Moazzam Begg is an ordinary man who has endured an extraordinary fate - imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit and whose precise nature has never been determined. As far as the US government was concerned, it was enough to label him an 'enemy combatant'. Moazzam was arrested in Pakistan, where he was helping set up education programmes for children, in the panic-stricken months after the 9/11 attacks. He spent three years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, and was subjected to over three hundred interrogations, death threats and torture, witnessing the killings of two detainees. He was released early in 2005 without explanation or apology. "Enemy Combatant" is his riveting story. Not just an instant classic of incarceration literature, it reveals for the first time what it means to be an intelligent, politically engaged Muslim living in the West after 9/11, by someone who finds common ground with fellow Muslims enduring oppression around the world, and who has recently emerged as an influential voice in the Muslim community, against both acts of terrorism and the demonising of Islam.
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'...a shocking story that might open the eyes of those who still believe "Gitmo" is the best available option.' -- The Sunday Times
'A brilliant, terrifying and deeply moving account . . . A warning of the dangers inherent in using religion to justify war' -- TONY BENN
'If this was a thriller, people would say it was unlikely. Unhappily, it's true' -- The Titles and Authors to watch in 2006, IRISH TIMES
All you want to do is welcome him back, hug his book and punish his tormentors. -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent, 24 March 2006
One of the most successful books of the last year...a fascinating prison memoir. -- Michael Gove, The Times, 17 May 2006
The most extraordinary thing about Begg's book is the almost complete absence of bitterness -- James Meek, London Review of Books, 8 June 2006
What is impressive about the account in this book is the sympathy with which [Begg] describes some of his captors. -- Financial Times
'A brilliant, terrifying and deeply moving account . . . A warning of the dangers inherent in using religion to justify war' -- TONY BENN
'If this was a thriller, people would say it was unlikely. Unhappily, it's true' -- The Titles and Authors to watch in 2006, IRISH TIMES
All you want to do is welcome him back, hug his book and punish his tormentors. -- Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent, 24 March 2006
One of the most successful books of the last year...a fascinating prison memoir. -- Michael Gove, The Times, 17 May 2006
The most extraordinary thing about Begg's book is the almost complete absence of bitterness -- James Meek, London Review of Books, 8 June 2006
What is impressive about the account in this book is the sympathy with which [Begg] describes some of his captors. -- Financial Times
From the Inside Flap
Moazzam Begg is an ordinary man who has endured an extraordinary fate – he is one of the nine Britons detained in the camps at Guantanamo Bay, imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and whose precise nature has never been determined. As far as the US government was concerned, it was enough to label him an ‘enemy combatant’.
Moazzam was arrested in Pakistan during the panic-stricken months after the 9/11 attacks, having been working across the border in Afghanistan on education and water projects. Hooded, shackled and cuffed, he was taken first to the detention facility at Kandahar, then on to Bagram and finally Camp Echo in Cuba. In all he spent three years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement, and was subjected to over three hundred interrogations as well as death threats and torture, and witnessing the killings of two detainees. He was released early in 2005 without explanation or apology.
Enemy Combatant is his riveting story. Taking us behind the razor wire for the first time, it reveals the terrifying and Kafka-esque world into which he was thrown, a world governed by confusion, fear and frustration as he and his fellow inmates struggled to come to terms with their incarceration and with being accused of crimes of which they had little knowledge, let alone responsibility. Here too is a fascinating insight into the mindsets of his captors and interrogators, describing not just the pointlessness of much of the questioning from MI5 or the FBI but also the wildly divergent views on the ‘war on terror’ Moazzam encountered from the US soldiers on guard detail.
