Mansoor Adayfi

Don't Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo
by Mansoor Adayfi

This is a book that should be read by ever American so maybe we will not allow our government to go against the Geneva Convention again. This is one man's nightmare of being sold to the CIA for $1,500 dollars even though he was innocent. The majority of those locked up were innocent. Mansoor was only 19 years old and was locked up for 14 years.

Monsoor describes the whole tragic ordeal of the capture, the torture, transfer to show more a black site, and then to Guantanamo. He also what happens with others around him. What they endured, how they tried to fight back in subtle ways, and the fact they never expected the Americans would do this to them.

There was daily beating, and other tortures such as rectal probes, holding their eyes open and pepper spray applied, keeping them naked, freezing them, little to no sunshine, loud noises to make them not sleep, constantly grabbing them for interrogation claiming they were guilty, having dogs attack them, and so much more.

None of these people were charged with anything. Some were teachers, journalists, doctors, farmers, and kids! When one of Monsoor's friends got a broken tooth from fist or boot, he was in so much pain. No one would help him. The cell mates made a big stink so after a couple of weeks, they took the kid away. When he came back they had pulled eight teeth! One of the nice guards wrote up a report and was relocated off base. No one was allowed to complain. Another had frost bite to the tips of a couple of fingers. He came back with no fingers.

Although this upset me greatly to read, I think it is important to know what our government did in our names! It was an illegal war in my opinion and to drop our humanity on top of that and be okay with it is beyond words!
When Monsoor was finally released after 14 years of hell, he didn't even have a choice as to where to live. Others that left before him didn't do well. Some were killed because they were feared because America called them terrorists.

I hope the Bush Administration and everyone of them that played a part in lying to get us into that war reads this and sees what they have done.

There is so much in here! What I touched on is just the tip of the iceberg. Knowledge is power, read this!
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book. Monsoor, I will think of you daily! show less

This audiobook is an excellent example of Audible custom content. There is excellent narration and the three-act production structure makes it very engaging. This is the incarceration memoir of Mansoor Adayfi, a Yemeni who ended up held without charge in Guantanamo Bay detention from February 9, 2002, to July 11, 2016. He was transferred to Serbia. According to a US government report, before his capture he "probably was a low-level fighter who was aligned with al-Qa'ida, although it is show more unclear whether he actually joined that group", and "traveled to Afghanistan in mid-2001, trained at an al-Qa'ida camp, [was] wounded by a coalition airstrike after the 9/11 attacks", and was captured by Afghan forces in late 2001. His story is he was a would-be student swept up for the bounty offered by the US. During the Inquisition, accusers could gain financially. If a person was found guilty of heresy, their property was often confiscated by the authorities. In some instances, a portion of this confiscated property would be given to the accuser as a reward. This was also true for those convicted of witchcraft. In later centuries, they had their property seized by the authorities. This property could then be distributed among those involved in the trial, including the accusers. So, we do have many centuries of experience with bounties leading to false arrests.

This is a compendium of rejected letters written by the author, both to family and imaginary recipients like "Founding Fathers" and "Google". Incarcerated at 19 and caught in a bewildering situation, the author clung at straws, succeeding in learning English and staying fit thanks to Men's Health, another would-be letter recipient. show less