Tweet

Mansoor Adayfi منصور الضيفي

9 Oct, 9 tweets, 8 min read

On 10/7/01, when the US launched the #WarOnTerror w/ Operation Enduring Freedom, they littered Afghanistan with Tomahawk missiles, cluster bombs, and pamphlets like this offering $$$$ for al Qaeda & Taliban fighters.

Like thousands of others, I was sold to the US for bounty money, sent to a black site where I was tortured & then sent to Guantanamo. I was only 18 years old. I wasn’t a fighter. I wasn’t al Qaeda leader or Taliban.

At Guantanamo, I met farmers who were sold by neighbors who wanted their land. I met charity workers, teachers, engineers, all kinds of men who were sold as fighters.

[Me at #Guantánamo Camp 6 2012]

Yes, there were some al Qaeda & Taliban, but most were not. As early as the summer of 2002, US leadership & intelligence officials knew this & referred to us in private as “dirt farmers” because we had so little intelligence value.

Even Donald Rumsfeld, in this April 2003 memo to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote, “We need to stop populating Guantanamo Bay (“GTMO”) with low-level enemy combatants.”
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

@SetonHallLaw

But publicly, Rumsfeld & other govt officials continued to insist #Guantanamo held "the most dangerous, most vicious terrorists, trainers, bomb makers, recruiters, financiers & would-be suicide bombers." @SetonHallLaw reports document it all.

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

Instead of releasing us, General Miller turned Guantanamo into a Battle Lab & model for interrogation that used torture, inhumane treatment, religious defamation & cruelty to extract intelligence we didn’t have. Miller brought that model to #AbuGhraib

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…

I survived 14 years at Guantanamo by fighting for what I knew was right and searching for humanity wherever I could, sometimes in art, sometimes in a kind gesture from a guard, sometimes in an iguana.

Almost 20 years after opening, 39 men are still held at Guantanamo, many have never been charged with a crime. It’s time to #CloseGuantanamo, #reckonwithtorture, and make sure this never happens again.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @MansoorAdayfi

Mansoor Adayfi منصور الضيفي

@MansoorAdayfi

2 Oct

This week I graduated w/ excellence from college, at the very top of my class and student of the year. 20 years ago this week, I was kidnapped by warlords in Afghanistan and later sold to the US for bounty. I was 18 yrs old.

Education has always been important to me and to my family. My father insisted my sisters go to school and expected US ALL to get top marks. I left my village at 13 for high school in Sana’a. I knew I wanted to go to college.

When I was sent to #Guantanamo, I protested our inhumane treatment w/ hunger strikes and block riots, I refused to talk to interrogators. For this I was stripped of all “comfort items” including books, pens, paper.

Read 11 tweets

Mansoor Adayfi منصور الضيفي

@MansoorAdayfi

25 Sep

Hunger Strike Thread:
1/8
We had no rights at #Guantanamo. We had no power. We had nothing but our bodies and our lives and we had to use them to bring about change. Going on #hungerstrike is like entering a dark tunnel & the light at the end is death.
#artfromguantanamo

2/8
In the beginning, your stomach growls & begs for food. You dream of food. I dreamed of meals my father made after Ramadan--lamb mandi that melted in my mouth. I regretted every grain of rice left uneaten.

3/8
Days later, your stomach shuts down. Your body consumes your fat, then muscle. You feel pain in every cell consumed. You don’t sleep. You can’t concentrate and feel confused. Your vision blurs. Your heart beats so fast it’s hard to breathe.

Read 8 tweets

Mansoor Adayfi منصور الضيفي

@MansoorAdayfi

18 Sep

#Thread 1/8
20 years ago today, just 6 days after 9/11, George W. Bush gave the CIA broad powers to "Capture and Detain" anyone in what would become the #WarOnTerror

2/8
Weeks later, I was sold to the CIA and sent to a black site in Afghanistan where I was tortured along with many others until I confessed that I was someone I wasn't just to stop the pain. This is what I wrote in my book

3/8
I was then sent to #Guantánamo, where I spent over 14 years as a prisoner of the US. I didn't have rights, I didn't have an attorney or legal representation until 2009. I was never charged with a crime. I was never told why I was being held. I was only detainee ISN 441.

Read 8 tweets

Mansoor Adayfi منصور الضيفي

@MansoorAdayfi

11 Sep

1/8
20 years ago, I heard about 9/11 on the radio in Afghanistan. At 18, I couldn’t imagine buildings so tall or why someone would kill so many people. Soon after, I was sold to the US & sent to #Guantanamo. 8 years later, when I saw video of 9/11 for the first time,

2/8
I wept for all the innocent lives that lost since 2001.
I never could have imagined that this tragedy would be used to justify keeping me and hundreds of others locked up and tortured for nearly 15 years.