GUANTANAMO VOICES

A graphic depiction of the human rights disaster that is the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo.

In this collection, illustrated by a dozen or so imaginative artists, editor Mirk presents an extraordinary chronicle of the notorious prison, featuring first-person accounts by prisoners, guards, and other constituents that demonstrate the facility’s cruel reputation. Since 2002, by the editor’s count, Guantanamo has housed 780 prisoners; 40 remain to this day. Of the hundreds of prisoners, writes Mirk, “few have ever been charged with a crime.” Following a reporter’s introduction to the current status of the facility, the book cuts to observations by Mark Fallon, former chief of Middle East Counterintelligence for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, and Matthew Diaz, a former Navy Judge Advocate, which explore not just the absurd discrepancies in the prison’s approach to discipline, but also the prevalence of torture. There are also the horrific stories of those considered prisoners of war: “You’re never going to see your family again. You could be facing execution by firing squad, lethal injection, or gas chamber.” We also hear from the attorneys trying to mete out some kind of justice for those unjustly imprisoned and the prosecutors trying to figure out how to try accused men who don’t technically exist in the American justice system. The sweetly illustrated chapter about prisoner Mansoor Adayfi depicts how the Yemeni-born prisoner bonded with the island’s wild animals during his 14-year stay: “She reminded me every week that I was still human and that life still had beauty,” he says of the iguana he named Princess. Adayfi was never charged with a crime. Perhaps the best summary comes from Katie Taylor, who coordinates the Life After Guantanamo project at the human rights organization Reprieve: “This prison is premised on false information.”

An eye-opening, damning indictment of one of America’s worst trespasses that continues to this day.