An Important Case Study

After hearing an interview with Larry Seims on the radio, I checked this book out. I have no reason to doubt what Mahamedou Ould Slahi writes. I personally believe that he is being held unjustly, as are other detainees. To assume that "Guantánamo Diary" offers an academic argument against the detention of so-called "enemy combatants" would be a mistake. The book only offers one person's experience being caught up in a national policy gone bad.

Unfortunately, as literature the book does not hold up. The redactions make it very difficult to read, despite Seims' well-researched attempts to give the redactions context. In addition, not much actually happens in the book. Slahi is detained at various black sites around the world before he is sent to Guantánamo. From there, the book reads like a laundry list of interrogations, which included exposure, sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, beatings, fake executions, and so forth. Reasonable people will agree that treating people in this manner is wrong and it is clear from Slahi's book that he is being mistreated. It is not my intention to in anyway trivialize his treatment, but the narrative rarely progressed.

Something that is mentioned only very briefly in the forward is the fact that Slahi did serve as a combatant in Afghanistan, fighting against the Soviets at a time when he was hailed by Ronald Reagan as a "freedom fighter." After that, Slahi lived a perfectly normal life, studying computer electronics and trying to improve his family's situation.

While I appreciate the exposé and believe it provides a very valuable case study of the injustice given to one man, the book does not read very well. It is an important document to have, it is only one person's perspective. ( )