0:00

Did he know the average child spends

0:02

less than ten minutes a day playing

0:04

outside? Trust for Public Land is working

0:06

with local communities nationwide to connect more

0:09

people to the outdoors. Our community school

0:11

yards projects give kids and communities access

0:13

to the mother nature proved play spaces

0:16

they need. This. Earth Month,

0:18

Take action to create cool,

0:20

green climate, resilient playgrounds fit

0:23

for the future. Join the

0:25

movement to bring the outdoors

0:27

to more people across the

0:30

country. At tpl.org/earth Month, That's

0:32

tpl.org/earth Month. A

0:36

heads up before we start that this episode

0:38

deals with suicide. Which. I know can be

0:41

a hard thing for some people to hear about in

0:43

any context, so if you're not ready for that right

0:45

now, this might be when you want to come back

0:47

to later. Lot

0:51

leave previously. On

0:53

cereal. Be here and I can try

0:55

to help make your want to live

0:58

while you're here. Are you contain removable?

1:00

They were like hair though. We're friends.

1:02

Yeah and away I get why you

1:04

complaining and this beaten. That

1:07

I mean it was a floor me

1:09

to me everywhere I thought maybe I'm

1:11

giving the when. Mrs are these guys

1:13

He just wanted better food or be

1:15

the treatments you going to finger real

1:17

to can keep us here for the

1:19

risk of a large it peaceful can

1:21

be. From

1:27

Zero Productions and a New York Times

1:29

it's serial season for Guantanamo one prison

1:31

camp told week by week I'm Sarah

1:33

Koenig. This is part two of Colonel

1:36

Mike Baumgartner and The Worst Year. Early.

1:51

On May eighteenth, two thousand and six.

1:53

Bumgarner was in his morning meeting when

1:55

someone came in with urgent news. So

1:58

as they entered meeting was interrupted. We're very.

2:00

We got a suicide attempt here.

2:04

Grimace. Later, no and here and we another

2:06

was out of here and there. Never been

2:08

found unconscious, frothing at the mouth mouth thing.

2:10

in both instances, A suicide

2:12

attempt on it's own shots? No one. Suicide.

2:15

Attempts happened constantly. Bumgarner

2:17

said. So. Routine that

2:19

some ice trying to cut the real

2:21

sore. somebody tried to hang himself. I'm

2:23

ever the everyday battle there was always

2:25

summertime. He killed two of. Which.

2:28

Bumgarner worried about but not over

2:30

much. He didn't think was the people

2:32

attempting really wanted to die. Besides.

2:35

Suicide isn't allowed in Islam. Most of

2:37

the detainees when a bidet. Anyone

2:39

trying to hang himself, for instance,

2:41

would be discovered immediately, usually because

2:43

other detainees would stop him. They

2:45

would let him do it Them is

2:48

a proven it turns out again they

2:50

always sold on they always told us

2:52

so. So Strada is felt like there's

2:54

a backstop. The Out: absolutely. But.

2:56

maintains was different. First.

2:58

Off these guys. weren't sound hanging.

3:00

there were reportedly frothing. At the mouth.

3:03

Which. Meant poisoned. And. Not

3:05

just won the two people. Bumgarner.

3:07

Said his mind flew straight to

3:10

Guantanamo prophecy. Okay, If there's two, there's

3:12

gotta be a third with out there somewhere. That.

3:14

Influential Saudi. Prisoner soccer armor had

3:17

told him about it a while back.

3:20

Soccer Was in hospital at the time on

3:22

a hunger strike and he said, you know

3:24

about this, don't you about the dream. And

3:27

he told Bumgarner that another detainee had

3:29

had a dream that if three detainees

3:31

died, they'd all get to go home.

3:34

The dream had made it's way through the camp.

3:36

Lots of people heard about it. Several

3:38

former detainees told us they didn't

3:41

put much stock in it just

3:43

seems whenever unlikely. But Bumgarner. Believe

3:45

that. He believed that the detainees believed

3:48

it, but he also believed the substance

3:50

of the drain. That what it

3:52

laid out. Was probably true. I I

3:54

honestly did believe that as they

3:56

got their way that three guys

3:58

died from the. Asian. That

4:01

there would be such I don't

4:04

know what was.myself and gloom but

4:06

I did leave. This room is

4:08

a tremendous pressure now that that

4:10

such a hellhole down there the

4:13

people are killing themselves. Scottish shut

4:15

and asked. Forced so close and

4:17

if we had to close it's

4:19

the guy that is really responsible

4:22

for what happened was me. That's

4:24

the welfare of such a huge.

4:27

Responsibility that you're putting yourself.

4:30

Will Hideous. and it may it may

4:32

be arrogant to think that you ever

4:34

thought of that the as it is,

4:36

the world's dependent on me for you.

4:38

Maybe I'm crazy. Six Herbs was like

4:40

the captain of the ship though. you

4:42

know everything that happens almost ship. I'm

4:44

responsible for. If we

4:46

succeed. You know, His

4:48

me in the crew. If we fail, it's me. And

4:55

under the skipper the Us. As Guantanamo

4:57

with currently enjoying Bumgarner signature

4:59

achievement the period of peace.

5:02

He wanted to keep it that way. He

5:04

could not me would not be the guy who

5:06

screw this up. The.

5:17

Men found unconscious had taken

5:19

overdoses of anti anxiety medication.

5:21

Not their own medication. In all,

5:24

for detainees had become sick, but

5:26

only to seem to be genuine

5:28

suicide attempts. They were hospitalized and

5:30

recovered. And the prophecy

5:32

Bumgarner dreaded. About three detainees

5:34

dying was averted. Still,

5:37

He failed to recognize this May eighteenth

5:39

crisis for what it was a prelude.

5:42

Instead, the headline that day for Bumgarner

5:45

was that detainees had somehow managed. To

5:47

hoard medication which freaked him out. what with

5:49

the medical protocols in the regular cel searches,

5:51

they should not have been able to do

5:53

that. Sir. Right away

5:55

on May eighteenth, Bumgarner ordered a

5:57

facility wide search. So. Sir. Happened

6:00

all the time at Guantanamo, but not

6:02

like this. Every single

6:04

cell. Every single person. Some four hundred

6:06

and sixty detainees at that point. Now

6:09

all hands on deck. Reports

6:12

very about what they found, but Bumgarner remembers

6:14

they discovered a bunch of people he thinks

6:16

it was in the low teens that secret

6:18

pills. In. Mattresses,

6:21

oh that's as it's problem place in

6:23

the folds and for younger ages have

6:26

a seat and where the last thing

6:28

goes around like the hell out of

6:30

he said to him or me or

6:33

years ago a few stitches serfs to

6:35

go here actually they would soldiers back

6:37

up. One guy had a stash

6:39

of pills hidden in his prosthetic leg. So

6:42

yeah, we felt quite a bit. Again,

6:44

detainees were used to having their cells

6:46

past, but this time Bumgarner made a

6:48

risky call. He directed his

6:51

personnel to search all koran to. In.

6:53

Case contraband was hiding inside the pages

6:55

or the spine. He

6:57

knew it would cause tension. Complaints.

