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I'm still here

From combatant-status review tribunals held over the past two years for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. More than 5,000 pages of transcripts were released in March by the Defense Department in response to a lawsuit brought by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

Let's look at the allegations and then you will have the opportunity to respond to each.

Okay.

The detainee was born in Pishin, Pakistan.

This is true.

The detainee joined the Taliban shortly after it took control of Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1992.

I never joined the Taliban. I did not know any people in that group. I was just a poor person living my life in my village.

The detainee held a high-ranking position in the Taliban as military judge.

This is not true. Since my incarceration, I have been accused of holding three different positions with the Taliban. Initially, I was accused of being a deputy foreign minister. One month later I was accused of being a Taliban security guard. Now I'm being accused of being a military judge for the Taliban. I have no idea why someone would make these accusations. I can only speculate that it was someone from a rival village. However, I have no proof, because I am here in Guantánamo.

In his position with the Taliban, the detainee tortured, maimed, and murdered Afghan nationals who were being held in Taliban jails.

I never even hit my own child at home.

Pakistani authorities arrested the detainee in the fall of 2001.

I was in my home. Pakistani police told me they wanted to search my home for ancient artifacts that were looted. I had nothing to hide. However, they told me I had to go with them to the police station. I was kept in a Pakistani jail for thirty-six days. One night they tied my hands behind my back, put a hood over my face, and put me into a car. When the car stopped, I could hear airplanes. They took me from the car and put me into an aircraft. There were Americans in this aircraft.

When we landed, they asked me for my name and I told them Abdur Sayed Rahman. I was then told that I was Abdur Zahid Rahman. That was not correct. My name is Abdur Sayed Rahman. Abdur Zahid Rahman was the deputy foreign minister of the Taliban. I was taken to this camp and they began to interrogate me. An American told me I was wrongfully taken and in a couple of days I would be free. I never saw this American again. I'm still here.

---

Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi al-Shirbi, do you understand this process?

I understand. Give me what you have.

The detainee wanted to be a mujahedeen freedom fighter.

The detainee is associated with Al Qaeda and received specialized training on remote-control devices for use in explosives to detonate bombs against Afghan and United States forces.

Osama bin Laden visited a terrorist camp where the detainee was receiving training, and the detainee was observed chatting and laughing like pals with bin Laden.

You may now present any evidence you have to the tribunal. Do you wish to speak under oath?

I have my own oath, I will say it myself.

Okay.

I swear to almighty God, there is no God but Him, I will not only say the truth but fight for the truth, and I will be an enemy fighter to whoever is against the truth, so God be my witness.

You may begin.

Honestly, I did not come here to defend myself but to defend the Islamic nation. If you decide I am an enemy combatant, it is my honor to have this classification in this world until the end, for eternity, God be my witness.

I said to myself in my prison cell, let's count all the accusations against you. I found the accusations against you to be many, too many to count. It starts with being an infidel against God. You left your religion until the only thing you knew was Sunday. Well, some of you know God only on Sunday, and some don't know God at all. You adopted this religion you call democracy and based it on capitalism.

Capitalism is a revolution. Ninety percent of the money in the world is in the hands of ten percent of the people, thanks to capitalism. Your country is reaching the point where a father cannot even forbid his son to sleep with another man, in the name of human rights.

There is your support for Israel. You support Saddam Hussein and kill one million Iraqi children while accusing Saddam Hussein, and you forget you were the one who made him, when you were scared of the Iranian revolution. It does not end.

That concludes your statement?

[Al-Shirbi starts to chant, “May God help me fight the infidels.”]

You shall be notified of the tribunal decision upon completion of the review of these proceedings by the convening authority in Washington, D.C. If the tribunal decides you are not classified as an enemy combatant, you will be released to your own country as soon as arrangements can be made. We have other information for you. Would you like to listen to it?

[Al-Shirbi still chanting.]

---

Good Morning.

Thank God.

We don't know much about you. We have a few questions so we can figure out your story. Can you tell us why you went from Kazakhstan to Afghanistan with your family?

In Kazakhstan there are no jobs. It's hard to make money. We heard that any immigrants to Afghanistan are provided with food.

Did they provide?

Yes, they provided.

You say that in Kabul the only thing you did was grow vegetables. Did you do anything else?

I looked after the house. Nothing else.

What does the United States government mean when it says you have “family ties” to terrorists?

They are just blaming me. It's false.

We're trying to figure out why you're here. The United States wouldn't detain someone for more than two years for simply growing vegetables. Can you help us understand?

[No response.]

Do you want to tell us why you think you're here?

I'm here because I went to Afghanistan for a better life. They captured me at my house. That's the reason I'm here.

Who captured you in Kabul? Was it Americans?

Afghans captured me. When I was in prison, I heard Massoud's people captured me.

Did you ever have the opportunity to receive any type of training while in Afghanistan?

For what reason?

To do something other than grow vegetables, maybe help the government.

I can't do anything except grow vegetables.

What kind of vegetables did you grow?

Green peppers, tomatoes, green beans, and some potatoes.

Did you also grow poppies?

I don't know what a poppy is.

Flowers.

Like a kind of drug?

Yes, opium.

No. What am I going to do growing this?

It's pretty popular in Afghanistan, and it's a pretty good cash crop from what I understand.

[No response.]

I don't have any more questions, but I'll give you one more chance to say anything you might want to say to help us understand why many of these things don't seem to make sense.

[No response.]

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SEE ALSO: Courts-martial and courts of inquiry; Cuba; Guantánamo Bay; Military interrogation; Prisoners

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