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30-day trial at audible.com/serial. Previously

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on Serial. They

0:36

show me like they are here

0:38

to help us. Ah.

0:42

Yeah. So they also get some

0:45

snack type items based on their

0:47

compliance status. We need to gather

0:49

information. These are the people

0:51

that we need to get it from. They would talk.

0:54

They would be like, why am I still here? Can

0:56

you send me home? We don't know what's

0:58

going to happen. It's like there's no

1:04

foreseeable outcome. There's no like,

1:07

how long am I going to stay in this prison? From

1:11

Serial Productions in The New York Times,

1:13

this is Serial Season 4, Guantanamo. One

1:15

prison camp told week by week. I'm

1:17

Sarah Koenig. Mike

1:29

Bumgarner was on a plane on the

1:31

tarmac waiting to take off when his

1:33

Blackberry buzzed. He wanted to ignore

1:35

it, but then he saw it was his boss, a general.

1:38

When the general calls, you generally answer. He

1:40

scooted to the back of the plane. So I'm

1:42

hiding back there from a Blackberry and talking

1:45

to the general. He says, Mike,

1:47

he says, I need you to go down

1:49

to Guantanamo and take command. His

1:52

own command meant he'd be in charge of

1:54

a whole brigade, boosted into the rare air

1:56

of the senior officers. This was

1:58

the call he'd been waiting for. And

2:00

he said, will you accept it? I

2:03

said, yes. He said, you don't want to think about

2:05

it? He said, it's got some issues. And

2:08

this is early spring of 2005. Mike

2:10

Bumgarner was in his mid 40s. He'd

2:13

spent the last two decades rising in the military

2:15

police corps stationed all over the place. Guantanamo

2:18

would be his biggest assignment yet. He'd

2:21

be the de facto warden of one of the

2:23

most controversial prisons on the planet. The

2:26

place had been operational a few years already. And

2:28

a prison's a prison, right? To be honest, I

2:30

didn't really think it was going to be that hard. It

2:33

would be hard. It would be the

2:35

worst year. Not just Mike

2:37

Bumgarner's worst year. Some former detainees

2:39

agree it would be Guantanamo's worst

2:42

year. By the

2:44

end of Bumgarner's tenure, hand-to-hand combat would

2:46

break out between guards and detainees. Severe

2:49

new protocols would prompt worldwide condemnation.

2:52

And the worst would happen. Three men would

2:54

die. Apart

3:00

from the superlative designation of the worst year,

3:02

about the only thing the U.S. military and

3:04

the prisoners agree on about that time is

3:06

that before it got horrible, it

3:09

was going pretty well for Guantanamo. A

3:11

fragile detente was taking seed. Until

3:14

they betrayed us. Or until they

3:16

betrayed us. Depending on who you ask.

3:24

This episode is part one of the worst year.

3:26

The less worst part. Mike

3:28

Bumgarner's first months in the job. When

3:31

each side took stock of the other's power. About

3:40

a week after the call, Bumgarner arrived at

3:43

Guantanamo. A week. No prep. Just

3:46

get down here. Stat. From the airport, they whooshed

3:48

him across the bay on a fast boat, straight

3:50

into a waiting car that delivered him straight to

3:52

his new commander. Army Brigadier

3:54

General Jay Hood, who has a kindly face

3:56

and does not suffer fools. When

4:00

I care that office there may be have been

4:02

four seconds of courtesy of like how ya' doin'

4:05

Good trip. Desert. Right

4:08

to business. Sterile. Her gave

4:10

him a rapid fire rundown. Five hundred

4:12

forty some detainees. Here's how many and

4:14

segregation. Here's how many and disciplined lox

4:16

general Her didn't want to be interviewed

4:18

for this story, but Bumgarner said Hoods

4:21

main point was about pr. Bumgarner.

4:23

Says had told him the military was

4:25

losing the public. Relations war over

4:28

Guantanamo. Bay. Were under.

4:31

Were. Under a lot of scrutiny

4:33

right now the Us public. Our

4:36

government. Of

4:38

internationally. We're. Not

4:40

trusted. When. Bumgarner previous

4:43

commander mention that this assignment had

4:45

some. Issues: This is what he was

4:47

talking about. By. April of

4:49

two thousand and five when Bumgarner. Arrived at

4:51

Guantanamo General, hooded withstood several scandals.

4:53

The worst one was Abu Ghraib.

4:55

the Us are in prison in

4:57

Iraq had nothing to do with

5:00

Abu Ghraib, but appalling photos had

5:02

come out. proof that guards had

5:04

inflicted sadistic abuse and humiliation on

5:06

prisoners there. And. The shadow

5:08

of that abuse fell over Guantanamo.

5:11

Critics were saying if it was happening

5:13

in Iraq if it was happening and

5:15

Cia black sites because he's a that

5:17

torture was leaking out to surely it

5:19

was happening in Guantanamo. Close

5:22

One thing then, there were allegations

5:24

that guards and interrogators at Guantanamo

5:26

were intentionally mishandling the Koran. And

5:29

issue that would very soon inspired deadly

5:31

protests in Afghanistan and then in the

5:33

Middle East. Sudan, Indonesia, And

5:36

on top of all that, right in her

5:38

backyard. a good old fashioned sex scandal. Turned.

5:41

Out for male officers including a one

5:43

star general, were having swinging affairs with

5:45

a female nurse and other female civilian

5:47

contractors on the base. That's why Bumgarner.

5:49

Had to hide hill it to Guantanamo to take

5:52

charge. Is a business predecessor been

5:54

booted off the island? Me

5:56

human rights groups are starting to call the

5:58

place a blog. even Some influence. Congressional

6:00

Republicans are wavering on their support

6:02

for Guantanamo. President. Bush and

6:04

The Dia De were feeling the pressure. So.

6:07

Now General Hood was saying we gotta

6:09

change the narrative about Guantanamo. We.

6:12

Need to show the outside world what

6:14

compliance looks like. We've.

6:16

Got to to this one. Make sure it

6:18

is right. To

6:20

to make it better and at same

6:22

term get the will need to understand

6:25

that we are doing at first verse

6:27

manner professionally the which should be done

6:29

with no detainee abuse occurring. Said

6:35

the Mission as Bumgarner. Understood it from

6:37

that first meeting with General Heard. Was

6:39

nothing short of: don't let the

6:41

critics close down Guantanamo Make sure

6:43

this place stays open. The President's

6:45

County. Make

6:48

some gardener. Didn't take this metaphorically.

6:50

he didn't Literally, he was the

6:52

son and grandson of military men

6:54

tell he was raised. If you're

6:56

in charge you for silva mission.

6:58

No excuses. From. Here on

7:00

out he thought I gotta make this place

7:02

the best possible version of itself. Before.

