The Mauritanian

by Mohamedou Ould Slahi

  John warned me that if I was planning to lie to him, I should just forget it and tell him the truth so I could pass the test. He was aware of my fear and anxiety. He knew that I was afraid of Captain Collins and his henchmen, including the Egyptian and the Jordanian, and he used that, saying he would report back to Captain Collins with his findings. SSG Mary told me that Captain Collins decided not to show up because he didn’t want to ruin the test results with his presence; he saw himself as a man who “exudes authority,” according to Mary. I had the feeling that his colleagues, who were aware of his past practices, decided he shouldn’t come to the test. But as a matter of fact, he followed the whole thing through a hole he poked in the thick black plastic screen that separated the detainee’s area from the guards’ area, and he was really clumsy; I kept hearing the rustling of the plastic during the test. I learned later that Master Jedi and Master Luke were watching, too.

  John told me his questions would be in a random order, and that his laptop spat them out as it pleased. In reality, programmers talk about pseudorandom numbers, because producing true randomness is not as easy as one would think. But his questions really weren’t very random at all. I was asked to answer two types of questions, relevant and non-relevant; the sole purpose of the non-relevant questions was to “calibrate” me and the equipment.

  “Are you wearing shoes?”

  “Is your name Mohamedou?”

  “Are you sitting on a chair?”

  “Are you an astronaut?”

  “Have you ever cheated on a test?” I answered yes. I remembered a time that I was frustrated with a teacher and his subject and decided to attend exactly zero classes. I ended up having to study the subject in a hurry, and I brought his textbook with me to the test for when I couldn’t answer a question on my own.

  John took some time to scold me. He told me that he never cheated in his life, and that he hated people who cheat to get where they don’t deserve. I tried to explain that in most subjects at the university we were allowed to look things up during tests, because that is what we would do in real life, but some teachers denied that opportunity. But no amount of whitewashing myself would make him have sympathy for me or give me a break. SSG Mary was looking at me and smiling; she told me later on that she had cheated in college, too.

  The real meat for John was in some direct, straightforward questions, like, “When you were in Canada, did you plan to attack the United States?” When he asked me this, I asked him to add Canada to the question because the U.S. government was trying to link me to terrorist plots there, too.

  “Let’s worry about the U.S. for now,” he told me. But he must have changed his mind, maybe when he saw conclusively that I had done nothing against the United States, because he later started adding Canada to his questions automatically.

  “Do you know any al Qaeda members in the U.S. or Canada you haven’t told us about?”

  “No,” I answered.

  “Do you know about future attacks in the U.S. or Canada?”

  “No.”

  “Have you said anything about Ahmed Laabidi that isn’t true?”

  “Yes,” I said. I told him Ahmed was basically an innocent man as far as I knew. When I said that, both he and Mary told me that they both had that feeling, and more importantly, that the leadership thought so, too. John went behind the screen to consult with Captain Collins and others who were watching. I knew this was a bitter pill for Captain Collins, who was watching two people being cleared before his eyes. He was obsessed with getting people convicted and sent to jail, not only in GTMO and the U.S., but even in Germany. One day he came to me upset and said he badly needed my help because a Moroccan on trial in Germany named Abdelghani Mzoudi was acquitted. My job was to provide information that would change the mind of a German federal judge, to convict a person whose name I never heard before. Looking at a picture Captain Collins must have printed from the internet, I was speechless. “I don’t know this man,” I said reluctantly. To Captain Collins, anyone who is arrested is a criminal; there are no innocent suspects.

  Captain Collins must have advised the team to learn from me what information I had provided about Laabidi that was false, which was everything except that Ahmed Laabidi was a Muslim man from Tunisia. John amended the questions and posed them again. Until now my physiological responses were all over the place, John said, and I was just hoping he could tell the difference between a lie and a person who is simply a nervous wreck. But I felt more comfortable talking about Laabidi with Mary, because she and I were on the same wavelength. John asked me if I was now giving any false information about Laabidi.

  “No.”

  “Have you withheld any information about Laabidi?” he asked.

  “No.”

  John kept asking these questions until he was satisfied with my physiological responses. He also repeated the questions about whether I planned to attack the U.S. or Canada. He kept trying to reassure me because he could see on the machine my extreme fear and anxiety. At one point, he wondered how I could be a terrorist, and I told him I was “a clumsy one,” which he found very funny.

  “You did good,” he said to me when the test was over. He didn’t mean that I passed, only that I calmed down enough for him to be able to evaluate me; the evaluation had to wait until the next day. I spent a long, sleepless night, expecting the worst.

  SSG Mary came to see me the next day with the broadest smile I’d seen so far.

  “I always believed in you,” she told me. “You passed with flying colors, and this time there was no ‘inconclusive’ stuff.” She brought me some cookies. If I told you that I wasn’t more excited about passing the exam than Mary, I would hardly be overstating her satisfaction. I realized that Captain Collins had gone too far in his quest to get me convicted, and all of a sudden I wasn’t afraid of the polygraph anymore. I told her I was ready to take another one over any other statements I had made in the past.

