Free The General: The Ordinary Man Who Became One Of The Bravest Prisoners In Guantanamo Authored By Ahmed Errachidi Provided As Digital

book was written by one of the Muslim men detained at Guantanamo by the American govt initially under George Bush, In light of the/attacks and the subsequent media leaks about the things that were happening at Guantanamo I can easily believe this account.
Errachidi gives an honest account of his treatment whilst in the prison, It is shocking and confirms all of the abuse and more,

I am not convinced by the author's reasons for ending up in Guantanamo in the first place and I note that he admits to having been working illegally in Britain at various points prior to his detention.
He states that he originally travelled to Pakistan in order to 'help' civilians that were being effected by the war effort, this despite having a young son desperately ill.
He was captured and sold to the Americans and only released after five years of incarceration, It appears he was scheduled for release for several years but was not actually released as Britain wouldn't take him and they feared he would be tortured if returned to Morocco, ironically he was already being tortured in Guantanamo.


I'm sure his strange story about his reasons for going to Pakistan and his illegal visits to Britain are probably what prevented his case being progressed.
I don't know the truth of these things, only the author does, But his account rings true in all other respects and the abuse he and the other prisoners seemingly suffered was appalling,

I found a lot of this book repetitive and in far too much detail for the events in question, I can't believe the author could remember so many small details about his detention, It's almost incredible as he documents various days and times etc, . . but again it seems authentic, He seems to have become a leader within the prison hence the "General" title and was responsible for a lot of the friction between the prisoners and the establishment including numerous hunger strikes.
If these were convicted prisoners then I would have less sympathy for this type of rebellion and would probably hold the view that they brought this on themselves.
BUT these were not convicts, most of them hadn't even been charged, a lot of them were never charged and some were completely innocent and just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
so I can understand their frustration and their behaviour in these circumstances,

There is some swearing in this book but not a lot, There are also limited sexual references, The torture is described and may upset some readers, I don't really recommend this book for Christians as there is nothing especially edifying in it and it is not light reading! a shocking, terrifying testimonial and memoir of a hidden dark world! I guess seeing is no longer believing.
Great book "America wanted the world to know they were giving assistance to the Afghani people, and yet they couldn't accept that I'd been doing exactly the same thing.
"
This really sums up this book, Was it really a war on terror Or a war on Muslims
I can't say I enjoyed reading this book as much as ' enemy combatant' moazzam begg.
I think the reason for that is Moazzam knew the names of the guards and explained the types of 'relationships' he had with them.
However if anything The General had even less of a reason to have been taken prisoner and seems a more likeable character to me.
I thank Allah he finally got his freedom back,
As an extra note, i happen to know the man who translated this book from arabic and he said that Ahmed Errachidi is innocent.
I believe him. This book should come with a cautionary note attached, If you want to keep on believing in a 'free' and 'just' West than you are better off not reading this very moving tale.
How someone as innocent as this author undergo such heinous and demeaning treatment by the all mighty United State of America is a very bitter pill to swallow.
Indeed, this makes Osama Bin Ladin a most merciful dispatcher in comparison! I once read a book which was eventually made into a movie as well called 'The men who stare at goats' by Jon Ronson which seemed like complete fantasy stuff, with Pentagon funding huge projects in physops projects designed to overcome enemies by playing heavy metal music, sleep deprivation, water boarding etc.
The full extent of which can be read in this very lucid tale of Ahmed's incarceration, Why the might US and British intelligence agencies not able to find out Ahmed's innocence early through his ordeal is proof for me that these Arabs and Muslims were there as an example.
What they signified to the US is beyond my comprehension though, were they meant to send a message to the Muslim fundamentalists or their Western sympathizing heads of state

What especially moved me were the tales of torture by ordinary American soldiers, doctors, lawyers who willingly and passionately cooperative in the daily routines of prisoner torturing.
As a Muslim reader, I was thrilled with the very noble reaction and fightback by the brother Muslims in the face of such a determined and all powerful adversary.
Ahmed and his fellow prisoners are not only wonderful ambassadors for Islam, but for the spirit of humanness as well, How they managed to deal with the constant torture is indeed a great testament of the human spirit's determination and adaptability, Actually the vicious treatment displayed by American soldiers is an exact opposite, signifying the dredge of human beings, So Gitmo seemed to have opposite effects, Bush's good guys turned out to be evil and his evil people turned out to be good.