7:00

About personnel disrespecting or desecrate in

7:02

the Koran are legion. The

7:04

previous Guantanamo commander had ordered an

7:06

investigation into various allegations in an

7:08

effort to separate rumor from justified

7:10

Fury. And was such a

7:13

sensitive issue. The camp had instituted a

7:15

rule that only Muslim staff, interpreters, Or

7:17

the camps new cultural advisor were allowed to

7:20

touch a. Obviously

7:22

detainees weren't happy about having hand over

7:24

there crimes that day, but Bumgarner said

7:26

nobody made to biggest. States until

7:28

they got to camp. For.

7:31

With always gonna happen they didn't like that

7:33

and so he started get rowdy the and.

7:36

Rowdy. In camp for was not supposed

7:38

to happen ever. Set. For with

7:40

the communal camp there showcase it's

7:42

were bumgarner could bring distinguished visitors

7:45

and boast see. Even though the Geneva

7:47

Conventions don't apply here, we still treat these

7:49

men humanely. The. Detainees live

7:51

together and open dorms. ten beds to

7:53

block. They got to wear white clothing,

7:55

they could play soccer, and basketball that

7:57

could pray together and eat together. One

8:00

former detainee told us you could save leftovers

8:02

for a couple days and then invite friends

8:04

over for brunch. Admissions

8:06

a camp for depended on good behavior.

8:09

It. Was a reward for compliance.

8:12

But. Just because you follow the Americans

8:14

rules, it did not follow. That

8:16

you necessarily trusted the Americans? We

8:19

talked to half a dozen detainees who are in camp

8:21

for. That day in May and they told

8:24

us they had the distinct impression the Americans

8:26

were up to something. Didn't.

8:28

Feel like a normal. Search. It felt

8:30

more like a deliberate provocation, possibly

8:32

for some dark purpose they couldn't

8:35

decipher. Were. That journal job

8:37

and am I supposed one day the

8:39

guards came to us are in a

8:41

weird way they start talking loudly, started

8:44

hitting doors. they wanted to take the

8:46

holy book. That's Mustafa. I had a

8:48

deer originally Algerian later from Sarajevo where

8:51

he lives now. Of. The little

8:53

and must go get a cold. Or locally or

8:55

like rabbit by by the covers and

8:57

they would shake it in a disrespectful

8:59

way, the way you wouldn't do it

9:01

to any regular book. Again,

9:04

Only Muslim personnel were supposed to touch

9:06

the crimes. That was the rule and

9:08

Bumgarner had suspended it. List

9:14

of A Said He tried to broker an

9:16

agreement with the guards whereby he would search

9:18

the currents himself, but it didn't hold. and

9:21

then as Bumgarner would say, but started getting

9:23

rowdy. Even the Afghan prisoners

9:25

who had a reputation for lying low even.

9:27

They get rowdy at the prospect of the koran.

9:29

Under attack, Were

9:31

that that not a bundle? This

9:34

and on our our souls a

9:36

towards him We will fight or

9:38

kill. Reconstructive size

9:40

when it comes to that.

9:42

For that, Samuel hides from

9:45

Sudan, a journalist alone and

9:47

mean by now we live

9:49

on. Use awesome your guns,

9:52

make a meal Boston abundantly

9:54

use. Amazon is only. To

9:57

view. I

10:02

was just hyper activity going on the

10:04

by yelling at us, screaming and back

10:07

at us as the guards the guards

10:09

had already evacuated out of the areas

10:11

that in only patrol. Can

10:14

for was not only the most permissive

10:16

camp for the guards, it was also

10:18

potentially the most dangerous camp because detainees

10:21

could congregate in their dorms and outside

10:23

the upper was getting. Out of hand,

10:25

Bumgarner tried to shut it down lamely.

10:28

And their eyes began to personally as

10:30

you and orders to the home I

10:32

would not wanna see footage of and

10:34

I was I was ticked all. He

10:37

ever get back and years get back in

10:40

your baby doll dell of yeah just all

10:42

kinds of tried to bring order to it's

10:44

quits that really I don't know why adult

10:46

that was the Royal puts ideas I thought

10:48

there would listen to the car that a

10:51

good Terrell as X that got a matter

10:53

of. What

10:55

happened next is been described in reports

10:57

as a disturbance, a fight, or riot,

11:00

Details differ, but most of the documentation

11:02

I've read settle more or less on

11:04

the same story. That. Afternoon

11:06

Bumgarner decided it was time to call

11:09

in the Qrs The Quick Reaction Force

11:11

a team attend soldiers equipped with riot

11:13

control. The Her. Search.

11:16

Until Hickman was in charge of the cure us that

11:18

day. He said they've been called up

11:20

before, but always the mere sight of them

11:22

had quelled whatever was stirring. They never had

11:24

to actually engage with detainees. Was. A

11:26

time they sat around board and their hut

11:29

watching movies on Dvd or whole season's of

11:31

the office. Before. Seating chairs restored

11:33

in their two. Segments. Added some

11:35

time to take a nap and one of them. Were

11:38

made teens when they hustled over to

11:40

camp for Hickman said they could hear

11:42

people yelling and banging and breaking stuff

11:44

and all the different buildings which ring

11:46

the large central yard. About. Two

11:49

hundred Navy guards were staged. They're waiting.

11:52

Secure. Of team lined up outside the

11:54

door of one particularly agitated Block Zulu.

11:56

Block. There's a whole wind up

11:58

protocol they're supposed to go through before they

12:00

physically enter an enclosed space. But that

12:03

got short circuited when a guard

12:05

started yelling about yet another suicide.

12:07

Or Navy Guard. Job.

12:10

Who was stand by the door He said

12:12

detainees in here hang yourself is hanging herself

12:14

and he opened the door real fast and

12:17

we we ran in. The. Navy

12:19

guard was mistaken, no one was hanging

12:21

himself inside. Instead, Pigment says what he

12:23

and his Q R F team encountered

12:25

when they rushed and was an expertly

12:27

slipped up. Floor and and us

12:30

and we split all over

12:32

the place and we were

12:34

getting bombarded with with feces

12:36

and urine. Like it

12:39

had been stockpiled. Yes, They.

12:41

Were waiting force. that's

12:46

what is was that they would

12:48

gave the tennis so so. The

12:51

Palace of for lousy. That

12:54

smaller Mohamed now. The armoury had been a

12:56

Taliban. Official, he told us he was in

12:58

the dorm. When the cure f came bursting

13:00

in these are the detainees were throwing these

13:02

containers of serve so but the guards and

13:04

the soap with spilling out onto the floor

13:06

mixing with the liquid from the tear gas.

13:11

Was more the or whether the grass so

13:13

when they wanted to enter the room and

13:15

more porous the will slip on this ground

13:17

and for this is the truth about this

13:20

issue. Again,

13:22

there's some disagreement, especially between the Americans

13:24

and. The detainees. About some of the

13:27

fine points here. Omri said there was

13:29

no ruse to lure them in know

13:31

ambush, no advance excretion gathering. He

13:34

said they were reacting in the moment

13:36

to being attacked, but everyone involved degrees

13:39

they got pretty vicious again as. So

13:41

the prisoners started to break stuff like

13:44

the light fixtures and stuff the like

13:46

sixers and the water bottles. The prisoners

13:48

started throwing it at the guards. Mozilla,

13:55

Friend used everything that would

13:58

come and defense. Whatever

14:01

death was fans models meeting

14:03

sticks with took a ton

14:05

of stick from him and

14:07

we sit somewhere can with

14:09

that. They

14:13

had the upper hand. first. does show

14:15

Hickman again. they were beaten us. And

14:18

you know when you got people kids

14:20

up for years, they fight like animals.

