Who's Protecting Whom From What?

In yesterday's Guardian newspaper, there was an article about Omar Deghayes, a British citizen who was held for 6 years in Guantanamo.

Omar was born in Libya, but his father was opposed to Gaddafi's regime, and the family moved to the UK ( having already visited several times so that Omar could learn English) after his father was taken away and killed by the Libyan authorities.

And there I was thinking opponents of the regime might be considered to be friends of the US.

After a secular upbringing, Omar started practising Islam. He studied Law at a British university. He longed to return home, but his name prevented that, so, to experience Arabic cultures, he left on a round-the-world trip. He visited university friends, including some in Pakistan. He was tempted across the border to Aghanistan, where his knowledge of languages offered him some interesting business opportunities. He married an Afghani woman, set up a school in Kabul, helped various NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations), began an apple export business, and looked set for a good life, until the start of the war.

The family was smuggled out to Pakistan for their own safety. That's when the Americans offered bounty for the identification of people who had recently been in Afghanistan. He was "detained" and spent some months being ferried around by armed guards. He was beaten and interrogated, sometimes by CIA personnel, sometimes by Brits.

Next stop was Bagram military airbase, where the torture continued. He was so sick he did not eat for 50 days and almost died. Two months after his arrival at Bagram, he was sent to Guantanamo. The only "evidence" against him was a video of a Chechen rebel that they said was him. But no one was allowed to see the video, so no one was able to tell those responsible for his kidnap and imprisonment that it clearly was not him, and that the person who was in it was actually already dead.

While at Guantanamo, Omar was attacked by guards, who held him down, while one of their number tried to gouge his eyes out. He was blind for some time, before recovering sight in his left eye, but remains blind in his right.



If this was done to preserve "freedom", then it was a huge miss. You can't do this to innocent people on the offchance they might be guilty of something if you can just torture them till they admit it. Other prisoners died in Guantanamo on the day Omar was blinded. Who knows the cause of their deaths?

I wonder how many people who either underwent, or have been horrified by, this kind of outrage, have been moved to become militants when otherwise they would have lived normal, peaceful lives? Who could blame Omar if he decided to blow up a US or UK target?

I hope for his sake he manages to live the rest of his life free from problems.