Inside the
Interrogation of
Detainee 063
TIME: June 20, 2005
In the traumatic events of September 11th, 19 hijackers crashed planes into important American buildings. However, there have been rumors that a 20th
hijacker existed. This hijacker was denied entrance into the US before the attacks. The 20th hijacker's identity was known, due to his influential place in al-Qaeda. His name is al-Qahtani, and he is currently known as Detainee 063 at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay. When first detained, he refused to give his name, forcing the
officers there to run a fingerprint test, confirming his identity. He was then kept for interrogation, so great were his influences in al-Qaeda.
al-Qahtani was a particularly hard prisoner to "break," refusing to tell officers even simple things. It did not take long for the officers to change interrogation
methods. Their methods were effective, but cruel and sometimes demeaning. A log of the interrogation was found, showing every movement of the prisoner and officers. The officers first attempted to make al-Qahtani believe that it was Allah's will to have him caught, and that he should willingly give up information in the name of Allah. The officer demeaned the hijackers who died, and al-Qahtani in return spit in the officer's eye. The officers then found out that al-Qahtani was on a hunger strike, and decided to tempt him with food and water. al-Qahtani was frequently checked by medical corpsmen, most likely worrying about how much stress al-Qahtani could take. When al-Qahtani asks to urinate, the officers do not let him until he has answered some questions. When he does, he is told to urinate in his own pants. They play a tape of the twin towers, at which al-Qahtani becomes very violent. Officers tell al-Qahtani that he is not allowed to pray. The officers resorted to dripping water on the detainee, to give the detainee the impression of suffocating. The officers make a puppet show satarizing the detainee's involvement with al-Qaeda. The detainee is then taken to an interrogation room that is decorated festively in American colors. They shave his beard, and a picture of 9/11 is taped to his pants. The interrogators filled a glove with air and dres a smiley face on it. The glove was labeled the "sissy slap" glove. The glove was placed on the detainee's head, while the interrogators taught the detainee to dance. The room was filled with pictures of scantily-clad women, agitating al-Qahtani to the point that he asks to commit suicide. In the end, he revealed much important information, but by that time, al-Qahtani was experiencing great psychological trauma.
The methods that the American officers used was beyond cruel. The detainee admittedly had terrible intentions for the US, and was strongly linked to a group that had caused much grief to the United States. Still, by treating people so badly, and showing so much hate, our officers are no better than the terrorist they were torturing.