Guantanamo On Facebook

Last week, the BBC reported on a story that is should give Americans pause in considering what we have perpetrated in the name of the "war on terror." Yet, it's an emotional story that should give us hope that the damage can be repaired. Finally, it's a story about Facebook.

Brandon Neely was a prison guard at Guantanamo Bay when it opened in 2002. Americans had been told that the detention facility there was going to house "the worst of the worst", according to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and Mr. Neely had believed it. Yet, gradually, he began to suspect otherwise. He saw instances of prisoner abuse, and eventually bonded with inmates Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul over a shared love of hip-hop, namely Emimen and Dr. Dre. " I thought, how could it be somebody is here who's doing the same stuff that I do when I'm back home," said Neely. He eventually left the military in 2005 to become a police officer, and has since been an advocate for closing Guantanamo.

Most people use Facebook for keeping up with family, friends, and co-workers. Or maybe to find an old crush. But normally, not to find ones former inmates. Yet, that is exactly what Neely did when, on a whim, he searched for Shafiq Rasul. Rasul had been released in 2004, and was living in his the UK. The pair exchanged emails, and, with the help of the BBC, eventually decided to meet face to face, again. Surprising to both, and really to the rest of the world, the meeting, which was recorded by the BBC, went well. "He realised that what he did was wrong," says Ahmed, "and he's living with it and suffering with it and as long as that he knows what he did was wrong. That's the main thing."

This story is surprising on so many levels. First, that we are putting people who listen to Eminem in Guantanamo for being Islamic Fundamentalist. Then, that Brandon Neely would have the idea, not to mention the courage, to contact his former inmates and want to apologize, and that Rasul and Ahmed would actually accept it. It shows that, despite the gulf of understanding between Whites and Muslims, personal contact can go a long way to bridge that gulf. Finally, although Guantanamo has done much to damage the image of the United States, both home and abroad, Facebook can be a major asset in repairing that damage. Who knew?