Enemy Combatant (book)
Encyclopedia
Enemy Combatant is the title of a book written by a British Muslim, Moazzam Begg
, and co-written by Victoria Brittain, a former Associate Foreign Editor for the Guardian
newspaper, about Begg's detention by the government of the United States of America in Camp Echo
, Guantanamo Bay. He was seized by Pakistani officers in Islamabad
in February 2002, turned over to the U.S., and after prolonged sessions of interrogation, he was released from detention on 25 January 2005, without charge, compensation or an apology. Under current US law, no compensation is necessary for action taken under war powers act and, according to the Federalist Papers
, the National Security is the utmost concern of the United States government.
According to the U.S., Begg was an enemy combatant
and al-Qaeda
member, recruited others for al-Qaeda, provided money and support to al-Qaeda training camps, received extensive military training in al-Qaeda-run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, and prepared to fight U.S. or allied troops. While Begg admits spending time at two Islamic militant training camps in Afghanistan, supporting militant Muslim fighters, buying a handgun, that he "thought about" taking up arms in Chechnya, and being an acquaintance of people linked to terrorism (most notably, Khalil al-Deek
, Dhiren Barot
, and Shahid Akram Butt), he denies the remainder of the U.S.'s allegations.
The book received mixed reviews. Publishers Weekly
described it as a "a fast-paced, harrowing narrative". "Much of the Moazzam Begg story is consistent with other accounts of detention conditions in both Afghanistan and Guantanamo," wrote John Sifton, a New York-based official from Human Rights Watch
who interviewed former Guantanamo prisoners in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"It is now clear that there is a systemic problem of abuse throughout the US military's detention facilities—not merely misbehaviour by a few bad apples." The Muslim News called it an "open, honest and touching account". Begg was named best British author for the book, at the annual Muslim Writers awards in March 2008.
But The New York Times
reported "some notable gaps in Mr. Begg's memoir", in that he did not mention a previous arrest, nor some of his alleged ties to terrorism. The San Diego Union-Tribune
said: "Begg has been less than forthcoming about his criminal past ... his cooperation with interrogators ... and his ties to terrorism". And Jonathan Raban
, reviewing it for The New York Review of Books
, wrote:
Moazzam Begg
Moazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, and co-written by Victoria Brittain, a former Associate Foreign Editor for the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper, about Begg's detention by the government of the United States of America in Camp Echo
Camp Echo
Camp Echo is one of seven Guantanamo Bay detention camps that make up the main Camp Delta, at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, run by the United States military. The facility is used to hold detainees in solitary confinement...
, Guantanamo Bay. He was seized by Pakistani officers in Islamabad
Islamabad
Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan and the tenth largest city in the country. Located within the Islamabad Capital Territory , the population of the city has grown from 100,000 in 1951 to 1.7 million in 2011...
in February 2002, turned over to the U.S., and after prolonged sessions of interrogation, he was released from detention on 25 January 2005, without charge, compensation or an apology. Under current US law, no compensation is necessary for action taken under war powers act and, according to the Federalist Papers
Federalist Papers
The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788...
, the National Security is the utmost concern of the United States government.
According to the U.S., Begg was an enemy combatant
Enemy combatant
Enemy combatant is a term historically referring to members of the armed forces of the state with which another state is at war. Prior to 2008, the definition was: "Any person in an armed conflict who could be properly detained under the laws and customs of war." In the case of a civil war or an...
and al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
member, recruited others for al-Qaeda, provided money and support to al-Qaeda training camps, received extensive military training in al-Qaeda-run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, and prepared to fight U.S. or allied troops. While Begg admits spending time at two Islamic militant training camps in Afghanistan, supporting militant Muslim fighters, buying a handgun, that he "thought about" taking up arms in Chechnya, and being an acquaintance of people linked to terrorism (most notably, Khalil al-Deek
Khalil al-Deek
Khalil Said al-Deek – , aka Joseph Adams after 1996 was a dual US-Jordanian citizen who came to USA to study computer science....
, Dhiren Barot
Dhiren Barot
Dhiren Barot is a convicted terrorist from the United Kingdom.-Background:...
, and Shahid Akram Butt), he denies the remainder of the U.S.'s allegations.
The book received mixed reviews. Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
described it as a "a fast-paced, harrowing narrative". "Much of the Moazzam Begg story is consistent with other accounts of detention conditions in both Afghanistan and Guantanamo," wrote John Sifton, a New York-based official from Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
who interviewed former Guantanamo prisoners in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"It is now clear that there is a systemic problem of abuse throughout the US military's detention facilities—not merely misbehaviour by a few bad apples." The Muslim News called it an "open, honest and touching account". Begg was named best British author for the book, at the annual Muslim Writers awards in March 2008.
But The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported "some notable gaps in Mr. Begg's memoir", in that he did not mention a previous arrest, nor some of his alleged ties to terrorism. The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
said: "Begg has been less than forthcoming about his criminal past ... his cooperation with interrogators ... and his ties to terrorism". And Jonathan Raban
Jonathan Raban
Jonathan Raban is a British travel writer and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers...
, reviewing it for The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
, wrote:
One has the sense of reading not a memoir but a résumé. Like most résumés, it feels airbrushed. It is a strategic (one might almost say a "campaign") biography ... Begg's travels [during the time the U.S. maintains he was with the Taliban] get confusing, and plotting them on an atlas only adds to the reader's puzzlement.... The gaps in his story—and they're more frustrating than downright suspicious—cease at the moment when Begg enters captivity.... Enemy Combatant has been praised in Britain for Begg's outstanding liberality of mind and evenhandedness toward his captors.... Unfortunately, these relationships are rendered in long passages of direct speech, and Begg and/or his coauthor are notably talentless at writing dialogue.... Perhaps Begg really did strike up a warm relationship with soldier Jennifer, but all one can say of the words on the page is that they are resoundingly phony. Only in bad fiction do people speak this way, and true though Begg's story may well be in its essential facts, it is very poorly served by line after line of rankly implausible writing.