"I was brought to an interrogation room and chained to the floor. But no one came to ask me any questions. Hours later, two soldiers appeared and placed a telephone on the table.
"'You'll be getting a call,' they told me.
"That made me curious. I didn't know who the caller would be. An interrogator? My lawyer? Maybe the judge?
"More hours passed. What was going on here? Suddenly the phone rang, but no one came to help me.
"I couldn't pick up the receiver with my hands and feet shackled, but the telephone kept ringing. I threw myself to the floor and tried to drag the table toward me with my feet. Kicking one of the table legs, I managed to dislodge the receiver and knock it down to the floor. I squirmed to get my head as close as possible to the handset. I could just hear a voice on the other end of the line.
"'Hello? Hello?'
"'Yes...'
"It's me, Baher. You're going to be released!'
"'I know. How are you doing?'
"'Murat, are you listening? You're going to be released.'
"'I know,' I said. 'They're playing a nasty trick on you. How is your daughter doing?'
Yet he was released. And yet we do not all know his name. For five year our tax dollars paid guards to ask him his name and other basic questions endlessly, between beatings. And yet we do not all know his story or feel the shame of it.
All across the United States of America there are university departments that claim to teach philosophy and others that claim to teach politics, and yet there are not a million students and professors in Washington, D.C., every day demanding impeachment. How can this be? Can a German victim of our apathy shake us out of our Good-Germanism?
Can we hear the words of Patti Smith in her song about Kurnaz?
Without Chains
four long years
was I a man
dreaming in chains
with the lights on
a netherworld
nothing to say
thoughts impure
at Guantanamo Bay
"'You'll be getting a call,' they told me.
"That made me curious. I didn't know who the caller would be. An interrogator? My lawyer? Maybe the judge?
"More hours passed. What was going on here? Suddenly the phone rang, but no one came to help me.
"'Hello? Hello?'
"'Yes...'
"It's me, Baher. You're going to be released!'
"'I know. How are you doing?'
"'Murat, are you listening? You're going to be released.'
"'I know,' I said. 'They're playing a nasty trick on you. How is your daughter doing?'
Yet he was released. And yet we do not all know his name. For five year our tax dollars paid guards to ask him his name and other basic questions endlessly, between beatings. And yet we do not all know his story or feel the shame of it.
All across the United States of America there are university departments that claim to teach philosophy and others that claim to teach politics, and yet there are not a million students and professors in Washington, D.C., every day demanding impeachment. How can this be? Can a German victim of our apathy shake us out of our Good-Germanism?
Can we hear the words of Patti Smith in her song about Kurnaz?
Without Chains
four long years
was I a man
dreaming in chains
with the lights on
a netherworld
nothing to say
thoughts impure
at Guantanamo Bay
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