7:11

He made any changes. Bumgarner reviewed

7:13

the whole operation, a few things

7:15

about the place displeased, and first,

7:17

he founded surprisingly uptight in some

7:20

respects. As an example,

7:24

When. I arrived cannot have a stroll. Because

7:27

some built it could be fabricated to make

7:29

a weapon. The. Senior staff seem

7:31

to think anything could be turned into

7:33

a weapon, as if these detainees had

7:36

superhuman skills. Bumgarner. Thought

7:38

lot of the security staff are doing it's

7:40

over the top. The. Way we transport

7:42

of them to Guantanamo for instance and on

7:44

occasion around the camp. With. The ear

7:46

muffs, the blacked out goggles, the many chains,

7:49

and that he secrecy over stuff he didn't

7:51

think mattered. Leadership. Would freak

7:53

out. If anyone said anything to an

7:55

outsider about the computer system where they log

7:57

their notes about daily activity inside the prison,

8:00

It. Was called dems. Dooms,

8:03

The tiny if measurement system. Builds.

8:06

Is where we put he ate. He

8:08

ate is not bar in he had to

8:10

count cards of milk. Oh

8:13

he got moved to record this time

8:15

with that have been nine all the

8:17

stuff that I'm not all stuff but

8:19

for me to say two, nine three.

8:21

Moved over to Echo and we gave

8:24

him. An expert or sauce.

8:26

All that classified. Mentioned

8:28

dooms kid talk about. To

8:30

second observation was about discipline. He.

8:33

Thought he does are doing it wrong. Was.

8:36

Crazy! It was bizarre of

8:38

we had items that we

8:40

could they called privileged items

8:42

that you were given. Additionally,

8:44

I'm. Privileged items were anything

8:46

extra detainee had on top of the

8:48

basics. Prayer beads, for example, or

8:50

an extra seat. Down. To

8:52

how many kids up packages you

8:55

get or hot sauce or sugar

8:57

or whatever. We would regulate those

8:59

and that's you will lose your

9:01

catch up for. Two weeks.

9:04

While. Big. Whoop! In

9:06

other words, When. For your condiments.

9:09

Didn't corrected detainees behavior. The. Detainee

9:11

was supposed to get moved to the discipline

9:13

box. The. Prison was organized into

9:15

areas called can't Camp one Can to.

9:17

And. So on. And then we had, Oh or

9:20

we're gonna take you over to Camp Three.

9:23

Get through as this one kept kept

9:25

three was huge. Get through it. Over

9:27

three hundred for him for to people.

9:30

And it was full and we

9:32

have people waiting in line to

9:34

go to Chancery. everybody in the

9:36

eighth place. Oh disciplined. When

9:42

mixed. Success! It

9:44

really was no different areas that.

9:48

There was a real difference and meaning

9:50

to have three have been and camp

9:52

to destroy. Trust the walkway. The

9:57

third same and hardest to deal with. The

10:00

attitude of the guards but Bumgarner

10:02

called the guard culture. In

10:05

candor. don't think I've ever said his

10:07

public for. Use.

10:09

On among the greatest bulk of the

10:12

guards has a more than half a

10:14

truly despise the detainees. I'd

10:18

say that number of maven, smaller. Some

10:21

save his nose. Is

10:25

to Life was hardly any that was okay with him.

10:28

I mean if we didn't respect

10:30

them like Islamic religion, that was

10:32

okay with him. As

10:35

one guard commander told me, It just

10:37

seemed like a big baby sitting operation.

10:39

we were babysitting so they could get

10:41

in town. The worst detainees he said

10:43

and Bumgarner agreed but holler and spit

10:45

it. you throw shit and piss that

10:47

you call you vile name's incessantly bang

10:49

on their metal cages, break their toilets,

10:51

demand this and that, have he trotting

10:53

up and down the tears. Some

10:56

of these guys are right outta high school. On

10:58

their first deployment, they're working twelve

11:00

hour shifts with Cuba blazing hot

11:03

and dripping. Humidity The prison

11:05

tears were like hothouses. Powered

11:07

by provocation and retaliation. Tit for

11:10

tat. So.

11:12

That was the state of the place on Bumgarner got

11:14

their. Weirdly, Strict weirdly lacks

11:17

really tense. And

11:19

Learner had done some detention work before.

11:21

He'd run security at different places including

11:24

overseas. He been a director at the

11:26

Army's Military Police School, even worked as a sheriff's

11:28

deputy. For a minute during college he

11:30

thought, all due respect, General has an

11:32

artillery man. The senior guys making the

11:35

rules don't have a background in for

11:37

options so they don't get it. I

11:40

was know they're fully understood. I felt like

11:42

I understood the insides detain the out of

11:44

that are understood prisoners and how you do

11:46

the scout stuff. He thought he could fix

11:49

it. Massive.

11:54

Reset for the prisoners. That.

11:56

Was Bumgarner first big move. we

11:59

reset All discipline. Everybody

12:01

got amnesty or whatever.

12:03

They were all forgiven. All

12:06

prior events are forgiven. Clean slate.

12:09

Start anew today. Home gardener's strategy

12:11

was to double down on the carrots and

12:13

sticks. Make the compliant camps

12:15

more comfortable and the non-compliant camps

12:18

more miserable. He'd

12:20

make the differences stark. Big

12:22

bright line. Big

12:24

bright line. Good is over

12:27

here. Bad is over here. And bad, within

12:30

the conventions, I'm going to make bad as bad

12:32

as I possibly can. Within

12:34

the conventions means the 1949 Geneva

12:36

Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners

12:39

of war, which defines

12:41

international standards and protections for POWs.

12:44

During Bumgarner's first meeting with General Hood,

12:47

Hood had explicitly told Bumgarner, go look

12:49

at the Geneva Conventions. We're

12:52

taking so much public heat over allegations

12:54

of abuse and unfairness. Look at the

12:56

conventions. See what you can implement here.

13:00

Bumgarner was familiar with the Geneva Conventions. He'd

13:02

written a thesis about it just a couple

13:04

of years earlier at military college. The

13:07

topic of his paper was topical. What

13:09

set of laws are we supposed to follow when

13:11

fighting terrorists? And now

13:13

here was Bumgarner on the ground floor of

13:15

that still unanswered question, walking not

13:17

just a fine line, but an invisible one.

13:21

The Bush administration's position so far had been

13:23

that Geneva didn't apply to the men held

13:25

at Guantanamo because they weren't prisoners of

13:27

war in the traditional sense. They

13:30

weren't typical soldiers. They were rogues, terrorists.

13:33

So we didn't have to extend them the Geneva protections,

13:36

especially the ones prohibiting torture or

13:39

coercion or crucially, the one about

13:41

giving POWs access to the courts.

13:44

But the ones about food, water,

13:46

religion, reading material, medical care, those

13:49

seemed okay, right? Bumgarner

13:51

had to figure out what else was okay.

13:54

How far should he go? How far could

13:56

he go? That's after

13:58

the break. For

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at audible.com/serial. This is A.O. Scott.

15:14

I'm a critic at The New York Times. What

15:17

I do and what the other critics here

15:19

do is part of the same project that

15:21

all of the journalists at The New York

15:23

Times work on every day to give you

15:25

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15:32

just here are the headlines, but here's the

15:34

way everything fits together. If

15:36

you'd like to subscribe, please

15:38

go to nytimes.com/subscribe. Bumgarner

15:44

and his team developed a sort of

15:46

caste system among the detainees, demarcated by

15:48

the color of their clothing. Initially,

15:51

they put everyone in a tan outfit. The

15:54

same good behavior would get you a coveted white one. Bad

15:57

behavior, a dreaded orange one. If

15:59

you followed the rules... rules, your sleeping pad would be

16:01

softer, closer to a mattress than a yoga mat.

