Guantanamo Guard Reunites With Former Inmates

[sabra]

Source: sphere

(Jan. 13) -- Brandon Neely, an Army veteran from Texas who spent six months as a guard at the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was poking around on Facebook in 2008 when he came across a name from his not-so-distant past.

Neely recognized Shafiq Rasul as a former inmate at the controversial camp. So he sent Rasul a message and, surprisingly, got a response back. The exchange eventually led to a reunion of Neely, Rasul and ex-inmate Ruhal Ahmed that the BBC broadcast on Tuesday.

Neely, 29, who also served in Iraq before leaving the military in 2005, said he reached out to the former detainees because of the guilt he felt over his time at Guantanamo. "The news would always try to make Guantanamo into this great place, like (prisoners) were treated so great," he told the BBC. "No, it wasn't. You know, here I was basically just putting innocent people in cages."

...

Rasul and Ahmed were arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 while they were traveling with an aid convoy. Neely said he believes the two men were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Both detainees were released in 2004. They have pursued legal action against the U.S. for their time at Guantanamo, The New York Times reported.

Read more: http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/guantanamo-guard-reunites-with-former-inmates/19315290

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BBC video report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8454155.stm

[fascisthunter]

1. kick! (nt)

[90-percent]

2. my comments from another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7453056&mesg_id=7453748

I guess I'm just a rampant DU self promoter?

-90% Jimmy

[Soylent Brice]

3. K&R

[democrank]

4. Bless him

~PEACE~

[Political_Junkie]

5. Kick

to healing for them all.

[AlienGirl]

6. "As Delta-T approaches infinity, P approaches one." Glad it didn't take them so long.