Guantanamo detainee’s ‘serious’ complaint: ‘The guard took Quran (Koran) from me and gave it back’

Free Frank Warner: Guantanamo detainee’s ‘serious’ complaint: ‘The guard took Quran (Koran) from me and gave it back?’: http://frankwarner.typepad.com/free_frank_warner/2005/05/guantanamo_deta.html

Guantanamo detainee’s ‘serious’ complaint: ‘The guard took Quran (Koran) from me and gave it back’

Here is a summary of notes from a March 28, 2003, FBI interview with a detainee at Guantanamo. It’s from documents the ACLU obtained with a Freedom of Information request.

The detainee’s name has been deleted – that is, redacted. His complaint about his guard’s handling of a Quran was presented to higher level officers as a "serious issue."

Notes that "Detainee REDACTED stated that the treatment of the Koran continued to be the reason for his unwillingness to cooperate. REDACTED was asked how the mistreatment of the Koran had taken place. REDACTED stated that the issue continued to be based on what the detainees perceived as the use of the Koran as a weapon. It was taken from them and returned at will, with little consideration for the value which they placed in the book. REDACTED was asked if he had ever seen the Koran mistreated or intentionally mishandled. He had not. REDACTED was asked if he had ever seen the Koran thrown around, tossed on the ground or mistreated in any way. He had not . . . . REDACTED was informed that his case for the proper treatment of the Koran had been taken to higher levels and presented as a serious issue. The effort had been hurt, however, because it had been found that detainees were hiding things within the pages of the Koran. As a result, the guards were required to look through the Koran for their own safety. REDACTED was asked if he could assure camp officials that none of the detainees would ever hide any objects of any kind in their Korans. He stated he could not.

Back to abuses. This Quran "controversy" has devolved into farce. There have been real abuses at the Abu Ghraib, Kandahar, Guantanamo and other prisons. Detainees have been beaten or sexually humiliated. Some have been killed. Investigate these cases, punish the guilty, and tell us clearly what, if anything, has been done to prevent such abuses from happening again.

But get off the Quran thing. Al Qaida’s abuse of the Quran is as old as al Qaida. There is absolutely nothing a Guantanamo prison guard could do to defile that book any more.