14:23

They fight it a different level than

14:25

than my eighteen year old kids Just

14:27

graduate high school and worked at Mcdonalds

14:29

part time before they went the military.

14:32

These guys are fighting. After

14:35

about five or ten minutes, segment says he

14:38

gave the order to fire and they did.

14:40

Nonlethal hard pellets though Hickman says they

14:42

use them at a potentially. Lethal Range

14:44

is the first time weapons had been

14:47

fired at detainees at Guantanamo. Hickman

14:50

says he had a detainee in the chest

14:52

with a rubber grenade here. Members laughing was

14:54

comical to see a body go flying like

14:56

that, He said when she feels kind of

14:58

bad about now. But. In the moment

15:00

it was. Payback. Violence.

15:04

Was always in the air at Guantanamo,

15:06

but this was something else. a straight

15:08

up fight. Right out in the

15:10

open. Ten against ten soldiers versus

15:12

detainees. Is soft and that

15:15

they would never made public but. The

15:18

day of the riots, morale was

15:20

never hire. That.

15:22

Steve Tennis, the Navy officer. In

15:24

charge of the guard force and the discipline camps

15:27

two and three. They'd. All been called over

15:29

to camp for to help. Because we

15:31

are to kick their asses and get away with

15:33

it. After all that

15:35

B s we're to takes. Less

15:38

the gallows tastes and endorse they don't

15:40

We never would have said it right

15:42

Dad's place. they probably even to this

15:44

date or light wouldn't Why just put

15:47

it right, Deaths? But as you as

15:49

guinea Garda was involved alerts. That's what

15:51

are times when we finally had our.

15:54

Of. Dickman

15:58

in his team. Push the detainees. Out of

16:00

he will block to wear Navy

16:02

guards are waiting in the courtyard

16:05

while they start bother giving off

16:07

and were thrown him out the

16:09

doors and those navy guys outsider

16:11

literally just beating the shit out

16:13

of them arms as are going

16:15

out there were just cost and

16:17

and placed all say stars in

16:19

the dirt as their put and

16:22

wristbands on him and then they're

16:24

just beat them up wristbands meaning

16:26

like flex cuffs or we're okay

16:28

and beat it like hitting. That

16:30

setting them here. And.

16:32

Know those surveys? do anything?

16:35

Some of them was a resume back to

16:37

us. There were swearing chick us we had

16:39

to stay calm down. For

16:42

accuracy, nobody was gravely injured that day. A

16:44

couple of the guards are banged up the

16:47

not as badly as some of the prisoners

16:49

sasha. They once had been shot with plastic

16:51

pellets. I know my uniform was

16:53

covered. After we were

16:55

done with deluxe where they still this to

16:57

get off daughter was a bio bags goes

17:00

off. Collect.

17:08

Some. Of the detainees held as they like

17:11

the fight as a good day. Soon

17:15

as first much sense They were so

17:17

happy have to this. As

17:20

a fiddle like me had Tesla

17:22

Cove the freedom. Also

17:25

the fight was righteous. They're protecting the

17:27

current saw some yards of business would

17:29

I would a happy to the been

17:31

deployed on. Bumgarner

17:39

couldn't understand it they had it's So Good

17:41

over there. And camp for why they throw

17:43

it away, why they tear the place apart.

17:47

He dealt with the May eighteenth debacle

17:49

not as an existential problems, but as

17:51

a disciplinary one. That.

17:53

Night camp for was emptied out

17:55

completely. All. Those supposedly

17:57

compliant. Detainees said to punish.

18:00

Block. From. Now on, fewer

18:02

people would be allowed to congregate

18:04

at any one time. And as

18:06

for suicide prevention, Bumgarner focused on

18:08

overdosing medical staff only to distribute.

18:10

Medications not guards. But.

18:13

Honestly, Bumgarner said he felt like he had

18:15

things back. Under control. I have.

18:19

Two particles was they arrive at that point

18:21

after just a few days as you can

18:23

tell by your the activity see in the

18:25

camps in the morning briefing your discover a

18:28

rat traffic that you hear. The.

18:30

Camps are pretty quiet. They're sort of back to

18:32

normal. Your. Eyes I didn't

18:34

cheat. Love: Are you in my

18:37

failure or tentacles one up like

18:39

there's something out there was about

18:41

to happen? Maybe.

18:43

Bumgarner tentacles were an activated

18:45

but the tentacles of prisoner

18:47

unrest. Those tentacles were activated

18:49

and probing quietly for escape.

18:53

That's after the break. This

18:56

podcast to supported by the new Porsche

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19:57

Weeks after the violence in May is the

20:00

worst thing about the worst year would happen.

20:02

Through. Ninth, Two Thousand and Six. That

20:05

night, the Joint Task Force Commander Admiral

20:08

Harry Harris hosted the camps top officers

20:10

at a dinner party, a rare break

20:12

for Bumgarner. In it was sore

20:14

like it has been a tough last few

20:16

weeks. And so is

20:18

that. It was

20:21

the Oh Sixes in Above

20:23

sort of. Rare smoke

20:25

cigars Will boss where he loves

20:28

smoke cigars so. Said

20:30

no one is going to be

20:33

dug Looking out over Guantanamo. Sexual

20:35

by itself. Beautiful of relaxed evening.

20:38

That. Sticks with me so bad that. That.

20:42

While all this is building up the

20:44

camps I'm certain probably for the first

20:46

time it only time will happen in

20:48

my time there I am I see

20:51

certain relaxed. At

20:53

Admirals House. After

20:55

the party broke up and people wandered

20:57

home to their quarters, phones and pagers

20:59

started buzzing. Several. Detainees had

21:01

been found unresponsive in their cells.

21:04

In alpha block of camp one about

21:06

fifteen yards from Been Burners office. The.

21:09

Men had been discovered one by one, starting

21:11

a little after twelve thirty am. First

21:14

the guy and sell eight than in

21:16

Cel twelve, another than a third and

21:18

cell size. According. To

21:20

government records. Paintings or Yasir as the

21:22

her on a from Saudi Arabia. He was

21:24

twenty two. Money. Out of

21:26

Tybee. also Saudi H. Thirty. And.

21:29

Ali Abdullah Amen from Yemen. He.

21:31

Was twenty seven. All.

21:34

Three had been some by guards hanging at the

21:36

back of their cells near their things. Which.

21:39

They evidently stepped off of in such a

21:41

ways to suspend themselves. They. Concealed

21:43

themselves by attaching seats are blankets. the

21:45

ceiling in front of the saying. Their.

21:48

Hands were tied. And each had

21:50

a piece of paper in a pocket. A couple of

21:52

short furious. Sentences written in Arabic. By

21:56

the time Bumgarner arrived, the camp was in

21:58

a state. The guards were frantic. When

22:00

said, he comforted a colleague and then pooped in

22:02

a trash. Medical.

22:04

Personnel were working on the three men, though they

22:06

all appear to be passed saving. Within.

22:08

An hour of bunkered his arrival, they were

22:11

pronounced dead. This.

22:14

Was very bad for the prison. That's.

22:16

Where Bumgarner said when. Know.

22:18

Detainees had died since the camp opened

22:20

and now three in one night. This.

22:23

Is bad for us for me.

22:26

How we babies to explain we'd

22:28

like to separate. The

22:31

Nice: That's what I was on.