As a Pakistani I felt very ashamed at the way Arabs were maltreated in my country during the USA bombing of Afghanistan.
It fully explains the strange comments I received upon finding out that I belonged to Pakistan when I went to Tangier as a tourist last year.


I would highly recommend this book to all so that the real dangers which propaganda can induce even in a democratic countries like USA and UK.
The book is summed up pretty well when Ahmed makes a straight inference to President Bush's speech and the same sort of comments made by Ahmed's interrogator's and soldiers in Gitmo which again shows how much an impact a leader can make in even free democratic societies like USA.


For me, the real lesson to take away is always foster a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to media and government narrative.
Its not always easy to do so, but till we know for sure we should not give government and media the benefit of doubt automatically.


Democracy died a death for me after reading this very touching story, It needs to be reincarnated again, and Gitmo needs to be converted into a tourist site like Auschwitz, First posted onPillars: sitelink combook

Asim Qureshi shares his thoughts on Ahmed Errachidis book “The General”, where the author recounts his time in Guantanamo Bay.


There is no such thing as “just another” Guantanamo Bay detainee account each book provides a completely unique take on the experiences of those detained at the detention camps.
Central to Moazzam Beggs account is his struggle with identity and place, for Abdul Salam Zaeef it was the wider politick, while Oud Slahi speaks with the voice of one still incarcerated.
There is only one very obvious theme that runs throughout Ahmed Errachidis book “The General”, and that is resistance,

the generalWhether he is accounting the desecration of the Quran, other forms of religious abuse, sexual humiliation or deprivation of food, Errachidi is never a victim of the horrors being perpetrated by his captors.
In her book “Trauma and Recovery”, Judith Herman speaks of how such individuals form tactics of resistance,

“Political prisoners who are aware of the methods of coercive control devote particular attention to maintaining their sense of autonomy.
One form of resistance is refusing to comply with petty demands or to accept rewards, The hunger strike is the ultimate expression of this resistance, Because the prisoner voluntarily subjects himself to greater deprivation than that willed by his captor, he affirms his sense of integrity and selfcontrol.
”

What Herman describes is perfectly summarised by Ahmed Errachidi, when he says,



“Even after all this time I cant find words to adequately describe what a terrible state I soon was in.
If I could have, Id have brought an end to my suffering, But what I feared more than their torture was becoming their man, Thats what kept me strong, ”

It is in this regard, that the books title becomes even more significant, as it is the name that was given to him by the US military personnel detaining him.
Aside from the irony of the military nature of the nomdeguerre “The General” that was placed on him, it speaks to the way Errachidi not only resisted himself, but organised others around him to stand up for themselves in the most difficult of circumstances.


Resistance

For Errachidi, the resistance was not just a political act there was a spiritual element that was connected to his desire not to be overwhelmed by the abuse he was receiving.
From as early as his detention at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, he was cognisant of the ease, with which he could fall into despondency,

“I decided to pull myself out of the darkness that was enveloping me and also to try and save the others drowning with me.
So I began to recite some short chapters of the Koran, and as I did, with the help of God, the fear in me subsided.
My heart rested and I came back to myself, I think my recitation also had the same effect on the others, So I recited some more, Nobody stopped me it was as if the lounge had been emptied of the guards, Calm prevailed. ”

Bagram to Kandahar to Guantanamo Bay a familiar route for many of the detainees, During that process, some would not survive, such as Habibullah and Dilwar, having been beaten to death by the Americans at Bagram, While it is such torture that immediately offends the senses, it is the strength with which Errachidi and his companions fought for the most basic dignities that are so stark.
It is almost as if he is saying to us that the torture I can take just dont humiliate me by forcing me to go to the toilet in front of my fellow brothers, guards and in particular female guards,

