Rawi, Bisher al - short clip - ThePainICarryInside

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-	The thing I learned that with Americans is	0:00
	that you could destroy somebody's life,	0:02
	destroy him completely,	0:05
	without even touching him.	0:07
	Like as I said, we are not, we were not	0:09
	in touch with our families.	0:11
	We could not get in touch with our families.	0:12
	However, the Red Cross gives you the facility	0:14
	of being able to write you to your families.	0:17
	However, no guarantee the letter will get through.	0:19
	Okay, no guarantee at all.	0:21
	And not even a glimpse of hope,	0:23
	that the letter will get through, okay.	0:25
	And time taught us that.	0:27
	Like, I'm not saying this because like, you know,	0:29
	people were getting that as I'm claiming that.	0:32
	No, people do not get letters for very, very long time.	0:34
	And then when you get a letter	0:39
	and it's dated nine months ago or a year ago,	0:40
	wow, I've got a letter that's a year old	0:43
	and somebody got a letter six months old.	0:45
	Wow, this is really, really fresh letters,	0:47
	It's only six months old.	0:49
	And this is how it was for majority of the time.	0:50
	So somebody who hasn't had any news of his family	0:53
	for many years now,	0:56
	the Red Cross approaches his cell,	0:59
	and he says, oh, are you so-and-so?	1:01
	You tell him, yes.	1:02
	He tells you, I've got a letter for you from your family.	1:03
	So you're delighted.	1:07
	You're very, very happy.	1:07
	And then he gives you the letter	1:09
	and you look at it,	1:12
	and the letter is all redacted.	1:15
	It's all in black.	1:17
	Nothing	1:19
	Nothing	1:21
	I don't know if you can imagine or the viewer can imagine,	1:23
	how would that individual feel.	1:26
	I mean, many people broke down because of things like this.	1:29
	I mean, if from my, I could simply say,	1:32
	I think if the Red Cross had the decency	1:34
	because they of course the Red Cross,	1:37
	they know what they're giving people.	1:38
	They see that all the letter that has redacted.	1:39
	They could simply say to the person,	1:41
	look your family send you a letter.	1:43
	And the officials they've blacked it all out	1:45
	and there's nothing in it.	1:48
	But if you want, I can give it to you.	1:50
	If the individual has given that introduction,	1:51
	I think the situation would have been	1:55
	very, very much simpler	1:56
	and it's another problem to deal with.	1:58
	But the way things were done,	2:02
	it was deliberately to destroy people.	2:04
	This is very, very simple example.	2:07
	I mean, again, I can give you many, many examples.	2:09
	People would be sort of locked up in isolation	2:12
	for endless months.	2:14
	People would be sort of deprived from decent food	2:18
	for long periods of time.	2:20
	They could simply switch off and disconnect the water supply	2:22
	and you can't use your toilet.	2:26
	They could strip you, keep you naked, literally naked.	2:27
	Or sometimes with just with your underpants.	2:31
	They could go into the cell, beat you off,	2:34
	spray with pepper spray	2:36
	and just leave you there.	2:37
	Again, sleep deprivation was used extensively	2:41
	in Quantanamo, really extensively,	2:44
	but in a very sort of a pretty sort of way,	2:46
	if one could call it pretty.	2:49
	So all they will say, they don't tell you	2:50
	we're subjecting you to sleep deprivation.	2:52
	You're in your cell.	2:55
	They tell you it's time to move.	2:56
	So you basically move from one cell to another	2:58
	and an hour later, it's time to move.	3:01
	So you move from one place or another,	3:03
	and an hour later or two hours later,	3:05
	it's time to move.	3:07
	And they keep doing that.	3:08
	And it's no big deal.	3:09
	Orders are written on a piece of paper,	3:12
	the shift, the guard shift change	3:13
	and the new shift they would just do the same routine	3:15
	again and again,	3:17
	very, very simple.	3:18
	It's no big deal.	3:19
	But for the individual that this is happening too.	3:20
	It's you, they destroy your life.	3:23
	You really destroy.	3:25
	However, strong, however tough you are.	3:26
	However principled you are,	3:28
	however much you don't wanna cause any problems.	3:29
	It will destroy you.	3:33
	It's not something you'll see.	3:34
	As I said in third world country, they're so stupid.	3:36
	They beat you and look, you can,	3:38
	Oh, look, they've tortured me.	3:40
	They do this.	3:42
	I came out Quantanamo and physically,	3:42
	I could not show anything	3:45
	But I have to tell you the pain I carry inside	3:46
	and the memories I have	3:49
	are really very great.	3:51
	And I have nothing to show.	3:54

Item Info

Title:

Rawi, Bisher al - short clip - ThePainICarryInside

Date:

August 2, 2011

Interviewer:

Honigsberg, Peter Jan

Interviewee:

Rawi, Bisher al

Role:

Detainee

Description:

This interview may include descriptions of violence.
Detainee Number US9IZ-000906DP
Bisher al Rawi, male, age 43, an Iraqi citizen and resident of the UK, was detained in Guantanamo for four years (Feburary 2003- March 2007), and then released to Britain without charge.
Description was provided by Witness to Guantanamo.

Subject:

Format:

oral histories

Language:

English

Extent:

2:03:53

Digital Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo

Source Collection:

Witness to Guantanamo Video Collection, 2009-2017

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Rights Note:

Unless otherwise noted, copyright is held by Peter Hongisberg. Under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, you are free to use and share these materials subject to the following conditions: You must attribute Peter Hongisberg as the rights holder. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. You may not distribute any modifications to the materials. For other uses, including commercial uses, please contact Rubenstein Library at http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/ask.

Identifier:

cd2a3925c97f3ad35b96132e4c225a51
witnesstoguantanamo
ark:/87924/r4v69gx7k
e96ca9ff-4cf9-4e8f-9b07-df9ae2b4f488

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4v69gx7k

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Rawi, Bisher al - short clip - ThePainICarryInside

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