22:33

How does it does happen. The.

22:36

Immediate answer seem to be one of the

22:38

mill incompetence. The guards were supposed to be

22:40

walking the tier every three. Minutes making sure

22:43

to see skin and movement and each

22:45

detainee in each cell, but there's one

22:47

guard. Later admitted to investigators it gets

22:49

old and boring and it turned out

22:51

to guards has gone to chow at

22:53

the same time, which is against the

22:55

rules. Eventual. The Admiral

22:57

Harris would conclude that prison personnel

22:59

violated six procedures that night, some

23:01

of which might have contributed to

23:03

the detainees ability to kill themselves.

23:05

I can't tell you which sex

23:07

because redacted in any case by

23:09

dawn. Washington was waiting. For

23:12

the in four hours of that happening around

23:14

the telephone and across unstable with the White

23:16

House. Wanting to know what the

23:18

hell happened. Bumgarner. Knew full

23:20

well that question had an uncomfortable cousin. Who's.

23:23

Faultless. This. He

23:25

also knew they all knew they were

23:27

listening toward a pr nightmare. So I'm

23:29

Bumgarner most feared. The. Narrative that

23:32

people were killing themselves at Guantanamo because it

23:34

was such a hellhole. Just

23:36

a month earlier, the Un Committee against

23:38

Torture had issued a report saying the

23:40

prison violated human rights law and should

23:42

be shut down. The You Parliament had

23:44

also called for it's closing in part

23:46

because the inhumane conditions of confinement. Now.

23:49

The Germans, the Danes, the British

23:51

were reiterating close it down. The.

23:55

Us government, though in an abundance

23:57

of confidence, spotted Sweetness into a

23:59

string. He just

24:01

didn't reflect badly on one time are just

24:04

the opposite. These. Deaths justify

24:06

Guantanamo. Hours

24:08

after the conference call with the bigwigs

24:10

in D C. Admiral Harris when Big.

24:13

He told Cnn the suicides are proof that these men

24:16

were still in the fight. A continual threat

24:18

to the United States. They're.

24:20

Smart. They are creative. They are committed. They

24:22

have no regard for human life. Neither are

24:24

Aznar their own. I

24:26

believe this is not an act of desperation. But

24:29

rather an act of asymmetrical warfare waged

24:31

against Us. asymmetrical

24:33

warfare. Meaning the widely adopted.

24:35

Strategy is guerrilla fighters are terrorists

24:38

use to attack a bigger stronger

24:40

enemy. That. Was the government's

24:42

story about the suicides. They were

24:44

an act of war. For

24:47

his part, Bumgarner. Told me he didn't

24:49

cotton to the asymmetrical. Warfare language but

24:51

he was certain the deaths were

24:53

coordinated. And that they were

24:55

calculated to harm not necessarily the United

24:57

States, but to harm Guantanamo. For.

25:00

One thing, He knew all the men on that

25:02

particular block Alpha block of Camp One. He.

25:04

Said they were all instigators manipulators as

25:07

he called them hand in the back

25:09

of the room types. Of

25:11

thousand that whole to hear that wholesale

25:13

block and knew this was gonna happen

25:15

and they had to. They participated it

25:17

to make it happen. Though.

25:21

It. Was all about fulfilling

25:23

prophecy. The. Prophecy that has

25:25

three men died, they'd all be freed. They.

25:28

Killed themselves for the did as a group

25:30

to keep Guantanamo in the nightly news on

25:33

the front page. I am

25:35

hundred present to this that. Those.

25:38

Three people committed themselves.

25:41

To dying for their calls

25:44

to get all a quotation

25:46

marks the brothers. Released

25:49

from Guantanamo to get some battle.

25:51

There's no doubt mama that was

25:53

the purpose for those sources. They

25:55

were dying for the calls and

25:58

jihad they serve as it. The

26:00

out of any. I'm I'm

26:02

depressed, I can't make it anymore and it

26:04

really make know that makes no sense at

26:06

all. For the three on the to simultaneously

26:09

evil plan suicides that what you know that's

26:11

not the way you do. Bumgarner

26:15

believed other more powerful detainees.

26:18

Al Qaeda guys had either plan the

26:20

suicides are at. The very least approved

26:22

them. And. He thought it

26:24

was possible that lawyers for the detainees

26:27

might be encouraging the detainees to protest

26:29

or passing information to their clients. Now

26:32

the same attorneys along with human rights

26:34

activists. Were. Pushing a different narrative

26:36

about the suicides. The prisoners

26:39

had died from despair they said

26:41

from hopelessness after years of abuse

26:43

and no clear legal or administrative

26:45

passwords. Release. A Un

26:48

spokesman said the suicides were quote

26:50

not completely unexpected. Unquote. Amnesty International

26:52

straight up blame the Bush Administration

26:54

for the deaths. Of

26:58

actually inevitably, yet another story emerged about

27:00

what had happened to the three men.

27:03

Some. People began wondering aloud whether they'd in

27:05

fact been killed. Maybe. These weren't suicides

27:08

at all. Maybe. They're homicides.

27:13

My name is for lot of the honey I'm.

27:15

To law as a Her Annie a former

27:18

general in the Saudi Police and the father

27:20

of the youngest man who died Yasir. As

27:22

a her on he he openly challenge the

27:24

Us government's account of what happened to his

27:26

son. In. A remarkably polite

27:28

video statement He implored the President

27:30

and. The. Courts and the American people

27:32

to investigate. I never believed the

27:34

source. There are many signs and

27:37

pieces of evidence or so. the

27:39

story is false and as these

27:41

individuals were tools at Guantanamo. There

27:44

was some weirdness about their deaths. Even.

27:47

If the guards were phoning it in that

27:49

night, for instance, how could these hangings have

27:51

gone unnoticed for so long? A

27:54

couple of the men's bodies were showing the beginnings. Of. Rigor

27:56

mortis when guards cut them down. Which.

27:58

takes about two hours to start to set in.

28:02

The logs the guards made of their rounds that

28:04

night were a little off. Someone

28:06

seems to have falsified a headcount about an

28:09

hour before the first detainee was found hanging.

28:11

But when investigators asked the guards about it,

28:14

they all claimed implausibly not to know

28:16

who wrote the entry. In

28:19

2010, Harper's Magazine published an

28:21

award-winning investigation into the Guantanamo

28:23

suicides with the word suicides

28:25

in scare quotes. And

28:27

it was intriguing. The

28:29

reporter's main source was introduced as a

28:31

whistleblower, Joe Hickman, the former sergeant in

28:33

charge of the QRF team that fought

28:35

the detainees in Camp 4. Hickman

28:38

said some personnel were acting oddly that night,

28:40

and that while he was on duty

28:42

in a guard tower, he saw an unmarked white

28:44

van coming and going from Camp 1, which

28:47

appeared to him to be secretly

28:49

moving individual prisoners to and fro.

28:52

Hickman's hypothesis maybe another

28:54

agency, perhaps the CIA, had taken the men

28:56

for secret meetings and things got out of

28:58

hand and they died, and then they were

29:00

strung up to look like suicides. Hickman

29:03

wrote a book about it. To

29:05

this day he thinks there's a wide conspiracy to hide

29:07

the truth of that night. And

29:10

some of the detainees, including some of the

29:12

former Guantanamo prisoners we spoke to, they

29:15

also refused to believe the men hanged themselves.

