AP EXCLUSIVE: Ex-Guantanamo detainees struggle in Uruguay

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

BY PETER PRENGAMAN

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Every day during the 12½bd} years he was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay as a suspected al-Qaida operative, Adel bin Muhammad El Ouerghi dreamed of freedom.

But since his release along with five other detainees in December, the 50-year-old Tunisian has struggled to cope with freedom as he never dreamed. Resettled in a foreign land, surrounded by a language he doesn't understand, he finds the challenges of everyday life to be daunting.

"In Guantanamo, we only thought about leaving," El Ouerghi said in rapid-fire Arabic. "Here we have to think about food, clothes, all kinds of things."

El Ouerghi and 34-year old Omar Abdelahdi Faraj of Syria spoke with The Associated Press at the four-bedroom, one-bathroom house they share with the other former detainees in a middle-class neighborhood of Montevideo — the first such interviews since their release. They declined to talk about their time at Guantanamo or to provide details about how they ended up there, citing reasons that ranged from fear of reprisal to a desire to leave the past behind.

FULL story at link.



In this Feb. 25, 2015 photo, Adel bin Muhammad El Ouerghi, from Tunisia, chops parsley in the home he shares with five other former Guantanamo detainees in Montevideo, Uruguay. El Ouerghi said he wants to open an Arab restaurant that would serve shwarma, kebobs and other traditional Middle Eastern foods, which he hasn't found in Montevideo. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150302/lt--uruguay-guantanamo_detainees-7c2a070652.html

[Plucketeer]

1. Truly incredible!

To think that it's Uruguay who gives these guys a monthly allowance! WTF??? Unca Sam should've endowed these guys with SOME sorta compensation for the years that were stolen from them IN ERROR! God DAMN that pisses me off.

[Android3.14]

2. Oh, I'd bet a nickel Uruguay received plenty of compensation

As far as holding them in error, that is not necessarily true. The actual error was failing to provide a fair trial.

[Nitram]

3. I blieve that it is a matter of record that 50 to 60% of the detainees...

...at Guantanamo were known to be innocent. That's what happens when you pay people for information about terrorists.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/former-state-department-official-team-bush-knew-many-at-gitmo-were-innocent/275327/

[Android3.14]

5. And?

I'm unsure what you are arguing against. Are you saying you know these particular detainees were innocent, or are you saying that they should not have received a fair trial?

[Nitram]

6. I agree that they should have received a fair trial.

My point is that they are innocent unless proven guilty.

[elias49]

8. This ^^

[Plucketeer]

7. Maybe Uruguay did

But on the surface, at best it bought these guys a place to live. And if they are only getting $600 a month to get by on, it's still a shitty deal for them and what they've been forced to endure.

[blackspade]

4. I feel terrible for these guys.

The Bushies should be locked up for what was done to them.

[elias49]

9. 6 men, maybe innocent, living with PTSD

for the rest of their lives.
Thanks USA.