16:04

You could keep more stuff in your cell. Talk to your

16:06

neighbors more. Guards are

16:08

nicer to you. There's less urgency

16:11

placed on things. They'll talk to you.

16:13

If you don't do this, they

16:16

may be more of a discussion. You

16:18

go over to a discipline camp or

16:20

November. November

16:22

Block, over in Camp 3,

16:24

was Bumgarner's discipline innovation, where

16:27

he sent the most unruly detainees. He

16:30

refurbished it to make it as isolating and

16:32

unpleasant as possible. November

16:35

Block was called administrative segregation,

16:37

or adseg, designed to break

16:39

you down. In the courtyard,

16:41

parked like a harbinger, was a barber

16:43

chair. Upon arrival, your hair would

16:45

get cut, your beard shaved off, all

16:48

your stuff taken away, including your clothes,

16:50

your underwear, all that remained to ward off

16:52

the blasting AC. No sleeping

16:55

pad. Every single item had to be handed

16:57

back after you used it. A

16:59

cup, a toothbrush, the blanket they gave you at night.

17:02

The only human beings you interacted with on November

17:04

Block were guards, who'd periodically open the little

17:06

flap on your door. And the

17:09

guards in November Block? Bumgarner

17:11

said they were hand-picked for qualities he

17:13

characterized as, quote, hard robot. No

17:16

personality, no discussion. I tell you once, you do it,

17:18

or else I'm going to send in a five-man Earth

17:20

team in Riot gear to make you do it. In

17:23

November, you can't talk to any other detainee.

17:26

If you start trying to talk to somebody, we're not

17:28

going to allow that. How do you not allow

17:30

somebody to talk to them? And what we would do,

17:33

we'd drown it out. Either

17:35

from the guards that start yelling, and all

17:38

the guards would just start yelling. Or

17:40

we would turn on the big fans on the end of the

17:42

halls, the vacuums. The

17:45

noise from the vacuums, I forgot to

17:47

mention, it's huge, giant

17:50

vacuum cleaner is on.

17:53

That is Ahmed Arashidi, formerly

17:55

known as Detainee No. 590,

17:57

formerly nicknamed the General by

18:00

US personnel at Guantanamo. Anam

18:02

Dugher he says caused him nothing but strife. Ahmed

18:05

Arashidi was a talker, a troublemaker, a

18:07

big personality who could influence others to

18:10

make Triple Two. That's how his

18:12

jailers saw it. He's originally from

18:14

Morocco but he spoke English. He'd worked in London

18:16

as a cook at a couple fancy hotels.

18:19

He told Dana he remembered his first encounter

18:21

with Bumgarner. It was a

18:23

couple months after Bumgarner's arrival. Arashidi and a

18:26

handful of other detainees had been stewing over

18:28

in the new discipline set up, November Block.

18:31

Isolated, this is not a

18:33

normal isolation, this is different

18:35

isolation, isolated from isolation. Arashidi

18:38

says he'd organized a protest. They'd

18:41

all rip up their shirts and when they got

18:43

replacement shirts they'd rip those up too. Super

18:45

annoying for the staff. Pretty

18:48

soon who should appear on his block but

18:50

might Bumgarner himself, the big chicken

18:52

some detainees called him because of the eagle

18:54

insignia on his army colonel's uniform. And

18:57

he walked him down the corridor and

19:00

he was on his own. And

19:03

it's very unusual for the colonel to walk

19:06

on his own. Usually he's with someone, you know.

19:09

As I walked under this tear he had

19:11

a plastic shield in

19:13

front of his cell and

19:16

that that normally meant that he was

19:18

prone to throwing stuff or spitting on guards and so

19:20

we'd put you where there's a shield. Well

19:23

he had his face pressed up again.

19:25

It was the weirdest most bizarre sight

19:27

to me. He had seen that face

19:29

pressed up against that thing and yelling

19:31

at the top of his lungs. I

19:33

even called him a Nazi. I called

19:35

him all kind of name, bad name.

19:38

You are torture, you are this, you are

19:40

this, you are this. And

19:43

he keeps on walking to the end of the

19:45

block and came back and

19:49

he stood by

19:51

the door of myself. And

19:54

he was smiling. He looks almost happy

19:56

as if I was praising him. I

20:00

do not smoke ring us but us are talking to

20:02

him. I was. Sort

20:06

of best. Friend. To serve

20:08

him everything all at once. A

20:10

torrent of complaints, especially about the

20:12

guards. Were you'd soldiers

20:14

abuse in us your swords? Is

20:16

he doing this to us? You

20:19

do it does was why are

20:21

you alone You soldiers to buesa.

20:24

Is no and I say I

20:26

suggest a Us in so that

20:28

you are encouraging them to do

20:30

that by allowing them to be

20:32

anonymous. The guards at Guantanamo covered

20:34

the name tags on their uniforms.

20:37

Ostensibly so that the terrorists can track

20:39

them down later or harm their families.

20:42

The. Result of the no names was the detainees

20:44

had a hard time complaining if a specific

20:46

guard beat them up is it can identify

20:48

them or she says yes Bumgarner, why don't

20:50

you give each card and number and place

20:52

of the name tag. Soon

20:54

as a signal or. Move

20:59

to just. Sit down

21:01

and successful. Like

21:06

Bumgarner and och med or Cd differ on

21:08

some of the details. Of this encounter when

21:10

exactly the name tag is who came up

21:12

for example with a long time. Ago, but

21:15

their memories agree on the main

21:17

elements. My Bumgarner was astonished by

21:19

this eloquent yellow. off mid or

21:21

Cd and off mid or Cd

21:23

was astonished by this new kernel.

21:25

Like Bumgarner who is listening. Sitting.

21:29

Down and talking. For as Bumgarner

21:31

nail know warden had ever done that before,

21:33

it would turn out to be his most

21:35

radical move at Guantanamo. To

21:39

sit down and some some of this is the. First.

21:42

To you soon. To.

21:44

Stop to that. this. City.

21:47

For fulfill his shoes. And.

21:51

If you have any concern. This

21:53

was done. When.