29:18

They just don't see how or why they could have done

29:20

it. The Americans must

29:22

have killed them somehow. These

29:25

three competing explanations for the

29:27

suicides, warfare or misery or

29:30

homicide, never seem to fade. People

29:32

still talk about the deaths with some mystery.

29:35

But there is information, a lot of

29:37

it, that to me offers the most persuasive

29:40

answer to the question of what happened. Information

29:42

that lives inside the paper trail these

29:44

men left While they were still

29:47

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Gonna say. Okay,

30:41

So. Of the three stories about what killed

30:43

the men in camp, one. Desperation.

30:45

asymmetrical warfare or homicide.

30:48

I'm going to set aside the homicide idea. Because.

30:51

No evidence. Has surfaced to support it

30:53

after all these years, And

30:55

many good reporters we've spoken to told

30:57

us they did take the idea seriously,

30:59

tried to substantiate it. But. They weren't

31:01

able to. And. Then just the

31:04

size of the cover up we'd be talking about. All.

31:06

Those people. all those falsified witness

31:08

statements and investigative documents and not

31:11

one person has cracked. and twenty

31:13

years the seems unlikely. Said.

31:16

To me, that leaves two. Options: Desperation

31:18

or Warfare. And

31:20

if were weighing the truth of those stories,

31:22

we do have convincing evidence. Bureaucratically.

31:25

Speaking, I know the most about the you many

31:27

men. Ali Abdullah mad because I

31:29

have his medical and behavioral records left

31:31

over from an unsuccessful lawsuit filed on

31:34

behalf of his and Yeah cells that

31:36

are on his father. Awkward

31:39

arrived in Guantanamo in June of two thousand

31:41

and two. He was twenty two years

31:43

old. Or possibly thirty three years old. The

31:46

U S never seems to pin down his

31:48

birthday or his real name for that matter,

31:50

but most of his Guantanamo record say he

31:52

was twenty two. He'd worked selling clothes that

31:54

the suits and ties yemen near his home

31:56

town. He had a thick black beard. And

31:58

was married too young woman. The

32:02

story he told the US was that he was studying

32:04

at a university in Pakistan when he got arrested during

32:06

a raid at the guest house where he was living.

32:09

The US thought he was lying, that the

32:11

studying was a cover story, and that Ahmed

32:13

was maybe a mid- to high-level al-Qaeda operative

32:16

and had possibly traveled with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

32:19

People said they saw him in Afghanistan, in

32:21

Kandahar. He said he'd never been there. I

32:25

have no idea whether he was mid- to high-level

32:27

al-Qaeda, but from the records, it seems like he

32:30

was a mid- to high-level pain in the guard forces'

32:32

ass. He spits on

32:34

someone, throws a cup of pee on someone,

32:36

sexually harasses female guards now and then. Early

32:39

in 2004, he gets irfed a couple of times,

32:42

once for refusal for reservation, meaning

32:44

an interrogation session, none

32:46

of which made him exceptional at Guantanamo. But

32:49

it's pretty clear from the guard logs,

32:51

Ahmed was never okay at Guantanamo. He

32:54

wasn't inclined to settle down or wait it

32:56

out, whatever it was. He was

32:58

a tenacious resistor. In

33:00

January 2004, a guard sees him climbing the fence

33:02

at the back of the wreck area, trying to

33:04

see what's on the other side. The

33:07

guard tells him to come down before the tower guards

33:09

spot him. Ahmed tells the guard,

33:11

I want the infantry to shoot me, so

33:13

I can be with Allah. Please MP, please.

33:17

If he had a reputation at Guantanamo, it

33:19

was for hunger striking. During

33:21

the camp's very first hunger strike in 2002, Ahmed joins in.

33:26

They have to revive him with oxygen when he passes out.

33:29

He joins the hunger strike again in

33:32

July of 2005, not long after Bumgarner's

33:34

arrival. He's one of the guys who

33:36

stops for a couple of days when Bumgarner and Shaker

33:38

Amer work out a deal. And

33:41

he's one of the guys who gets angry when that deal falls

33:43

apart, believes the Americans have tricked

33:45

them, lied to them, breaks his toilet and

33:47

his light fixture, goes back on hunger strike.

33:49

And this time, he never really stops. That

33:54

fall of 2005, as Bumgarner is struggling

33:56

to contain the hunger strike, Ahmed ends

33:58

up in the detainee clinic a few

34:00

times. He's so weak he can barely talk.

34:03

He'd arrived at Guantanamo weighing about 177 pounds. By December 20th,

34:05

he's down to 124 and a half pounds.

34:07

By Christmas, he's hospitalized

34:12

with pneumonia and a sepsis scare. At

34:15

the very end of December 2005, a few weeks after

34:18

the first force-feeding chairs were shipped to the

34:21

island, medical personnel write this note

34:23

in his file. Quote,

34:25

patient states that he wanted to commit suicide because

34:27

he does not want to be a prisoner anymore

34:29

and he lost hope. End quote. Ahmed

34:33

will not stop hunger striking. They

34:35

prescribe him Zoloft. By

34:37

January 10th, he weighs only 122 pounds. They

34:41

strap him into the feeding chair. This

34:45

is how Bumgarner's period of peace looks for

34:48

Ahmed. Dozens and dozens of

34:50

pages of meticulous force-feeding documentation.

34:53

Exact times, exact amounts of liquid nutrition,

34:55

the width of the tube, the lidocaine

34:57

percentage, which nostril they stink it down,

34:59

whether he resists or not, whether he

35:01

gets sick after. Twice a

35:04

day, they're stopping him in the chair. The

35:06

process is so harrowing, most of the hunger

35:08

strikers quit within a few weeks, but Ahmed

35:10

doesn't. By mid-February,

35:13

he's one of only three men still on

35:15

hunger strike and the inside

35:17

of his nose is infected and so

35:19

inflamed the nurse can't get a tube

35:21

down. They put it down his throat

35:23

instead. He's got other medical complaints as

35:25

well. Itchiness, his ear hurts, testicular pain,

35:28

his knees were bashed during an ear thing he tells them

35:30

and now his knee pain is constant. But

35:33

he is gaining weight, 138

35:36

pounds, 150 pounds. In

35:38

his cell, he's allowed to keep a couple

35:40

dozen pictures of his hometown, Ib, Yemen, a

35:42

crazy beautiful city surrounded by green hills

35:45

and waterfalls. All

35:47

The while, the behavioral health team is checking in on

35:49

him and all the while he's waving them off. Have

36:00

a good day. Awkward.

36:02

Keeps getting the feeding tube for

36:04

another month. After that, five months

36:06

total of force feeding. Until

36:08

lunchtime on June second, two thousand and

36:11

Six, a guard walks by Osmond Cell

36:13

and instead of writing. The usual

36:15

one where description and augments

36:17

activity log sitting standing, sleeping, playing

36:19

the guard rights eating in all

36:22

caps with three exclamation points.

36:24

Off mid had voluntarily eaten a meal. This

36:27

hunger strike was over. By.

36:30

This time he weighs a hundred and sixty three

36:32

pounds. Is not clear if he's been

36:34

sneaking suit on the side somehow or if the

36:36

force feeding caused him to gain back the weights,

36:38

but he's physically healthy. After couple

36:40

days, they determine he's ready to get off

36:43

Oscar block and a discipline camp and move

36:45

over to also block in camp. On

36:48

June seventh, two days before he kills

36:50

himself, a behavioral Health staffer comes by.