  I soon had my chance. Some in the team couldn’t believe the results, and I was asked to take the same test again a week later. The tester claimed that he just wanted to make sure everything was OK, and that I was too nervous the first time. I really don’t think he doubted his judgment, but there were others who had a lot to lose if I passed. The most obvious person was Captain Collins, but I think it was more than just him, and that there was a real interagency fight going on over my case.

  The equipment was installed again next to my cell. This time I had a level of confidence that I didn’t have the last time. I was more frustrated than scared, and I figured if I passed the first one, why shouldn’t I pass this one? I also had the feeling the tester was pissed that others were doubting his expertise, and I figured he must be on my side now, if only to save his own reputation.

  He didn’t speak to me as much this time. The first time, it seemed like every second word he said was “for instance”; on this day, I don’t remember hearing it from him once. I sat like a stone on that hard chair, looking for an ant to accompany me, but I had to settle for the stark white wooden wall.

  The tester asked the same questions. After a couple of runs, he wrapped it up and off he went. The verdict did not change; the tester stuck to his guns, and one more time I passed the test. Master Jedi kept making fun of me for days, asking why I was so nervous during the first test. I told him it was because I’m “sensible,” but that wasn’t what I meant; I was using the wrong word. He laughed, and we agreed that I should say “sensitive” instead.11

  1 Defense Department publicity materials for Guantánamo indeed emphasize protections for religious expression in Guantánamo; see, e.g., “Ten Facts about Guantanamo,” which states, “The Muslim call to prayer sounds five times a day. Arrows point detainees toward the holy city of Mecca.” See http://archive.defense.gov/home/dodupdate/For-the-record/documents/20060914.html.

  2 MOS’s habeas appeal brief describes this same scene: “After Salahi had been in isolation for a few days, Zuley told him he had to ‘stop denying’ t
he government’s accusations. While Zuley was talking, the [redacted] man was behind the tarp, cursing and shouting for Zuley to let him in.” Brief for Appellee, 26–27.

  3 Threatening prisoners with the specter of abusive interrogations by Israeli or Egyptian agents apparently was commonplace. In 2010 a former Guantánamo military interrogator named Damien Corsetti testified at the military commissions trial of Omar Khadr that during his time at the Bagram air base, “interrogations included threats of sending detainees to Israel and Egypt.” See http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/omarkhadr/2010/05/05/interrogator_nicknamed_the_monster_remembers_omar_khadr_as_a_child.html.

  4 This is corroborated chillingly in government documents. According to the Senate Armed Services Committee, on October 17, 2003, a JTFGTMO interrogator sent an e-mail to a GTMO Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT) psychologist that read, “Slahi told me he is ‘hearing voices’ now. . . . He is worried as he knows this is not normal. . . . By the way . . . is this something that happens to people who have little external stimulus such as daylight, human interaction, etc???? seems a little creepy.” The psychologist responded, “Sensory deprivation can cause hallucinations, usually visual rather than auditory, but you never know. . . . In the dark you create things of what little you have.” SASC, 140–41.

  5 The Schmidt-Furlow report places the date of this session as September 8, 2003, noting that interrogation records show that on that date “the subject of the second special interrogation wanted to see ‘Captain Collins’” and that the interrogation team “understood that detainee had made an important decision and that the interrogator was anxious to hear what Detainee had to say.” Schmidt-Furlow, 25.

  6 The reference here is likely to Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who spied for Soviet and then Russian intelligence services from 1979 until his arrest and conviction in 2001.

  7 Bob Barker Company, Incorporated, which identifies itself as “America’s Leading Detention Supplier,” is a major supplier of prison uniforms for the U.S. Department of Defense. See http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=20020112&id=6gJPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ux8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5765,3098702.

  8 It appears from MOS’s 2008 Detainee Assessment and from MOS’s habeas corpus decision that confessions like those MOS is describing here became part of the government’s allegations against him. Both Raouf Hannachi and Ahmed Laabidi appear in both the 2008 Detainee Assessment and Judge James Robertson’s 2010 habeas memorandum order; in both documents the government portrays MOS, Hannachi, and Laabidi as members of a Montreal cell of al-Qaeda, with Hannachi as the cell’s leader and Laabidi as the cell’s financier. A footnote to Judge Robertson’s opinion specifically notes that MOS’s statement under interrogation that “Laabidi [is] a terrorist who supported use of suicide bombers” came in an interrogation session dated September 16, 2003—right around the time of the scene MOS describes here. The 2008 Detainee Assessment is available at http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/760-mohamedou-ould-slahi. Detainee Assessment, 10; Memorandum Order, 26–28.

  9 MOS indicates later in the manuscript that he remained in the same cell he was delivered into at the end of his staged abduction through the time of the manuscript’s creation. A 2010 Washington Post report described a “little fenced in compound at the military prison” that matches the description of his living situation in Camp Echo at the time the manuscript was written. See Peter Finn, “For Two Detainees Who Told What They Knew, Guantanamo Becomes a Gilded Cage,” Washington Post, March 24, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032403135.html. MOS manuscript, 233.