21:55

Don't just sit down and filter boats. It. Does

21:58

it say I'm. With. you We know that

22:00

we are in an isolation, we are not allowed

22:02

a pen and a paper, and you're asking me

22:04

to write everything down. I said

22:07

no, and he asked God, he says, get all

22:09

the pen and the paper. And

22:11

he said to me, write it down, everything,

22:14

and we sit down for more. Bumgarner's

22:17

goal was a calm camp, to

22:20

keep his guys safe by getting guys like

22:22

Arashidi to settle down. To

22:25

do that, he'd need more than the threat of November

22:27

Block. He figured maybe it's

22:29

a little unusual to meet one-on-one with a

22:31

detainee, but let me just hear what he

22:33

wants. That

22:35

night, Arashidi gathered the concerns of his

22:37

fellow detainees. He said some

22:39

of them were upsetting to hear, as if the

22:41

men were falling apart or maybe already broken. One

22:45

guy asked, please, can you let us have more

22:47

than 24 hours between the 30-day

22:49

stretches of isolation? Another

22:52

guy, one of his demands, not so

22:54

upsetting. In one

22:56

of his demands, he says, can you ask them to

23:00

bring some mixed nuts, because they're

23:02

mixed if you're not. They

23:04

talk about degradation, you know what I mean? I'm

23:07

just talking about nuts. We miss having nuts. I

23:10

miss having nuts. I want some nuts. Next

23:15

day, Bumgarner and some of his staff, dressed in

23:18

their desert camouflage, and Arashidi and

23:20

his orange detainee scrubs, sat

23:22

down at a little picnic table near Bumgarner's

23:24

office. The two men weren't so far

23:26

apart in age. They both had a lot

23:29

of confidence and a temper. As

23:32

Arashidi remembers it, they met for a few

23:34

hours, and then again the next day. Arashidi

23:37

said he was impressed by the consideration Bumgarner

23:39

showed his staff. With each

23:41

detainee request, he'd turn to his colleagues, ask

23:43

their opinions. For

23:46

his part, Bumgarner said Arashidi seemed smart

23:48

and a little strange. He

23:51

was a different fellow. Mercurial

23:55

comes to mind. Oh really?

23:57

Yeah. He's the one. That.

24:01

Drew me a map. It. Was

24:03

a drawing of a pass. Representing.

24:05

An aspiration or timeline for the prison.

24:08

At. The beginning of the pass the past

24:10

which air Cd. Labeled the Dark

24:12

Ages. Bad. Food Poison water.

24:14

Lack of respect for their religion. Or

24:17

everything bad him. He's got these

24:19

along this path and the in.

24:22

The transitions to where is it

24:25

feels good to respect for face

24:27

and at least I don't have

24:30

Nevado. but you know, happiness on

24:32

the far right. He

24:34

got the picture. The.

24:37

Talks were fruitful. The. Cabin

24:40

Ministration would end up adopting a

24:42

new prisoner design. Menu is for

24:44

daily options, including one for those

24:46

a delicate digestion they provide detainees.

24:48

Have bottled water. While clocks would

24:50

be installed and accounts for the detainees

24:52

wouldn't have to rely on the guards

24:54

who typically answered daytime or night time

24:56

when you ask them the time. Even.

24:59

Better. For the first

25:01

time. We were allowed to

25:03

have the like did you know So for

25:06

the first semester management. Blessing

25:08

dimness after years of blazing lights.

25:10

Twenty Four seven. Rec

25:12

Time expanded our city said to two

25:14

hours instead of twenty minutes and instead

25:16

of twenty she's of toilet. Paper a guy

25:18

to get a whole roll. Bumgarner.

25:21

Wasn't about to get rid of november

25:23

box or abolish are things but he

25:25

agreed to some new guard protocols. To

25:28

fix the name tag problems, he agreed to air

25:30

Cities number. Solution: Each guard were to sign number

25:32

on his or her. You know. I'm

25:35

gonna agreed to stop the guard force from

25:37

calling the detainees packages when moving them around

25:39

the camps and he agreed to air she

25:41

does proposal for how to stop the guards

25:43

from stomping up and down the middle floors

25:45

during prayer time. To

25:48

put up Purple Adepts Everything except

25:50

we're journal j food and admires

25:53

restore the White House but Pericles,

25:55

it's became accepted. Purple of course

25:57

has. Her sister was up for

25:59

it. I remember when he said prayer call, I

26:01

go, what is a prayer? He goes, I don't know. Why don't you

26:03

take a traffic call and put a big P on

26:05

it and put it out whenever

26:07

it's prayer time. And so that'll tell everybody to be

26:10

quiet on the tier. And the

26:12

guards saw that and they respected it too. It

26:14

got to the point though, they say, well,

26:18

it squeaks over here and your guards continue to

26:20

walk up to down the tier, but

26:22

there's a squeaky fart right here. So quit walking over

26:24

there and they would put a prayer call over the

26:26

squeaky fart. I mean, that's the extent it

26:28

went to. And he says,

26:30

it's not like we were blowing them off. We were trying

26:33

to cooperate with them. Arashidi

26:35

though was conflicted about his own role

26:37

in this extraordinary two day summit. On

26:40

one hand, he said he felt like a hero.

26:42

The prisoners had one important concessions. On

26:44

the other hand, maybe he was selling his fellow

26:46

prisoners short in some way, negotiating

26:48

over small practical questions, toilet

26:51

paper, rather than the actual

26:53

shit, the biggest, most pressing question.

26:56

Why are you still holding us illegally

26:58

without charge? So I thought maybe

27:00

I'm giving the wrong

27:02

message to Bumgarner and

27:05

to the authority in one time or

27:07

by maybe the wrong

27:09

message that these guys, they just

27:12

wanted better food and better treatment

27:14

and we are willing to stay

27:16

in one time indefinitely. You're

27:18

going to think that we are okay with it. It's

27:20

okay. You can keep us here for the rest of

27:22

our lives. The

27:25

prospect of indefinite detention, no

27:27

clear system for how this all ends. That

27:30

trumped every other complaint, every other demand.

27:33

When would Bumgarner negotiate about that? A

27:48

major aspect of the Bush administration's campaign

27:50

to show the world that Guantanamo was

27:52

an Abu Ghraib was to

27:54

beckon visitors inside the camp, dignitaries,

27:57

politicians, reporters. press

28:00

conference a few months after Bumgarner's arrival,

28:02

President Bush said it about four times,

28:05

go down there, take a look, see for yourself.

28:08

And people did. The

28:10

charm offensive, helped along by Bumgarner's

28:12

soothing North Carolina accent and folksy

28:14

manner, was working pretty well. Occasionally,

28:17

Bumgarner told me, he misstepped. On a bus

28:19

full of visitors, he once described a young

28:21

female guard as, quote, cute as a puppy.

28:24

General J. Hood was standing right next to him and

28:26

gave him, quote, one of the worst ass chewings I've ever

28:28

had in my life. But

28:31

at the same time, three months into the worst

28:33

year, prisoners at Guantanamo were

28:35

hunger striking. Hunger strikes were

28:38

not new. They'd been going on sporadically since

28:40

the camp's earliest days. But this

28:42

one persisted. And the outside

28:44

world noticed, which of course was the point. The

28:47

timing of the hunger strike was opportune. It seemed

28:49

the detainees were wise to the uptick in visitors.

28:53

Also, one of the organizers of the strike told

28:55

us, they knew that news reports of

28:57

hunger strikes, nonviolent protests in

28:59

which detainees hurt their own selves,

29:02

seemed to penetrate the American consciousness in

29:04

a way other news from Guantanamo didn't.

