Guantánamo Voices: True Accounts from the World’s Most Infamous Prison

by Saily Marrero

Guantánamo Voices: True Account from the World’s Most Infamous Prison is a collection of stories from interviews conducted by Sarah Mirk and Columbia University’s Rule of Law project, and other journalistic projects about Guantánamo (AKA, GITMO). Former prisoners, lawyers, and other workers on the base discuss their experience there, especially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The results are stories about the unfair United States justice system that has taken place on the base, one that includes arbitrary laws and torture. Because of its difficult and dark subject matter and images, this book is for mature audiences with a content advisory.

In her A Note on Language, Mirk talks about the choice of words used to describe the situation in Guantánamo. The United States government prefers terms like “detainees”, “detention camps”, and “detention facility” over “prisoner” and “concentration camps.” These are examples of how the government tries to downplay the realities of GITMO. This extends to the activities that occur on the base. For example, rather than calling it torture, the CIA calls it “enhanced interrogation techniques”. Euphemisms like this disguise the truth and belittles the lived experiences of those subjected to the harsh realities of GITMO, while fitting in with a state sanctioned narrative. Mirk chooses to call GITMO and Camp X-Ray a “prison” while detainees are “prisoners” to “accurately describe reality” (p. v).

As mentioned, the most prominent medical topic discussed in the book is the use of torture as an “interrogation technique” especially in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Some of the torture prisoners are subjected to are beatings (p. 77), from, in part, two psychologists’ research solitary confinement (38-39, 79), humiliation by keeping a prisoner naked (49, 39), sleep deprivation (35), constant interrogation (73), stress positions, confinement boxes (p. 40), the infamous waterboarding (38), and many other forms of torture. There are several illustrations of the effect of the torture on their bodies like limp limbs, scratches, bruising, and cuts all over their bodies. There is no further textual explanation on the effects of torture on their bodies, but there is more discussion on the long-term effects on their mental health.

The book demonstrates the secretive dehumanization of those subjected to torture in various ways. One of the ways we see this occur is how their names were kept hidden from the public for years (50, 58). Being kept anonymous prevented them from obtaining legal representation, keeping them in a legal limbo for years (50). Losing contact with their family members takes a huge toll on many of the prisoners. In Chapter 4, Moazzam, a GITMO prisoner relates, “I had to tell myself: I’m not a family member. I am not a father. I am not a son. I am not husband. We’re no longer people. We’re numbers” (77) This is said over several panels of him being beaten and tortured by GITMO soldiers. Moreover, their agency, autonomy, and by extension their perception of reality is warped significantly. As Katie Taylor, a lawyer working with Guantánamo prisoner stated, “if you’ve been dealing within the confines of an arbitrary prison system, it orders the way that you think about the world,” and in turn make it “impossible for detainees to trust their sense of reality” (160). What one person might think is something normal, a former prisoner might think is their fault.

The use of torture as an interrogation technique is problematic because it does not guarantee accurate truthful answers (20, 41). We see this play out on page 138 where Emad, a GITMO prisoner answers “…yes?” to having Al-Qaeda connections. However, his yes begins with and an ellipsis (…) and followed by a question mark demonstrating his confusion and hesitancy in answering. In the same panel, Emad’s clothes are tattered, his face beaten, his head hanging limply to the side, and tied to a rope. In the next panel it’s explained he was confused because where he grew up in Yemen, there is a town called Al-Qaidah, that was his connection. Not Al-Qaeda the terrorist group, but Al-Qaidah the town in Yemen. Meanwhile, Emad was never charged with a crime, and neither were many of the other men imprisoned in Guantánamo, a fact that is repeated again and again throughout the book.

With the exception of the first and last chapter of the book, every chapter has a different illustration style by a different artist. What otherwise could have been clashing art styles is unified by the same sunset tone inspired color scheme. Mirk states in the book’s notes that because the story was “so dark” she hoped to draw in readers with a “sunset tone color palette” that would “evoke the surreal contrast between the beauty of Guantánamo Bay as a place and the horror of what has happened there” (183).

Mirk provides a lot of information before and after the book. The graphic novel includes notes on language, a timeline of events, an introduction, a map of Guantánamo, facts about Guantánamo, notes on how the book was made, sources and references, and even art from one of the prisoners.

________________________

Saily Marrero, M.S.I. is the Nursing & Health Studies, Psychology, and Biology Librarian at the University of Miami. In her free time, she enjoys reading graphic novels and practicing yoga.