Witnesses of the unseen Seven years in Guantanamo

This book is crucial reading for all Americans. From a faculty perspective, it is invaluable to students in a number of disciplines: political science, criminal justice, and public administration are ones that come readily to mind because of the constitutional issues raised. At its most basic, this book offers two compelling and disturbingly similar accounts of former Guantanamo detainees Lakhdar Boumediene and Mustafa Ait Idir about their imprisonment in the notorious gulag over seven years. To recount Boumediene's and Idir's harrowing experiences in Guantanamo, they were interviewed and the interviews were then transcribed. The book alternates between Boumediene's and Idir's accounts, which are quite similar but have very different "voices" that highlight the two men's divergent personalities. The United States system of justice fares quite poorly, although ultimately intervention by the US Supreme Court finally gives Boumediene and Idir a review of their incarceration. This is, however, seven years too late. By that time, Boumediene and Idir have undergone unrelentingly brutal treatment by their US guards and endured horrible living conditions as well. This book would be an excellent resource for exploring issues of ethics, checks and balances, and other issues. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Susan Elaine Blankenship, Kentucky State University

Two former detainees of the Guantnamo Bay detention camp come forward with their stories after being declared innocent and freed.After seven years in prison with no charges, Boumediene and Idir finally won the right to challenge their imprisonment in court, and they won. While they were never able to see the classified evidence against them, their lawyers successfully argued that their imprisonment was unconstitutional. In 2001, the two men had been arrested in Bosnia on suspicion of bombing the American Embassy; as they were released, American soldiers, with the permission of the Bosnian government, seized the men and took them to Cuba. This no-frills account of their time in Guantnamo is disturbing, as the authors detail their mistreatment at the hands of prison guards and interrogators and how they were held in outdoor cages as the prison was built around them. Readers will be shocked by the lack of evidence against the men and how the tenuous ties among a group of casual friends fueled the government's crusade against them. The narrative follows both men in turn, giving each the chance to recount his own unique experience. Kept mostly in separate areas of the detention center, they crossed paths occasionally; throughout, their different accounts of the same events don't feel repetitive. Other than an introduction and some additional material about the authors' cases, the book is entirely made up of the words of Boumediene and Idir, translated in interviews with Norland and List. The prose is straightforward, which is appropriate given the raw power of the story. Through hunger strikes, forced feedings, isolation cells, and countless other tribulations, the authors stayed strong, and their faith in themselves and their families kept them going. An intense, important read for anyone interested in the American government's misguided efforts at Guantnamo. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.