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Book Review: For God and Country by James Yee (3 of 5)
In November 2002, Yee was given a much more difficult assignment—he would be stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The only Muslim chaplain at the detention center, Yee's job would be to provide religious services for Muslim U.S. personnel, and to provide religious support for hundreds of Muslim prisoners. But I suppose I must correct myself and use the term “detainees.” As Yee explains, the detainees were not to be referred to as “prisoners” or “prisoners of war”, but “detainees” or “enemy combatants,” for they would not be accorded the full rights of prisoners of war. In practice, this meant that the detainees had some freedom to practice religion, but did not have access to lawyers, and did not have to be charged with crimes. Yee tells of a general climate of disorganization and contradiction at Guantanamo, and a complete lack of standard operating procedures for Muslim chaplains.
Yee reports being shocked by the harsh conditions for the detainees. They were housed in 8' x 6' cages with tin roofs in temperatures of 100 degrees or above, with squat toilets and 24-hour surveillance. They were allowed out of their cells for only 15 minutes every three days, when they were then permitted to take a shower. These conditions were already much better than in the camp that was first built at Guantanamo Bay.
At first, Yee says, he was afraid to come “face-to-face with hundreds of Osama bin Ladens.” However, he found the detainees to be quite friendly overall and not like “terrorists” at all. There were over 650 detainees at the center, all Muslim, from over thirty countries. It was Yee's job to see that their religious needs were met including having the proper prayer times announced five times a day, providing meals in accordance with dietary requirements, and access to the Qur'an. It also became his responsibility to collect the detainees concerns and complaints, and play mediator in many cases.