29:07

Some of the most in-depth reporting came from

29:09

Tim Golden at the New York Times. He

29:12

wrote a great magazine story about this period, which

29:14

is how I know that it was late

29:16

July when Bumgarner broke this first hunger strike

29:19

in a maneuver that would shape the rest of his time

29:21

at Guantanamo. He did

29:23

it by negotiating, not with Arashidi this

29:25

time, but with another detainee Bumgarner had

29:28

met soon after Arashidi, a guy

29:30

named Shaker Amr, a British resident

29:33

who wielded his charisma brilliantly inside

29:35

and outside Guantanamo. Shaker

29:38

Amr was beloved by many of the detainees,

29:41

especially Saudis like himself. And there were a lot

29:43

of them. Most of the Arabs at Guantanamo were

29:45

Saudis. And so Shaker had sway

29:47

with Bumgarner too. He told

29:49

Bumgarner, this hunger strike, I can end it.

29:51

And they made a deal. If

29:54

Shaker stopped the hunger strike, Bumgarner would try

29:56

to further improve whatever conditions he could inside

29:58

the camps in a court of law. with

30:00

the Geneva Conventions. And

30:02

so it was. Bumgarner walked the

30:05

blocks with Shacker, unshackled, a first,

30:08

and saw with amazement how other detainees

30:10

whooped in celebration. He watched

30:12

as Shacker Amher spread the word surgically among

30:14

the camps of their leaders, drop

30:16

the hunger strike. The big chicken is gonna work

30:18

with us. And Bumgarner

30:20

rejoiced, when just like that, most of the

30:22

hunger strikers started eating again. And

30:25

now instead of individual negotiations, Bumgarner

30:29

was ready to start a council of detainees, which

30:31

would communicate grievances to the camp administration.

30:35

Arashidi says he'd suggested this to Bumgarner. I've

30:38

also read versions where Shacker Amher is credited with

30:40

it. But

30:42

Bumgarner says he did it because Geneva Conventions, POWs

30:44

have a right to self-representation. Bumgarner

30:47

was a very good example of the fact that he

30:49

was a very good example of the

30:51

fact that he was a very good example

30:54

of self-representation. Bumgarner knew this might be

30:56

delicate to pull off. Not everyone above

30:58

or below him was fully on board. Why

31:00

give these detainees a sense of authority? Why

31:02

let them kibbitz? But Bumgarner had

31:05

faith. About a week after he

31:07

walked the blocks with Shacker Amher, six

31:09

detainees were brought together to a

31:11

rec yard outside Alpha Block in Camp 1 for

31:14

a sanctioned meeting with camp administration. And

31:17

these six, according to Bumgarner, they were some

31:19

of the most powerful detainees in the camp. An

31:22

Egyptian religious leader named Allah Muhammad Saleem.

31:25

Very smart guy, he's brilliant. Abdul

31:27

Zayif from Afghanistan, who'd been a

31:29

Taliban cabinet minister. I mean, he was

31:31

a big dog. A Saudi engineer who

31:33

went to university in the States and

31:35

proudly admitted his membership in Al-Qaeda, Hassan

31:38

Asharabi. Al-Sharabi, he was a

31:40

very handsome fellow. Always looked like he'd

31:42

just stepped out of the shower, beard

31:45

perfectly trimmed, meticulous. His clothes

31:47

always, I don't know how he did it really. I mean, I wish

31:49

I could have looked like him. And

31:51

finally, Shacker. Effervescent.

31:53

I mean, bubbly

31:56

personality. He

31:58

can charm the pants off. He seemed like such a nice

32:00

guy. You can hear it, right? He

32:03

liked some of these guys. Hassan and

32:05

Shaka especially. He figured a couple

32:07

of them would instantly kill him if they got the chance. Hassan

32:10

Asharabi had said as much without a must of

32:12

his gleaming black hair. But aside

32:14

from that, Bumgarner said he respected them. Not

32:17

necessarily their beliefs, but their stature. The

32:21

second time the group met, Bumgarner joined. He

32:23

sat with them. The prisoners had no

32:25

leg irons on, no cuff, freestyle.

32:28

I thought by this point, we were doing pretty good on

32:31

meeting their demands of the

32:33

camp administration. I

32:36

think they probably felt that way

32:38

too because we didn't stay

32:40

on that for maybe 10, I mean, very briefly,

32:42

if that, I mean, even if at all, we

32:45

went to the big issue, you gotta get us

32:47

set free. Bumgarner told them

32:49

that I cannot do. He

32:51

was the warden, full stop. Freedom

32:53

and justice were above his pay grade. Surely

32:56

they could understand that. And

32:58

as well, I tried to get them to understand it. You're

33:00

gonna be here, you're gonna be here, and

33:03

I can try to help make your life a little better while

33:05

you're here, or you continue to be

33:07

miserable. That's why I was trying to understand

33:09

that. You're not leaving. Remember,

33:25

Bumgarner had rushed down to Guantanamo

33:28

to take over, no time for language or

33:30

cultural training. The prison was holding

33:32

hundreds of Muslim men from umpteen

33:35

countries, Afghans and Saudis and Yemenis

33:37

and Pakistanis and Algerians, suspected

33:39

Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives. Sure,

33:42

Bumgarner was interacting with a few of

33:44

the detainees individually, but on the

33:47

whole, Bumgarner knew very little about

33:49

his prisoners. He was endearingly,

33:51

if disturbingly, frank about that.

33:54

I couldn't, I didn't know the difference between a terrorist and an

33:56

Arab. He lamented a few times

33:58

that he deployed to Iraq. after

34:00

he deployed to Guantanamo instead of the other

34:02

way around. That way he would have

34:04

recognized that some of the things he thought were terrorist

34:07

viewpoints were simply Arab viewpoints.

34:11

He misunderstood, or maybe half understood,

34:13

who he was dealing with. A gap

34:15

I'd venture stretches to this day. For

34:18

instance, Bumgarner believed to a man

34:20

all the detainees, well, maybe not

34:22

Schecker, but definitely everyone else, would

34:25

be willing to die for their cause, and

34:27

he understood to be entwined with conservative Islam.

34:30

So he tried to keep an eye on the religious leaders among

34:32

them. These guys are very powerful,

34:34

and there's only a handful of them, and I can't

34:36

give you any names. I can remember one of

34:38

them, sort of strange. He was a, we called him

34:40

the Viking, red beard, red complexion,

34:42

red hair. Murat Kurnas. Murat

34:45

Kurnas, a German resident whose family was

34:47

from Turkey. That's funny, yeah.

34:51

Was Murat a religious leader at Guantanamo? No,

34:53

of course not, no. To

34:56

hear Murat tell it, he was a nobody, only 19

34:58

when he got to Guantanamo. He didn't

35:00

speak Arabic or Pashto. He could barely talk

35:02

to anyone. He hadn't even been

35:04

to a religious madrasa, like some of the other detainees.

35:07

They, it's funny what they

35:10

said. They never would accept

35:12

my religious things about,

35:15

between the arrows. It's

35:17

funny. Who said that? Murat

35:19

struggled to remember Bumgarner, but

35:21

a lot of personnel remember Murat. He

35:24

wasn't at Guantanamo that long, relatively speaking, but

35:26

he stuck out to people, because

35:28

he stuck out. He was a

35:31

very large person, a martial artist who missed his

35:33

practice so dearly. He was once seen bench pressing

35:35

two smaller men out in the rec yard. He

35:38

was sort of European. He spoke German, also

35:40

some English, plus the reddish hair. Maybe

35:43

that's why Bumgarner attributed special leadership powers

35:45

to him. I

35:47

don't mean to imply that Bumgarner's information was all

35:49

wrong. I think it was partly wrong.

