I'd recommend this book.

Guantánamo Diary is probably one of the saddest texts I have ever read. I heard good reviews of the book and was curious to read a firsthand account from someone on "the other side" in the War on Terrorism. I was expecting to read some pretty brutal things but the way Mohamedou Ould Slahi described what happened to him and the work Larry Siems did to substantiate those incidents were beyond belief. Even with redactions, it was still pretty powerful stuff. When I was reading through the introduction and notes about the redactions, I was impatient with Siems. I wanted him to hurry up with it, so I can read Slahi's own words and make my own impressions. As I read more and more, I grew more appreciative of Siems' introduction and footnotes as I did of Slahi's actual text. I believed the majority of what Slahi wrote but there were items that I had (and still have) doubts were authentic. For example, he recounts lengthy conversations he had over his fourteen years detainment. I believe those conversations took place but I also believe the torture he endured happened as well. If the torture happened, how can you not assume he was mentally compromised from time to time and his memories were not affected? He even admits to passing out and forgetting things (i.e. forgetting his own wife's name) on occasion. Also, this is a recollection of events not a diary of events in real-time so his impressions and memories could have changed over the years. That said, I believe in the overall impression of each conversation that he shared (I just question the details). Siems footnotes helped a lot with that. His research about EVERY event and EVERY person Slahi recalled, gave a tremendous amount of credence to the what Slahi wrote.

Slahi shares his tale but also shares the tales of many of the people involved along the way. I think that is what saddened me the most. There are more sadistic people in the world than I assumed. I definitely underestimated the depravity human beings are capable of or rather how common place that depravity occurs. Slahi doesn't paint everyone with the same brush but he painted enough people to make me wonder what any one person is capable of doing when asked. Slahi goes out of his way to make it clear he does not think their actions are something innate but rather committed based on their devoted belief on doing whatever is necessary in the War on Terrorism. Strangely enough, knowing that helped me stomach some of what happened. I am not saying it was justified but rather helped make some sense of the chaos.

There is a lot more (like the international impressions of the United States) examined in the book that was thought provoking and really interesting. I highly recommend reading it and formulating your own impressions. I am sure opinions will be varied and diverse however be sure, an opinion will be made. I do think one item we can all agree upon is there is no way you can listen to Bodies by Drowning Pool in the same way again.