“Just as in Bagram, our open bucket toilets were used to humiliate us.
If someone was using the toilet when the time came to call the numbers, that was no excuse and if someone due for interrogation was found on the toilet, they wouldnt wait for him but would shout at him to get off and immediately lie on the ground.
Thus did our captors try and sow terror in our hearts, They also played horrible games with us, Sometimes, in the evening, theyd order us to carry toilet buckets around the tent, Once they called on me to tell four prisoners to carry the buckets, in quick succession, and in circles, around our tent, This was a great humiliation for my comrades but I felt it was even more humiliating for me because I was having to translate the orders into Arabic and watch them being carried out.
When the soldiers told me that, as translator, I wouldnt have to carry any buckets, I shouted at the top of my voice that I wanted to take part.
When they told me to stop shouting, I picked up a bucket and began running, Round and round in circles I went, as theyd made the others do, shouting at the top of my voice as if Id lost my mind.
In fact, I almost did lose my mind, being degraded in this manner, However, after that, they didnt try to make us play that particular game again, ”

Autonomy and empowerment through solidarity

What is incredible about the forms of resistance taken by the detainees was not only the way that it empowered them to retain some degree of autonomy, but in fact, how it disempowered their captors.
Often the key to their successes, lay in one word: solidarity, Errachidi recounts that during one phase of punishment at Guantanamo Bay, the guards were forcefully removing the clothes of detainees forhour period, but due to the lengthy process, could only do four or five a time,

“We fought back and so they only managed to strip four or five of us a day, returning the next day to do another batch.
Because new prisoners kept joining the block and then, seeing what was happening, also joining in our protest, it took over seven days to remove all our trousers and many prisoners sustained injuries in the process.
It was so exhausting after seven days we no longer had the energy to resist, with the result that newcomers started voluntarily giving up their clothes.
Even so, we prisoners found ways round this imposed nakedness, At times of prayer wed take off our shirts and wear them round our legs while others would pray in their shorts, But there was nothing we could do about the toilet: prisoners on punishment would have to use it naked and without a veil while soldiers, including women soldiers, stared and jeered.
”

It is here, that Errachidis nomdeguerre as “The General” becomes clearer, He came up with an idea which seemingly might have been perceived to be counterintuitive, but in reality, proved his role as a leader among the brotherhood of detainees,

“Id already been working on an idea for a few weeks pacing my cell, three steps one way, three steps the other, figuring out my reasoning so I was prepared.
I proposed that we rip up our orange shirts,

“Since the main thrust of our protest was to put an end to the punishment of having our clothes forcibly removed, this must have sounded like a peculiar idea.
But I laid out my arguments in a methodical manner, I told my fellows that one of the reason, we were prohibited from removing our clothes was because they were visible and helped the soldiers to identify us.
If, I argued, we managed to get the bulk of the prison population to join in the removal and destruction of up to five hundred shirts this would not only confuse them but also send a strong signal about our refusal to put up with punishments, and it would undermine the camp authorities whod given us the orange kit.
Since, I continued, it was compulsory for them to clothe us I told my fellow prisoners that this was written into the Geneva Convention I didnt know if it was but thought it might be, a prisoner being escorted to interrogation or clinic without a shirt would be an embarrassment to the army.
Although we never met them we knew journalists and their like paid frequent visits to the prison and if they were to see us dressed only in our trousers this would make a huge impression.
The orange clothes were also a visible sign that we were their prisoners: by removing our shirts we would be sending the administration a message that we were no longer prepared to be their captives.
And finally, I argued that if every one of us tore up our shirts at the same time, and if we then tore up any new

shirts issued to us, theyd have a serious problem, not least because the Pentagon would start asking why they were spending so much money on shirts.
”

Often we refer to those who have been through torture and trauma as being survivors, however Ahmed Errachidi is much more than a survivor.
An innocent man who had not committed a crime against any country, he refused to not only accept the allegations against him, but also challenged every single abusive condition against the detainee population.


Asim Qureshi is the Research Director at advocacy group CAGE,

You can follow him on Twitter AsimCP,