35:53

In the same way, so much about Guantanamo was partly wrong. We

35:55

craved order, rhyme, and reason. So

35:58

out of scraps of information that were... true. We

36:00

took leaps and liberties and created narratives

36:02

that often weren't true, that showed

36:05

a warped picture of who these men really were. Bumgarner

36:09

trusted the information he had access to.

36:12

He believed what he read in the hopped-up

36:14

detainee files about their terrorist links. He

36:16

believed the intelligence research about how

36:18

Al-Qaeda continues to organize, even in

36:20

confinement. He believed the detainees had

36:22

a sort of org chart, an organized org

36:24

chart. Very, very organized.

36:28

Organized cellular by function.

36:32

Organized, in other words, in much the same

36:34

way terrorist cells out in the world are

36:37

organized. You would have those

36:39

that actually specialized in message passing. You

36:42

would have guys who would be the muscle,

36:45

if you will, the attackers, the frontline soldier,

36:47

if you will. You would

36:49

have a—and Shaker actually

36:51

told me this—you sort of had

36:53

the political affairs guys? I

36:56

mean every bloc had

36:58

a leader. That's

37:01

Omar D'Agais, originally from Libya, but his family escaped

37:03

to Britain when he was young. He

37:06

and other former detainees told us, yeah,

37:08

there was some organization, but not like that.

37:10

It was loose. People on

37:12

the bloc would vote and designate someone as the

37:14

go-to person, to make group decisions when need be

37:16

or to interact with the camp administration. It

37:19

wasn't an Al-Qaeda thing, Omar said. It was just

37:22

a we're in prison together thing. Maybe

37:24

they only vote for a person because he speaks English, or

37:26

maybe he's a leader in one bloc, but then he gets

37:28

moved to a different bloc, and now he's a regular Joe.

37:31

And it didn't depend

37:34

on his background, whether he was

37:37

what he was before or who he was. It

37:40

all depended on how active he

37:42

was inside prison. So like,

37:44

for example, Shaker was very active, and

37:46

he spoke for people, and he translated,

37:49

and he helped, and he tried to.

37:51

So that will be

37:54

considered by others that he would support. By

38:00

Al Qaeda of he just had

38:02

a mama he's had to be.

38:05

There's no way he could exert

38:07

yourself of is dynamic personality. and

38:09

maybe I'm wrong. Maybe.

38:12

He was wrong. We. Never

38:14

had good evidence to prove soccer armor

38:16

with Al Qaeda. Soccer didn't want to

38:18

be interviewed for this. Story is clear

38:20

for. Release in two thousand and seven

38:22

though he wasn't allowed to leave Guantanamo

38:25

for another eight years, and Moroccan Us

38:27

the guy from Germany. he left Guantanamo

38:29

in two thousand and six after spending

38:32

four years there. He later learned both

38:34

Us and German officials determine soon after

38:36

his arrest that he wasn't Taliban or

38:39

Al Qaeda or a real threat to

38:41

anyone's national. Security. Right

38:44

or wrong, This picture Bumgarner. Had a

38:46

detainees who are ideologically fiercer than

38:48

Americans who didn't fear death the

38:50

same way we did who are

38:53

highly secretly organize a corset influence

38:55

detainee policy, How we treated them

38:57

and how we responded when they

39:00

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trial at audible.com/cereal. The.

39:46

Unprecedented. coming together of prison staff

39:49

and prisoners was short lived. The

39:52

same week the Detainee council is forming coincided

39:54

with a flare up of violence in the

39:57

camps. Involving a mini fridge. At.

40:00

there's any teeny. Was called in for an

40:02

interrogation. Hear. Their Cd again.

40:05

And he's doing of city looks

40:07

him don't to the glove. The

40:09

educators thoughts were true since. The

40:12

Prison. And then he

40:14

picked up a fridge. as is Sue

40:17

the fridge at the face of the

40:19

weekend. It. Sounds unlikely.

40:21

I know that there's documentation. Some.

40:24

Of the details differ reports report. But.

40:26

They all reflect the debased rage between

40:28

the personnel and prisoners that Bumgarner observed

40:30

when he first got to Guantanamo. In.

40:34

An investigative memo dated August Eighth

40:36

two thousand and five. The detainee

40:38

his sonos lady says an interrogator

40:40

came to his cell. Site.

40:42

He tells him he doesn't want to

40:44

talk to. the interrogator says fuck you.

40:46

Next day he comes again, slaty, again

40:49

says no. But then a fellow detainee

40:51

in charge of his blog possibly Hassan,

40:53

Srb, who is participating in the nascent.

40:55

Detainee council doesn't to go ahead.

40:58

Society. Does. But. Once

41:00

he gets to the interrogation room it's not as

41:02

usual team there's a female President says he says

41:04

forget it and want to talk to you. The

41:07

interrogator says you will talk said he says

41:10

i have the right not to talk to

41:12

you is getting agitated. The interrogator put his

41:14

finger and. Slaty Say starts insulting his

41:16

mother calls her birch society spits.

41:18

Had the interrogator. And.

41:20

That's when quote the interrogator hit him with the

41:22

refrigerator that was in the Intel room and then

41:25

hit him in the face. With a chair

41:27

unquote, When. Word

41:29

got back to the prisoners in the camps

41:31

or Cd says some people wanted to rise

41:33

up right away. By. The people

41:35

said look. Let's not do

41:37

it soon to be talking to.

41:40

Some. People still hoped. To break the

41:42

exhausting, reactive rhythm of the camps the

41:44

council was underway, Maybe it would work.

41:48

Again, accounts very about the exact order of

41:50

events during this first tumultuous week of August.

41:52

But according to Enter Cd, the prisoners had

41:55

checked their rage over the mini fridge and

41:57

senate. But. Then meeting number

41:59

three. The council bumgarner wasn't there,

42:01

but his recollection is that some of

42:04

the prisoners started passing notes. To each

42:06

other which was against the ground rules. Tim.

42:09

Golden in his magazine account, wrote that when

42:11

an officer. Try to confiscate the notes

42:13

quote some of the detainees pop them

42:15

into their mouths and started chewing unquote.

42:18

When General Her got wind of what

42:20

had happened, he disband. The council said

42:23

I didn't like a season or jealously

42:25

there. Is peace on

42:27

their own? Hear that word? And

42:30

that's funny when he told me of months.

42:33

You have be talking to Must have.

42:39

Started raining Five year acts with a

42:42

man. Like.

42:52

Any pushback a little. The not much.

42:55

He knew he was powerful. Didn't want to

42:57

get fired. On the heels

42:59

of that break down another incident. At

43:02

her she said a Kuwaiti detainee was

43:04

summoned to the interrogation room. When.

43:07

He refuses to return. The.

43:09

Ensue jason detail with the first team to

43:11

beat him up. He

43:14

reaches his front of us. The

43:17

first one we didn't see the trees and

43:19

because he was indeed into gear, should rule

43:21

by the sycamore. Happens

43:24

if that's what was his side. A

43:26

one of siblings I was the was

43:28

prison. How you saw it So. Yeah.