36:53

Awkward. Is in good spirits. The report says.

36:55

States. The he has no mean thoughts

36:57

of hurting others are himself. He's

37:00

not seeing ghosts or genies and his

37:02

cell not hearing voices. So

37:05

that's how prison personal saw a man. But.

37:07

The clearest picture of what author himself

37:10

was thinking and feeling comes from his

37:12

own writing, which is part of military

37:14

investigative record. He. In the

37:16

other men left letters, brief

37:18

manifestoes, explanations, My.

37:20

Name is Ali Abdullah off my Nasr

37:23

else Salami. I'm twenty seven years old,

37:25

married by countries Yemen and I memorized

37:27

the Koran. Praise and gratitude goes to

37:29

Allah. Osman begins. I. Don't

37:31

know how I start my story. however I know hi

37:33

could end it. He. Writes of

37:35

Us. greed and support for repressive regimes

37:38

in the Middle East, including Iraq and

37:40

Israel. Of his

37:42

treatment in custody there are things and a

37:44

tear gas and the humiliation. They.

37:46

Desecrated our religion or bodies and. Private

37:49

parts. He says he

37:51

gave up his hunger strike just a

37:53

few days back in order to quote

37:55

Safeguard Myself Against The American Suppression and

37:57

I mean final relinquishment without return. God

37:59

willing. I. Remained repressed inside

38:01

a very cold metal box. They call

38:03

it a solitary sell. I have come

38:05

out of this box. And. My intention

38:08

was to put an end to these ordeals. I'm

38:11

not desperate and I swear to Allah

38:13

not afraid. To. Date on

38:15

the letter is June Seventh. Two thousand and Six.

38:17

The. Same day he tells his behavioral health

38:19

staffer his feelings is fine. And.

38:22

Two days before his suicide, In

38:25

another letter addressed to Mohamad Nation to

38:28

the entire Muslim world, He. Says

38:30

it again. Don't. Ever think I

38:32

have been afflicted with desperation? He

38:35

hopes that perhaps by doing what is

38:37

going to do, it revives the hearts

38:39

and awakens the endeavoring and victorious. He.

38:42

Signs off with the telephone number in Yemen. But

38:45

in other more personal letters also dated

38:47

June seventh. He. Sounds terribly sad.

38:50

To. My dearest brother. He reminisces.

38:53

Ask that he let people know what happened

38:55

at home at the shop. As.

38:57

The he take good care of my parents

38:59

and forgive me as my parents to for

39:01

forgiveness. To. My family and the

39:03

beloved. Ones he writes about piety

39:06

and obedience. And also his agony over

39:08

being separated from them. To

39:10

my dear wife, he hasn't seen. Her for five

39:12

years he writes of longing and devotion and

39:14

a gleaming moon and silk and the smell

39:17

of roses and sweet and freshwater. The

39:24

other men left writing to. Yasir

39:26

as a her on his letters or

39:29

thematically and stylistically similar documents that they've

39:31

a little more fire. More for

39:33

raised fist. More talk of a

39:35

Us Led conspiracy to keep them

39:37

indefinitely detain. More ghastly detail. His

39:40

letters to were all dated within days of

39:42

his death. From

39:44

third man money out ab there's only

39:46

one letter in the records did a

39:48

June. It's cool as you all know

39:51

the situation in this prison is worsening.

39:53

He as sell it to release the

39:55

other prisoners from captivity to diminish the

39:57

infidels. As letter concludes.

40:00

Forgive me. We

40:10

as the former prisoners. We spoke to what

40:12

they remembered about the three men who

40:14

died off many or a Cd, the Moroccan

40:16

chef who spent five years and Guantanamo tell

40:19

the story about Yassar as a her

40:21

on a air Cd was off and on

40:23

the discipline lox he said and that's

40:25

the last place he saw Yasir she was

40:27

just opposite most so on. he was very

40:30

young used to go onto arm. They

40:32

were on the harshest, most restrictive block.

40:35

November. Block. Viewers Opposition: I

40:37

was in number eighteen and he was

40:39

number nineteen. Or. Maybe it was

40:41

the other way around. he can't quite remember. But

40:43

they were both afflicted by the punishing cold

40:45

of the air conditioning. Or

40:48

city said he couldn't stand it Freezing all

40:50

night. And. Decided to blocks a season in

40:52

the ceiling of his cell. But.

40:54

In November Block: There's nothing in your

40:56

cell. No material. To work with. so

40:58

he resolved to use his food. Scarce

41:00

is it was angry as he was.

41:03

Thirty. And. I would suit true,

41:05

true, and and set it. On the

41:07

remove it. And there was

41:09

stick. It is. It's defense represents. Which.

41:12

Worked. He didn't

41:14

know it at the time, but it turned out

41:16

yasir and the opposite sell also blocking his ceiling.

41:19

That with. Food We would do

41:21

insurgency. But. We we, we

41:23

do. We didn't have. To what a

41:25

model about it. So one night.

41:28

Or two to see the soldiers bring in

41:30

a house. Moods. The house because

41:32

you most of the so. On. There

41:35

was watching. All this for a crock.

41:39

And you moved in. They. Liberated his

41:41

a season by blasting it with water.

41:44

Air Seat he said. he remembered the guards

41:46

were so young, early twenties like Yasir and

41:48

they seem to be having such a good

41:50

time. Which. I can picture young

41:52

soldiers with a water hose and

41:55

a project and to say was

41:57

was was flooded. And

41:59

then. and he was shuttled in

42:01

the middle of the corridor, and then

42:04

he put him back in his cell like a swimming

42:06

pool, and he said to him, have

42:08

a good night. Soon

42:12

after that, Arashidi said, Yasser was moved,

42:15

probably to Camp 1 Alpha Block, if I had

42:17

to hazard a guess. And

42:20

Arashidi was moved into Yasser's cell, and

42:22

that cell, he said, had an especially

42:24

big AC vent, just huge.

42:27

He couldn't bear to walk under it. Only

42:29

then I realized what he was facing, only

42:31

then I realized what he was going through.

42:34

Arashidi said he spent about three weeks

42:36

in that frigid cell on November Block,

42:38

before he too was moved out. Within

42:41

a week, we

42:43

got the news that three detainees were killed.

42:46

Akhmed Arashidi doesn't have any first-hand knowledge of

42:48

what happened in Camp 1 that night. It's

42:51

not impossible the men were killed, he says.

42:54

But he also believes it's possible they

42:56

were driven to suicide because of

42:58

the harshness. The feeding chairs, November

43:00

Block, Bumgarner's innovations, Bumgarner's

43:03

Guantanamo. So

43:11

were the men martyrs? Was this a

43:13

coordinated political tactic? Or were they

43:15

hopeless prisoners? Sounds to me

43:17

as if they were both. Judging

43:20

from Akhmed's letters especially, Akhmed

43:22

had thought this through. He was

43:24

done suffering, done with the endless force feedings.

43:27

But also, he hoped his death would mean something.

43:30

Maybe even inspire something. Guantanamo

43:33

commanders never figured out exactly how the

43:36

suicides had been planned or carried out.

43:39

So there was no intelligence fix they could grab

43:41

onto. All they could try

43:43

to do in response to this loss of control,

43:45

Bumgarner said, was to try to reassert it.

