terry holdbrooks
Terry Holdbrooks stood watch over prisoners at Gitmo. [1]
Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guant?namo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as “the General.” [2]
CAGEPRISONERS: I’m being joined by Terry Holdbrooks in the US, a former Guantanamo Bay guard. [3]
Continuing my series of interviews with people with direct knowledge of matters Guantanamo Bay (or “GTMO”), the closure of which President Obama has made a signature part of his agenda, I bring you this interview with a former prison guard there, Terry Holdbrooks, Jr., who served at GTMO from 2002 to 2005. [4]
So Holdbrooks began spending part of the night sitting cross-legged on the ground, talking to detainees through the metal mesh of their cell doors. [1]
But as the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guant?namo, other scenes are starting to emerge as well, including surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. [2]
Detainees would ask of him, but they did not know what had happened, and the new Islamic chaplain they brought in had little to no privileges in comparison to what Chaplain Yee had. [5]
He’d escort prisoners to interrogations or walk up and down the cellblock making sure they weren’t passing notes. [6]
Cageprisoners today publishes an exclusive interview with Terry C. Holdbrooks Jr, a former guard at the notorious prison camps in Guantanamo Bay. [...] TH: Being low in rank- I was just a Pv2 at that point in time (that’s the second rank in the army if you’re an enlisted soldier), I was primarily just a ‘grunt’- my job was to walk up and down the block, to ensure the detainees weren’t passing anything between cells, to ensure that there wasn’t any wrongdoings going on, that none of the detainees had any comfort items they were not supposed to have, to collect trash, to clean the block, to take detainees to and from their shower. [...] He eventually embraced Islam in the presence of former British resident, Ahmed Errachidi, known by the Guantanamo guards as ‘The General’. [3]
On 23rd February 2009 he became the first - and thus far only - Guantanamo prisoner to be released under the Obama administration. [7]
During an evening talk with Errachidi in early 2004, the conversation turned to the shahada, the one-line statement of faith that marks the single requirement for converting to Islam (”There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet”). [1]
So this caused an uproar–it spread through the camps quite quickly–it seems that within twenty minutes every block within the camp had this idea–that they shouldn’t get their shot–that their shot was bad, it was a horrible thing, it was going to kill them. [3]
In interviews over recent weeks, he and another former guard told NEWSWEEK about degrading and sometimes sadistic acts against prisoners committed by soldiers, medics and interrogators who wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks on America. [1]
Sources:
[1] The Guard Who Found Islam: : Information Clearing House - ICH
[2] The Gitmo Guard Who Converted to Islam | Newsweek National News …
[3] Terry C. Holdbrooks Jr. ‘ The Center for the Study of Human Rights in …
[4] Interview with Terry Holdbrooks, Jr.
[5] the talking dog: March 11, 2009, TD Blog Interview with Terry …
[6] Forum Listing
[7] Cageprisoners.com - serving the caged prisoners in Guantanamo Bay