43:31

As. Would happen. Automatically.

43:34

Did everybody starts banging?

43:37

Breakthrough season few minutes

43:39

later. Bomb gonna

43:41

team Also miss. He came

43:43

on to list. And

43:46

he wanted to see them what was going

43:48

on as is used parts of it. And.

43:50

He says. Ability. To do it

43:53

does not. Is Not a decision to do that?

43:56

Better city was mad. He. thought

43:58

the real purpose of them burners this wasn't to find

44:00

out what had happened to make them upset, but

44:03

to take the temperature of the blocks, try to get a beat

44:05

on how bad this was going to be. Tom

44:08

Garner had given his word that he'd curbed the

44:10

violence, but now he seemed to be shrugging. If

44:12

he wasn't going to make his guards behave, why

44:14

should the prisoners behave? Whatever gossamer

44:17

of trust and respect they'd begun to weave

44:19

floated away. Prisoners broke the

44:21

breakables in their cells, mostly the foot pedals

44:23

on their toilets. They banged and yelled. Some

44:26

prisoners suspected the violence against the Tunisian

44:29

and the Kuwaiti was a provocation, that

44:31

the guards and interrogators had sabotaged

44:34

their attempted self-representation, that Bumgarner

44:36

had betrayed them. You know, so

44:39

he went away and that's it started. So

44:41

the hunger strike started that particular light. A

44:44

renewed reinvigorated hunger strike, egged

44:46

on by Shaker Amr. Bumgarner

44:49

had had it with Shaker. They'd

44:51

been working together for weeks, productively, or

44:54

so Bumgarner had thought. So

44:56

he's playing a very important role initially.

44:59

And then when he went against me, I got,

45:01

you know, Hood's concurrence to

45:04

put him out in Camp Echo permanently and

45:07

he stayed in Echo for the rest of the

45:09

time. So he was away from the general population

45:12

for the remainder of my time. He

45:14

never went back in. Because you were afraid he

45:17

would have an influence. Yes, exactly. He

45:19

had sort of betrayed me. Bumgarner

45:32

was stressed out. He

45:34

was juggling criticism from all sides. His

45:37

detainee counsel had failed. His boss had called

45:39

off the experiment. He worried General

45:41

Hood didn't have much confidence in him. That

45:43

the interrogators also didn't appreciate him giving away

45:46

comforts to detainees that they themselves wanted to

45:48

use as bargaining chips. And

45:50

the guards, Bumgarner's own rank and file, also

45:53

grousing, about Bumgarner. He

45:56

wasn't a counsel in

45:58

private praise and public. Like he was,

46:00

uh, get your fucking shit together. Get

46:02

your head out of your ass. Unfuck

46:05

yourself, you know, type of guy. That's

46:09

Steve Timmiss, a Navy Master-at-Arms in charge of

46:11

the Guard Force in the discipline camp. He

46:14

told me the crap morale was in large part

46:16

because all the higher-ups seemed scared for their careers,

46:19

scared they'd be embarrassed or blamed in the press

46:21

for screw-ups, and all that fear

46:23

and finger-pointing trickled down, often by a

46:25

bum gardener. I was on

46:27

the receiving end of that once. Most

46:30

of the time I had my shit in one sock, but

46:33

there were other guys that made mistakes. He

46:35

would just go off, you know? You

46:37

tell that guard, he's been trained to do it this

46:39

way. Why did he do it this way? Yeah,

46:42

I was a holler. Yeah,

46:45

I'm not proud of that. At

46:48

that time, I had a, I

46:51

had a very, very, very short fuse, and

46:53

it built throughout the period. It is the

46:56

stress. I was told he

46:58

was in, I don't know, everything's cool. I'm not in stress.

47:01

And I really thought that. But he

47:03

was working every day until 11 p.m., midnight, sleeping

47:06

maybe four hours a night, red-faced.

47:09

As detainees are refusing food and protest,

47:11

he's eating like a fool, his words.

47:14

Bum gardener said he probably gained 40 or 50 pounds. So

47:17

yes, he was stressed. And

47:20

now a big new hunger strike had started,

47:22

this time with a big demand. That

47:25

bum gardener had no control over, because

47:27

it pushed beyond menu plans and prayer cones

47:29

straight to the heart of the matter. Either

47:31

try us for crimes or let us go. They

47:34

were saying, in essence, treat us

47:36

like proper POWs, abide by the Geneva

47:39

Conventions, give us the protections of your

47:41

laws, access to your courts. The

47:44

press was all over it, tracking the upward

47:47

arrow of the hunger striker numbers. Dozens,

47:49

then 76. Sometime in

47:51

September, the camp says it's 131 hunger strikers. Attorneys

47:55

representing the detainees say the number's more like 200.

47:59

Meanwhile, contraband. legislation about standards

48:01

for detainee treatment is winding through

48:03

Congress. Bumgarner

48:05

had tried the carrots. He tried

48:07

to work with the detainees to reason with them. A

48:10

big stick was nigh.

48:12

Arashidi's analysis is that during

48:15

this time Bumgarner, stymied and under

48:17

pressure, made a calculated move from

48:20

good guy who was genuinely trying to do the right

48:22

thing by the prisoners to tough guy. I

48:25

don't think that's quite it. I think

48:27

it's more likely that while he was

48:29

at Guantanamo, Bumgarner was always the same

48:31

guy. Basically a reasonable guy, but also

48:34

a cop through and through. The cops,

48:36

what's the problem? Just follow the rules.

48:39

Logic. Really, I'd say if

48:42

the IRF team ever had to be

48:44

deployed, the responsibility, in

48:46

my opinion, went to the detainee because they

48:48

forced the circumstance. All you had to do

48:50

was comply with what you're being asked to

48:52

do. It was just very simple

48:54

type thing. Give me this back or do this.

48:57

Give me your hands up for that. I

48:59

understand like in an operational way

49:02

why that feels very

49:04

straightforward to you. On

49:07

the other hand, would you also

49:09

sit back and be like, I

49:12

get it. A lot

49:14

of them are saying, I don't deserve to be here.

49:16

I was grabbed off a bus at the border of

49:18

whatever. I was visiting my whatever. I was going to

49:20

teach in a school. You guys think

49:22

I'm someone I'm not. I've been here for

49:24

four years. I haven't talked to my parents.

49:26

They don't know whether I'm dead or alive.

49:28

I feel like I'm dying. I hate

49:31

the food. I can't speak to anyone.

49:33

I miss my sisters. Fuck

49:36

you. I'm not going to do

49:38

anything you ask me to do. Why would I cooperate?

49:40

All I have, the only path I was on a

49:42

roll now and I couldn't stop his

49:44

argument. It's their own fault. If five guys

49:46

in riot gear spray them with tear gas,

49:48

rush into their cell, knock them to the ground and

49:51

hog tie them makes me nuts. First

49:54

off, because look how you made me hurt you is a

49:57

bully's faulty rationale, But

49:59

also because. The part that gets left

50:01

out, the part the government and the military

50:04

never seem to acknowledge is it the whole

50:06

time we had all the power. And

50:08

imbalance poisoned by the reality that

50:10

our intel was flawed. We. Weren't

50:13

clear and our own minds about who we had

50:15

or with a new or why we were even

50:17

holding them. And so why is it surprising in

50:19

any way or even wrong? Frankly, for a detainee

50:22

to push back against are Ill use power either

50:24

for the sake of Islamic Jihad or for the

50:26

sake of due process. One.