43:48

It was not, let's be nice. It was

43:51

control. Shut it down, the

43:53

experiment with kindness is not working. Before

43:56

the suicides, the camp administration had planned

43:58

for about three quarters of a day. of the

44:00

detainees to move into more permissive living

44:02

arrangements. Now they flipped that percentage.

44:05

The big new Camp 6, designed to

44:07

be communal like the now-emptied Camp 4,

44:10

would be all single-cells, maximum

44:12

security. They'd put steel

44:14

mesh enclosures along the second floor walkways so

44:16

no one could jump. The

44:19

new recreation yard was carved into

44:21

individual enclosed pens. Admiral

44:23

Harris began using a new phrase in interviews with

44:25

the press, I don't think there's

44:27

such a thing as a medium security terrorist. Mike

44:32

Bumgarner came to believe he was personally

44:34

responsible for the three suicides, not

44:36

because his policies were too harsh, because

44:39

they were too soft. He'd

44:41

relaxed the SOPs in Camp 1 so

44:44

that when Yasser Azaharani was seen washing his

44:46

own blanket in his cell and then hanging

44:48

it up to dry, that was allowed. And

44:52

the extra stuff they were permitted to keep in

44:54

their cells, the clothing, the water bottles, the sewing

44:56

area on alpha block, a cell where you could

44:58

use a needle and thread, the dim

45:00

lights so you couldn't easily see the back

45:02

of the cell, plus the no-flashlights and detainees'

45:04

faces rule for guards so as

45:06

not to disturb detainees' sleep. All

45:09

of that helped the detainees pull off their

45:11

suicides, and all of that, carrots

45:13

planted by Bumgarner. What

45:16

he learned from the suicides was that you

45:18

can't negotiate with terrorists. In

45:21

trying to comply with certain aspects of the

45:23

Geneva Conventions, Bumgarner thought he'd

45:25

bent too far toward accommodating the detainees,

45:28

and the detainees had manipulated his

45:30

leniency. That's what some of his

45:32

superiors had warned about, and some of his subordinates

45:34

had groused about early on, and now he

45:36

saw they were right. November Block,

45:39

that most miserable discipline block he instituted,

45:41

where your hair and beard would get

45:43

shorn, where you couldn't talk, couldn't wear

45:45

clothes, nothing in your cell except a

45:47

merciless vent blasting cold air, that's what really

45:49

worked, he said. That's

45:51

what created compliance at Guantanamo. The

45:54

only way that you deal with

45:57

the people in Guantanamo was

46:00

from a position of strength, from

46:03

position of power, from I am

46:06

in charge to be successful. I

46:09

am in charge. It's going to be

46:11

my way. I'm in charge. Confering

46:14

with the prisoners, endorsing their reasonable

46:16

requests, allowing reasonable concessions,

46:19

he said the detainees must have pegged him as weak.

46:22

You show any weakness whatsoever into

46:25

where I'm going to give to

46:27

you one inch, and

46:30

you give this type of freedom to them, that's

46:33

totally forgotten. I mean, that freedom, totally

46:37

forgotten that you ever did that, made

46:39

that concession. Now the

46:42

bar has moved way down the road again.

46:44

They were always reaching for the next thing.

46:46

And anything you did for them, they didn't

46:48

really recognize. There was no,

46:50

not that you would expect appreciation. People

46:53

always said, well, what do you expect

46:55

from the guys? I mean,

46:57

there's not a trustworthy son of a bitch in

46:59

there. Well, what do you expect? I mean, they're

47:01

terrorists. So, you know, as we thought, what

47:04

do you expect? But

47:06

I didn't really, some of my treated people, humans, I

47:09

just, I thought there was a

47:11

degree. A degree

47:13

of mutual respect, or at least a degree

47:15

of fair play. Bumgarner

47:18

had a stunning faith that if

47:20

he gave the prisoners some privileges, they'd

47:22

be grateful. They'd hold up

47:25

their end of a one-sided bargain.

47:27

Instead, in Bumgarner's eyes, they did the

47:29

worst thing. They killed themselves and

47:31

tried to destroy Guantanamo. And

47:34

that's why he said, at Guantanamo, you

47:37

can't fully employ the Geneva Conventions,

47:40

which spell out not only the obligations

47:42

of the captors, but of the captives, how

47:44

they should behave. That's

47:46

the element of why Geneva Conventions

47:49

can't hold in a camp, because

47:52

there's no obligation on

47:54

those being held. No recognition of

47:56

all the Geneva Conventions. If they

47:58

don't play by their rules, then we can't. can't either, the

48:00

precise thinking that created the mess of Guantanamo

48:03

in the first place. Because

48:05

there had been rules, maybe not perfect rules,

48:07

but still perfectly good rules, that

48:10

the United States spurned at Guantanamo. Guardrails,

48:13

designed to curtail humanity's worst

48:15

impulses toward violence and revenge

48:17

and domination. That's what

48:19

the Geneva Conventions were and the Convention

48:21

Against Torture. International agreements

48:24

the United States not only endorsed and

48:26

adopted, but helped right. For

48:29

some of the prisoners, the worst thing

48:31

about Guantanamo wasn't so much that the US

48:33

wasn't playing by the rules. That's

48:35

what Ahmed Arashidi explained to us. He

48:38

said the worst thing was that the US

48:40

seemed to think it was playing by the rules.

48:43

You know, the worst thing that you

48:45

can imagine is when your

48:47

rights are being

48:49

violated and when you

48:51

are tortured and abused and virtualized

48:54

by someone who

48:56

is regarded as someone

48:58

who respects human rights, as

49:01

someone who doesn't believe in torture. So

49:03

when you are tortured by someone who

49:05

doesn't believe in torture, it's really scary.

49:08

Because you don't know what comes next

49:11

and how bad it's going to get. Because

49:13

you're shocked, how can this guy who believes in

49:16

human rights doing this to me? You know,

49:19

that makes you think that he's going to get worse and worse

49:21

and worse. Immediately

49:41

after the suicides, Bumgarner was in trouble.

49:43

Not for the suicides. He was investigated for

49:46

what's called a spill. A reporter

49:48

from the Charlotte Observer happened to

49:50

be visiting Guantanamo, doing a story

49:52

on Bumgarner when the suicides occurred.

49:54

And Bumgarner's bosses were concerned he

49:57

possibly disclosed classified information to the

49:59

reporter. The accusation was

50:01

weak and quickly fell away. And

50:03

in any case, Bumgarner considered it a pretext.

50:06

He's certain what really pissed off his command

50:09

were some intemperate comments he made in the

50:11

days following the suicides captured by that reporter.

50:14

The most damning thing, he quoted Bumgarner

50:16

saying, in honor of our three dead

50:18

brothers and then biting into a pork

50:20

chop sandwich. Bumgarner

50:23

was suspended from his duties and sent to his

50:25

quarters pending an inquiry. I was based under

50:27

house arrest. I don't know if they called it

50:29

that, but that's basically what I was. Just go

50:31

sit by yourself in the house. Bumgarner

50:34

was floored. The three deaths from the

50:36

premonition had happened and he thought for sure they're

50:38

going to close it. The publicity,

50:41

the politics would overwhelm Guantanamo and

50:43

shut it down and it would be

50:45

his fault. He couldn't comprehend how

50:47

quickly his star had fallen. I

50:50

was bad. I

50:53

mean, it was as if I'd committed a capital crime.

