The Mauritanian (Guantánamo Diary)

Content Warning: This section references extreme instances of torture, graphic violence, sexual assault, racism, and Islamophobia.

Camp Delta featured arrows pointing to Mecca along with a call to prayer five times a day. In public, the Americans “always repeated that the war is not against the Islamic religion” (261). In private, however, “the war against the Islamic religion was more than obvious” (261). Secret camps forbade prayer, having the Koran, or even reciting passages from it. During one of Slahi’s interrogations, SFC Shally told the author that both Karim Mehdi and Christian Ganczarski had informed him that Slahi recruited them for al-Qaeda.

Since sexual abuse didn’t work on Slahi, the interrogators considered reducing his sleep to make him more compliant. One way of accomplishing sleep deprivation was by forcing a detainee to drink 25-oz bottles of water at regular intervals which led to spending most of the time in the bathroom. In addition to using this method with Slahi, they made him believe that he was kidnapped on a remote island, as described in the previous chapter, and that his mother had been captured and placed in a special facility: “Over the next few days, I almost lost my mind” (266). The interrogators made him call them Yoda and the names of other Star Wars characters. The torture was so extensive that Slahi wanted to die. He hallucinated, hearing his family’s voices and music from his homeland. During this time, the author learned that Captain Collins’s real name was Richard Zuley.

On September 8, 2003, Slahi decided to cooperate with the interrogators by telling them what they wanted to hear because “thanks to the unbearable pain I was suffering, I had nothing to lose, and I allowed myself to say anything to satisfy my assailants” (275). He learned from SFC Shally of the “precise crime I could admit to which would comply with the Intel theory” (271). The crime was planning to attack, along with others, the CN Tower in Toronto—a building Slahi had never heard of when he lived in Montreal. SFC Shally also wanted Slahi to admit to other crimes: “I could stop the torture if I said I recruited bin al-Shibh and two hijackers” (276) for his cousin Mahfouz Ould al-Walid. The author’s objective was to make himself look as bad as possible. For example, Slahi was told to provide “a Smoking Gun” (277) about Ahmed Laabidi connecting him to the Millennium Plot and say that he “felt bad for everybody [he] hurt with [his] false testimonies” (279). Slahi suspected that he was being housed near Camp Delta in solitary confinement. To keep track of time, the author read 10 pages of the Koran every day, thus finishing the religious text every 60 days. In addition, he spent time learning English, and SFC Shally and SSG Mary explained certain words to him.

Despite Slahi’s telling his captors what they wanted to hear, they continued to interrogate him ceaselessly, day and night, increasing the pressure. At one point, the author was given a pillow, and he interpreted this gift to mean that the end of his torture was near. He wrote and signed his false confession about seeking to blow up CN Tower in Toronto with Hasni, Raouf, Mohamed, and Ahmed. All the interrogators except SSG Mary—who doubted the story—were satisfied. Captain Collins decided to confirm this story with the other intelligence agencies, while Slahi warned him, “If you want the truth, this story didn’t happen” (287). At this time, Slahi was staying in Camp Echo Special—the same place where he was taken after his staged abduction.

On November 12, 2003, Slahi was given a polygraph test to confirm his statements. To establish a baseline, John, the polygraph expert, asked the author irrelevant, neutral questions. Slahi answered negatively to questions about knowing al-Qaeda members or being aware of plans to attack North American targets in the future. Additionally, he told John that Ahmed Laabidi was innocent, in his opinion. When the results became available, SSG Mary informed Slahi that he’d “passed the test with flying colors” (300). Some interrogators refused to believe the results, and Slahi was given retested the following week: “The verdict did not change; the tester stuck to his guns, and one more time I passed the test” (303).