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The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Sat May 21, 2005 at 11:22:15 AM EST
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Raw Story reports on the 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo. Here's a Miami Herald report from February, 2002.

Friday's episode occurred when a guard entered the 8-by-8-foot chain-link-fence cell of a prisoner who was away, and was going through the prisoner's ''comfort items'' -- which include towels and a toothbrush, two buckets, personal hygiene products and a Pentagon-provided copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

''Another detainee thought that an MP kicked a Koran,'' said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello. ``One started shouting, `Allahu Akbar.' So other detainees starting shouting, `Allahu Akbar.' Col. Carrico has said this happened before.'' The protest was contained to a 12-unit cellblock, he reported, and guards quieted it ``in a couple of minutes.''After that, the U.S. announced its official policy of respect for the Koran and the detainees' religious beliefs.

But, Raw Story reports that many of the mainstream press articles on the 2002 incident have disappeared:

Thus, the corroborating press work done in 2002 has disappeared—as have the confirming quotes by majors, colonels, and generals—to be replaced by the allegations of detainee lawyers and a besmirched former Muslim chaplain.

More reading: This December, 2003 two part Guardian series, People the Law Forgot addresses the koran and hunger strike.

According to [detainee] Saghir, in this initial, relatively brutal phase of Guantanamo, there was little tolerance for the practice of Islam, with its requirement of prayer five times a day. "In the first one-and-a-half months they wouldn't let us speak to anyone, wouldn't let us call for prayers or pray in the room," he says. "We were only given 10 minutes for eating. I tried to pray and four or five commandos came and they beat me up. If someone would try to make a call for prayer they would beat him up and gag him. After one-and-a-half months, we went on hunger strike."

US officials at the camp have admitted hunger strikes did take place there - in some cases, prisoners were force fed - but in the minds of the detainees, they have been associated with protests that have achieved results. According to Saghir, it was only after a mass four-day hunger strike that the no-talking rule was lifted, a loudspeaker was put up to broadcast the call to prayer, more time was given for meals, and Korans and other books were provided. [detainee]Mohammed says that an eight-day hunger strike when a guard had thrown the Koran on the ground had ended with a personal apology from a senior officer and a promise that the Koran would not be touched again.

In going though the TalkLeft archives, I came across this September, 2002 Nat Hentoff column on Guantanamo with this quote:

As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis prophesied: "The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people."

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    The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#1)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:16 PM EST
    et al - From the post: "''Another detainee thought that an MP kicked a Koran,'' said Army Lt. Col. Bill Costello." See the "thought." An important word.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#2)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:16 PM EST
    Is this a joke? "respect for the koran and detainees religious beliefs"? do the guys on the other side of this "war" have any respect for you or your life and beliefs? do you have any respect for anything at all? why would you have respect for paper and books of pomes/ode/sonnets/rhyme? do you understand where the koran and bible and the torah come from? is it from god or is it a tool of hate and murder? hey people its all from the mideast, do you really understand what lies are? and what life was like 2000 year ago? paper is just that paper how many do you want dead? wait, wait i have to dance, now around a poll, jig,jig and hop,hop and jump like a fool for god. but what is god but a little idea from little people of the mideast, that can't live and are freeze in time with really bad non ideals. anyone want to cut my head off? think you can? hey bush god just asked for you. stop your rape and abuse of each other with god in your little heads. hey god is in your own mind and in your own ideals. I am that i am.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#3)
    by Richard Aubrey on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:16 PM EST
    I suppose we're supposed to believe the detainee honestly made a mistake. Okay. It's still a mistake. More than likely, it's a lie. Anybody tried to bring a New Testament into Saudi Arabia recently? Or, tried to be a Christian or Jew there? Or go to a Christian school in Pakistan? I figure that respect is supposed to go both ways. Waiting....

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#4)
    by Randinho on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:16 PM EST
    See the "thought." An important word. Perhaps you should try it sometime. Shorter Richard Aubrey: two wrongs do make a right.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#5)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:16 PM EST
    What's a matter, Randy P? Can't stand a comment that punches holes in your bias?

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:17 PM EST
    “James Yee, a former Muslim chaplain at the prison who was investigated and cleared of charges of mishandling classified material, has asserted that guards' mishandling and mistreatment of detainees' Korans led the prisoners to launch a hunger strike in March 2002.
    PPJ...I see your "thought" and raise you a "has asserted". Granted that we can't trust Yee. After all, he was a little too chummy with the towel heads as I recall.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#7)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:17 PM EST
    “ … mishandling and mistreatment of detainees' Korans led the prisoners to launch a hunger strike in March 2002.” Voluntary starvation prompted by the poor treatment of a ~2300 year old fantasy novel; my pick for the 2002 Darwin award.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#8)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:17 PM EST
    Uh … ~1300 year old rather; I’m a mathematician not an arithmetician.

    Re: The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo (none / 0) (#9)
    by ppjakajim on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 12:59:17 PM EST
    Ernesto - My only concern is that they started eating again.

    The 2002 Koran Incident at Guantanamo | 9 comments (9 topical)