50:56

And here I was, just hours

50:58

before, respected,

51:01

I thought, by people and doing

51:04

the right thing, doing right for God and country

51:06

and oh, and the next

51:08

second I'm like on

51:10

the FBI's most wanted list, at least that's

51:12

the way I felt. And

51:16

when you say also at age

51:20

eight, I'm winning a citizenship awards. I mean, I

51:22

was always the good citizen always. I was the

51:25

guy, I don't say I

51:27

do good, but I never got in

51:29

trouble. I was always the right guy to get

51:31

a stickler on rule

51:33

following and to know that

51:35

I'm being accused of breaking

51:38

the law, that I've been involved in

51:40

something that is wrong,

51:42

that I failed, that we let the nation

51:44

because it was, I could

51:46

talk about it. We're not

51:48

going to let anybody die. I mean, that

51:51

was our mission. That was part of the mission. Nobody's

51:53

going to escape. Nobody's going to die. Those

51:56

are the things that you just don't allow to happen. And.

52:03

That was the first time in my life, to be honest. That

52:06

was the absolute rock bottom of my

52:08

whole life, that period. Would

52:11

nothing come anywhere near close? You

52:17

weren't suicidal or something, were you? Oh,

52:20

you were? Oh, I'm

52:22

so sorry. I

52:25

didn't make any act, but I was close. I

52:29

was very close, very, very, very,

52:31

very close. I was as

52:33

close as you could be without

52:35

doing it. Life

52:38

was over for me. I mean, it

52:41

was horrible. I can't tell

52:43

you how low I was. I can't even begin

52:45

to tell you how low I was. After

52:49

about a week, Bumgardner was cleared. The

52:52

military found he hadn't spilled anything to the

52:54

reporter. And shortly after that, his

52:56

command at Guantanamo was over, and he

52:58

rotated out, laudatory citation in

53:00

hand. His career continued,

53:03

but his rank didn't rise. He

53:05

retired from the Army in 2010. A

53:14

coda to this story of the worst year. Guantanamo's

53:17

favorite reporter, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News,

53:19

had toured the camp on June 9th,

53:21

2006, the

53:23

same day, just coincidentally, as the

53:25

suicides. Tonight, the media drum

53:28

beat continues about Guantanamo Bay. So far, the

53:30

New York Times, Boston Globe, the Cleveland Plain

53:32

Dealer, the Newark Star Ledger, USA Today and

53:34

other newspapers have either criticized Gitmo or called

53:36

for it to be shut down. This

53:39

segment ran a few days afterwards. O'Reilly had

53:41

left the island before the suicides took place.

53:44

He'd gotten a special tour exposed to as

53:46

much as possible, Bumgardner at his elbow. In

53:50

a sit-down interview, O'Reilly had asked Bumgardner about

53:52

the fight that had erupted a month earlier

53:54

in Camp 4. Were you

53:56

surprised these guys tried to kill your guys? Ooh,

53:58

absolutely not. Why? nice to them. Why not?

54:00

Why do they want to tell you?

54:02

Why? Well, they, these folks, they hate us.

54:05

It's a, it's a strange thing. It'd take me hours to try to explain

54:07

this to you. They

54:10

hate us. They hate Americans. I

54:12

mean, I see it every day. I see a

54:14

look in their eyes that I

54:17

cannot explain to you. It is a crazy

54:19

look when you're dealing with them. Uh, they will just go

54:21

to you in a heartbeat. Sir, I, I

54:23

characterize it to everybody that comes through here. Make

54:26

no mistake about it. They will cut your throat in a

54:28

heartbeat. Make no mistake about it. Bumgarner

54:31

told me he knew O'Reilly wanted a sound

54:33

bite and so exaggerated a little gave

54:36

the people what they wanted. What about all

54:38

these poor bakers and barbers who they rounded up

54:40

and threw in here for no reason? I'm looking

54:42

for them, sir. I'm looking

54:44

for them. They're out there somewhere. I reckon. Cause

54:47

that's what the human rights rights tells me. I mean,

54:49

Oh, I know. I know. They tell you that. I

54:51

wish, you know, sir. Again, those

54:53

that come here, see it, walk it. Yeah.

54:56

Leave with a different opinion. These folks

54:59

are not what folks paint in

55:01

the media out there. Not at all. These are not good

55:03

guys. I stake my reputation in

55:05

my, my, my life as a

55:07

career military police. No, we've answered butts.

55:10

We appreciate the hospitality of the joint

55:12

task force in Guantanamo. Coming

55:15

right back with some religious leaders. Bumgarner

55:19

had been worried that pressure from liberals

55:21

and bad press would close Guantanamo. But

55:24

in hindsight, it's obvious he had nothing to worry

55:26

about because this asymmetrical

55:28

drumbeat was always stronger. The

55:30

one pounding out the message to any and all wavering

55:33

Americans don't believe the

55:35

human rights lawyers, the naysayers. Guantanamo

55:37

is vital to our national security.

55:41

When a Riley store was over, Bumgarner told me

55:43

he escorted him off the island. I mean, I

55:45

remember driving him back.

55:47

We're taking him over to put him on a boat to take

55:49

him across. Oh, he

55:52

said to me, he said, Colonel,

55:55

don't worry about it. This place is not going to close. I

55:58

said, I was. very different.

56:01

Yes, sir. How you know that he goes, I'm

56:04

not gonna let it happen. In

56:13

the end, Bumgarner took this terrible year

56:15

of hunger striking and fighting and suicides

56:18

harder than Guantanamo itself. The

56:20

prison had survived the worst. Maybe

56:22

it could survive anything. It's

56:25

almost quaint now to think the government was courting

56:27

the press back in Bumgarner's day, telling

56:29

them to come on down and see for themselves. Because

56:32

skip ahead 15 years and the PR

56:34

goal was to make Guantanamo disappear. Cereals

57:13

produced by Jessica Weisberg, Dana Chivas and

57:15

me. Our editor is Julie

57:17

Snyder. Additional reporting by Cora Currier.

57:19

Fact checking by Ben Phalen. Music

57:22

Supervision Sound Design and Mixing by

57:24

Phoebe Wang. Original score by Sophia

57:27

Dely Alessandri. Editing help from

57:29

Jen Guerra and Ira Glass. Our

57:31

contributing editors are Carol Rosenberg and

57:33

Rosina Ali. Additional research

57:35

by Emma Grillo, Amir Kofaji and

57:37

Sami Yousafzai. Translation by Mohammed

57:40

Raza Sahibzada, Nile

57:42

Hejjo, Atique Raheen, Dana

57:44

Alisa, Bashar Al-Halabi and

57:46

Omar Othman. Additional

57:48

production from Daniel Guimet and Katie Mingel.

57:51

Our standards editor is Susan Wesley. Legal

57:53

review from Alameen Sumar and Maya Gandhi.

57:55

The art for our show comes from

57:57

Pablo Del Khan and Max Guter. Supervising

58:00

producer for serial productions is Nde

58:02

Chubu. Our executive assistant is Mark

58:04

Miller. Sam Dolnick is deputy managing editor of

58:07

the New York Times. Special

58:09

thanks to Manny Superviel, Mansoora

58:12

Daifi, Muhammad El-Faki, Farish Ta

58:14

Taib, Mark Denbo, Hardees Kibriai,

58:16

Corey Shrupple, and Leera Fattar.