person. I would either have the name, age, city.. or an action that happened to a person like: I was riding my bike to the store for my mother when they kidnapped me.. or I'm an old farmer and have dementia.. or my mother has died while I've been at Guantanamo. and of course ones of torture.. The website CagePrisoners is one just CAGE.. and much more complex.

It is still heart breaking.. Last night i searched for the names of those who went Uruguay. I saw one picture of one of the guys in regular clothes.. again the tears. It is sick what we humans can do to others.

[countryjake]

8. Annm4peace, there are several pics of them at Judi Lynn's link...

Ex-Guantanamo prisoners stroll streets of Uruguay posted by Judi Lynn Fri Dec 12, 2014, 11:56 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014964193

From the Houston Chronicle


Photo By Matilde Campodonico/AP
Ahmed Adnan Ajuri, front, and Abedlhadi Omar Faraj, both from Syria and former prisoners at Guantanamo, walk in a residential neighborhood where they're living in Montevideo, Uruguay, Friday, Dec. 12, 2014. The men are two of six prisoners held for 12 years at Guantanamo Bay who arrived last Sunday as refugees in Uruguay amid a renewed push by President Barack Obama to close the prison.

[annm4peace]

11. thank YOU!

that is much better than what i could find. I'll share with my Tackle Torture at the Top group.

[sabrina 1]

10. It was wonderful of you to do that. I found CagePrisoners also

and we used to post online, trying to get the word out to make people understand these were mostly innocent people and they had homes and family.

It's difficult to describe the feeling of desperation WE all had. So I cannot even imagine the desperation of those who were being held captive in OUR detention centers.

About five years ago, it was Christmas. I had been reading about the hunger strikers in Guantanamo. No one who had the authority would help them. I could imagine how desperate they were to try to kill themselves rather than live in that hell hole.

And I felt guilty to be with my family. It was hard to be happy when I knew that right here in our country our government was doing this to human beings.

Thank you for all you tried to do.

[annm4peace]

12. thanks and thanks to you also

there were, are so many voices speaking out in America and around the world.

one of the early events.. we had over 200 people in orange jumpsuits ( $10 haz mat suits) with black (hand made) hoods.. walking through downtown minneapolis at rushhour.

and when the RNC in 2008 came to St Paul we had several big protests in orange jumpsuit and Amnesty International had a cage set up. .. we did do so much.. there was some humanity in our country.

[sabrina 1]

13. I know there are many good people in this country. I remember

the demonstrations where protesters wore orange jump suits.

There are still protests going on by people in Code Pink eg, they are so wonderful, they did not stop after Bush/Cheney left. They go to Berkeley to protest against John Yoo, Condi Rice, Karl Rove, all of them.

But they need help. When Bush was president there were more people doing this. I think we thought it was all over when Democrats won.

However, it is the torture apologists and the war criminals themselves who are covered by the Corporate Media. So many Americans have no idea what has been done in their names.