  10 At his 2005 Administrative Review Board hearing, after recounting the boat trip and its aftermath, MOS stated, “Because they said to me either I am going to talk or they will continue to do this, I said I am going to tell them everything they wanted. . . . I told them I was on my own trying to do things and they said write it down and I wrote it and I signed it. I brought a lot of people, innocent people with me because I got to make a story that makes sense. They thought my story was wrong so they put me on polygraph.” ARB transcript, 27.

  11 An official Report of Examination of two polygraph tests administered on November 12 and November 20, 2003 was included in the exhibits entered into the record in MOS’s habeas corpus appeal proceedings. The report describes the following questions and results:

  On 12 Nov 03, ISN 760 was interviewed and consented to a polygraph examination concerning his participation in plans to harm the United States or Canada and if he had provided false information in regard to a known terrorist.

  On 12 Nov 03 and 20 Nov 03, ISN 760 was interviewed and consented to a Polygraph examination to verify the veracity of his statements as reflected above. . . .

  Based on the above information ISN 760 was provided a Polygraph examination in which the below questions were asked and answered as indicated:

  a. While in Canada, did you plan with anyone to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  b. Do you know of any Al Qaida members that have lived in the U.S. or Canada that you have not told us about? . . . No

  c. Do you have any knowledge regarding future plans to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  After analysis of the polygrams collected during SERIES I, no opinion could be rendered due to ISN 760s physiological responses to the relevant questions. A SERIES II was conducted with the following relevant questions asked and the responses with the ISN 760’s answer:

  d. Have you provided any false information regarding Laabidi? . . . No

  e. Have you withheld any information regarding Laabidi? . . . No

  After analysis of the polygrams collected during SERIES II, no opinion could be rendered due to ISN 760’s answer:

  f. Have you provided any false information regarding Laabidi? . . . No

  g. Have you withheld any information regarding Laabidi? . . . No

  After analysis of the polygrams collected during SERIES III, the Examiner determined that ISN 760’s physiological responses were not indicative of deception and is being reported as No Deception Indicated. . . .

  h. While in Canada, did you ever plan with anyone to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  i. Do you have any knowledge regarding future plans to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  After analysis of the polygrams collected during SERIES I, no opinion could be rendered due to ISN 760’s physiological responses to the relevant questions. A SERIES II was conducted with the following relevant questions asked and the responses with the ISN 760’s answer:

  j. While in Canada, did you make plans with anyone to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  k. Do you know of any future plans to harm the U.S. or Canada? . . . No

  After analysis of the information collected during the Polygraph, it was the opinion of the examiner that ISN 760 responses resulted in a no deception indicated test result.

  (Report of Examination, ISN 760, entered into the record in the habeas corpus appeal Mohammedou Ould Salahi v. Barack Obama, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia).

  SEVEN

  GTMO

  2004–2005

  The Good News . . . Goodbye Like Family Members . . . The TV and the Laptop . . . The First Unofficial Laughter in the Ocean of Tears . . . The Present Situation . . . The Dilemma of the Cuban Detainees

  I am happy and Captain Collins is very pleased,” said SSG Mary when she showed up the day after the polygraph, accompanied by another sergeant, a white female in her late twenties.

  “What does ‘pleased’ mean?” I asked SSG Mary. I had an idea, but I wanted to be clear since the word was a quotation from Captain Collins.

  “Pleased means very happy.”

  “Ah, OK. Didn’t I tell you that I wasn’t lying?”

  “Yes, I’m glad,” said SSG Mary, smiling. Her happiness was obvious and honest. I was hardly happier about my success than SSG Mary. Now I could tell that the resented torture was heading the other direction, slowly but surel
y. And yet I was extremely skeptical, since I was still surrounded by the same people as I had been since day one.

  “Look at your uniform and ours. You are not one of us. You are our enemy!” Master Yoda used to say.

  “I know.”

  “I don’t want you to forget. If I speak to you, I speak to my enemy.”

  “I know!”

  “Don’t forget.”

  “I won’t!” Such talk left no doubt that the animosity of the guards had been driven to its extreme. Most of the time I had the feeling that they were trained to devour me alive.

  SSG Mary introduced her company to me. “This is another interrogator, you can call her Sergeant like me.”

  The new interrogator was quiet and polite. I can’t really say anything negative about her. She was a workaholic, and not really open to other people. She literally followed the orders of her boss, Captain Collins, and sometimes even worked like a computer.

  “Do you know about your friend Falah’s travel to Iraq in 2003?” she asked me once.

  “Come on, Sergeant, you know that I turned myself in in 2001. How am I supposed to know what went on in 2003? It doesn’t make sense, does it?” I said.

  The sergeant smiled. “I have the question in my request.”

  “But you know that I’ve been in detention since 2001!” I said. The sergeant was very careful, too careful: she used to cover her rank and her name all the time, and she never made any reference to her beliefs. I personally was content with that, as long as she didn’t give me a hard time.

  “I like the way you make connections,” she said, smiling at me in that session. Interrogators have a tendency to enter the house through the window and not the door; instead of asking a direct question, they ask all kinds of questions around it. I took it as a challenge, and for the most part I would search out the direct question and answer that. “Your question is whether or not . . .,” I would say. And the sergeant seemed to like that shortcut.