50:28

Side your breath and apologized for

50:31

my so boxing Bumgarner said i

50:33

don't disagree with anything you just

50:35

said. Back. Then. I.

50:37

Can't say that I or see

50:39

took into consideration oh you disrupt.

50:42

What now and life after Fifteen

50:44

years of the loot bags in

50:46

a different perspective. Overall, at that

50:48

time did I've really taken more

50:50

consideration? There's. Plenty. Dot

50:52

all birds not much more than two

50:55

seconds. His own safe

50:57

and secure and era was implemented at

50:59

it and it really do to the

51:01

thinking about. The wings

51:03

on their life and I'm sorry to say.

51:05

Oh, but perhaps a set of platoon. I

51:10

think it was getting every day I

51:12

got closer to get closer that until

51:14

something happens. Here's

51:20

what happened. Bumgarner felt he was losing

51:23

control of the camp. The hunger strikers

51:25

filled the detainee hospital which is where

51:27

they get to bed if they refuse

51:29

to eat. To said

51:32

in a hospital sounds to me like one

51:34

of the worst places to be any time

51:36

anywhere. But. Bumgarner said oh no,

51:38

it was nice and there. Is.

51:41

Always air conditioned cool he had little

51:43

nub a good meals brought to you

51:45

serve to you like yours a gene

51:47

you got track of years. nurses who

51:49

paid attention to you constantly. The.

51:52

Nurses were attractive. Because they were

51:54

female. The

51:56

for bumgarner of it was the lozenges that broke

51:58

the camel's back. When you get

52:00

the tube dropped down, so many times your throat becomes

52:04

irritated. And so the

52:06

nurses would give them a lozenges or

52:08

cough drops and they get to

52:10

choose the flavor they want. I initially

52:13

thought give them, you know, give them,

52:15

make them be happy. So

52:18

what, so what they had lozenges who cared, but

52:20

then I've, I've slowly began, I'm not slowly,

52:22

I've pretty much been saved. We're not running

52:24

things anymore. They're running things. They

52:27

were bringing us to our knees on

52:29

resources and just messing, from

52:32

our perspective, messing with

52:34

us constantly. I mean,

52:36

we're now being, the terms are being dictated

52:38

by them. They have the offensive. They are

52:40

the ones dictate what's

52:42

going on in the camps, which was not good.

52:46

Consultants from the federal Bureau of

52:48

Prisons were brought down to assess

52:50

the situation, including a forensic psychiatrist.

52:53

They agreed with Bumgarner. You got to take

52:55

back control. And so

52:57

he endorsed a new approach to the hunger strike,

53:00

one that the camp administration would call life

53:02

saving and that prisoners and most everyone else

53:05

would call horrifying force

53:07

feeding chairs. By

53:10

early December, the first five restraint chairs

53:12

were shipped to the island. Soon 20 more would

53:14

be on route. No more

53:17

cushy hospital feedings at your convenience. If you

53:19

refuse to eat, we're going to put you

53:21

in the chair, your legs, arms, torso, all

53:23

strapped in the camp, even customize the

53:25

chairs. Bumgarner said, so you couldn't move your head.

53:28

And then a tube was snake through your nose down

53:30

to your stomach. Not everyone was

53:32

voluntarily getting into that chair. So the ordeal

53:34

was sometimes preceded by an earthing, then

53:37

guards holding you down to strap you in. Detainees

53:40

are peeing on themselves, shitting themselves.

53:43

Bumgarner said they did it on purpose. Detainees

53:46

who experienced it said it was because they

53:48

either put too much liquid inside you or

53:50

cruelly added laxative or just left you there

53:52

too long. We put a

53:54

pad under it and said, what happens

53:56

happens. You're not coming out of this chair to your fed. I

53:59

know that sounds. probably hard. That's probably, if

54:02

I can say all things that we

54:04

did in Guantanamo, that's probably the harshest

54:07

thing we did. Matter of fact, I'm

54:09

sure. The chair. Did

54:11

you watch it? Oh yeah, many times. Many,

54:13

many, many, many, many times. Even

54:16

some personnel were traumatized by the process.

54:18

Never mind the detainees who underwent this

54:20

fresh hell. You

54:23

couldn't take it. Somebody pushing,

54:26

inserting, achieving to your nose, down your

54:28

guts, and then pull it out

54:30

violently and then put it again. You couldn't take

54:32

it. It was the worst

54:36

period in Guantanamo history.

54:43

From where Bumgardner sat though, what

54:45

he saw was success. Peaceful

54:48

as could be. I mean, very,

54:51

very, very, very, very, very little

54:53

misconduct. When he'd

54:55

arrived all those months ago, the discipline camps

54:57

had been at capacity with a wait list. Now

55:00

they were sparse. For a number

55:02

of days, they actually closed November, an empty

55:04

discipline block. There was no

55:07

detainees on it. That's unheard of.

55:10

That's so momentous.

55:13

That doesn't mean a lot to you, but I'm going to tell

55:15

you, that is huge. That is huge.

55:20

Bumgardner had done it. His goal was

55:23

a quiet camp and he'd achieved a

55:25

quiet camp. November block was

55:27

quiet. The hunger strike was broken.

55:29

And from then on, for the next five

55:31

months, he said all was well.

55:34

The longest stretch of calm Guantanamo had ever

55:36

seen. Bumgardner dubbed it

55:38

the period of peace. Soon

55:42

enough, he'd understand. Peace, like

55:44

compliance, is in the eye of the beholder.

56:07

Cereals produced by Jessica Weisberg, Dana Chivas,

56:09

and me. Our editor is Julie Snyder.

56:12

Additional reporting by Cora Currier. Fact

56:14

checking by Ben Failin. Music supervision,

56:16

sound design, and mixing by Phoebe

56:19

Wang. Original score by Sofia Dely-Alesandre.

56:21

Editing help from Jen Guerra and

56:23

Ira Givens. Our contributing editors

56:26

are Carol Rosenberg and Rosina Ali.

56:29

Additional research by Amir Kefaji and Sami

56:31

Yousafzai. Translation by Mohammad

56:33

Raza Sahibzada. Additional

56:35

production from Katie Mingel and Emma Grillo.

56:37

Our standards editor is Susan Westling. Legal

56:40

review from Alameen Sumar and Maya Gandhi.

56:42

The art from our show comes from

56:44

Pablo Del Khan and Max Guter. Supervising

56:47

producer for serial productions is

56:49

Nde Chubu. Our executive assistant

56:51

is Mac Miller. Sam Dolnick is deputy managing

56:54

editor of the New York Times. Special

56:57

thanks to Janelle Peifer, Brad

56:59

Fisher, Maddie Masiello, Daniel Powell,

57:01

Marion Lozano, Clive Stafford Smith,

57:03

Tim Golden, and Esther Whitney.