But Enemy Combatant is more than just a powerful and compelling account of a miscarriage of justice. It also explores fully the context of Moazzam’s arrest and his background as an intelligent, politically engaged Muslim living in the West; someone who finds common ground with fellow Muslims enduring oppression around the world but who finds the violent and criminal activity carried out in its name as abhorrent as the Western commentators who all too readily equate the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘terrorist’. Both candid and forthright, it is both an important contribution to the debate about religious integration and a modern classic of incarceration literature.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
By Grendel
Format:Hardcover
I saw Moazzam Begg speak at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2006 -- he came across as modest, intelligent, calm and unembittered by his atrocious experiences at the hands of stupid governments. Many of the questions he was asked (by people who hadn't read his account) had more than a hint of skepticism about them and were a little insulting, but he always refused to rise to the bait, instead using his formidable knowledge of western and eastern culture to gently prove to his audience that he was not a terrorist and that his years of hell in custody were a farcical and dangerous overreaction of paranoid states. If you read this book, you will understand that the vast majority of people that have been picked up in the counterproductive "War On Terror" are innocent, and you will scratch your head in disbelief at the unnecessary brutality that is routinely inflicted on them in your name. As this book makes plain, the US and UK response to the horrific terrorism of 9/11 and since is so tragically misguided. These governments are doing EXACTLY what the terrorists want them to do, and recruiting enemies in the process. It is calm, informed, thoughtful books like this one that will heal the divide -- not another US fantasy of "spreading democracy" by force if necessary in the middle east (but not in China, Burma, North Korea and so on...)
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Eman
Format:Hardcover
A fantastic read. Well-written and gripping. Moazzem Begg is articulate and at times amusing as he writes about his account of his horrific capture, his time in solitary confinement and subsequent release.
The book gives insight into a Muslim man who is British and more educated and cultured than many of his captors.
It is interesting and yet worrying as it reveals the stark realities of Guantanamo Bay and the real victims of the War on Terror.
Highly highly recommended for anyone who wants to read a stimulating and meaty story..the bonus this one has is that it really happened.
The book gives insight into a Muslim man who is British and more educated and cultured than many of his captors.
It is interesting and yet worrying as it reveals the stark realities of Guantanamo Bay and the real victims of the War on Terror.
Highly highly recommended for anyone who wants to read a stimulating and meaty story..the bonus this one has is that it really happened.
30 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I remember quite well trying to encourage my fellow suffer of Concentration Camp Echo - once released from their in October 2004CE and residing in Concentration Camp Delta, Papa block - that he should write down his experiences: the pressure was coming both from myself and Clive Stafford Smith yet Moazzam only answered, "I need my laptop - this is not the atmosphere for writing". We had mused on the name. He thought 'Chimes of the Razor Wire', 'Enemy Combatant' seemed simpler and more profound to me. I am happy he conceded to it. Atleast I was right in that respect!
Moazzam had more faith in being released than I. I had embraced the idea that I would never see freedom and with a stiff upper-lip, derived from discovering my Britishness in defiance of the establishment, I sought to bloody their noses with the 'Document of Abuse' that I was hunched over relentlessly, to the exclusion of others, writing. Indeed history has proved the faith of Moazzam right and my scepticism wrong: as we were indeed released and he did get his laptop (I saw it with my own eyes). This book is a testimony to Moazzam's hope, faith in people, its struggle and eventual triumph. It is good to see: All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
Feroz Ali Abbasi,
Moazzam had more faith in being released than I. I had embraced the idea that I would never see freedom and with a stiff upper-lip, derived from discovering my Britishness in defiance of the establishment, I sought to bloody their noses with the 'Document of Abuse' that I was hunched over relentlessly, to the exclusion of others, writing. Indeed history has proved the faith of Moazzam right and my scepticism wrong: as we were indeed released and he did get his laptop (I saw it with my own eyes). This book is a testimony to Moazzam's hope, faith in people, its struggle and eventual triumph. It is good to see: All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
Feroz Ali Abbasi,
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping read.
I have never read a book this quickly. Not because its short, but because its very gripping. An account which will reduce you to tears. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Hamza
5.0 out of 5 stars
fantistic
this book is one of the best i have read.it is definalty worth reading. what happens in the countries that the us military have entered could be not be worse if you made it up. Read more
Published 4 months ago by hussain
4.0 out of 5 stars
TOUCHING
read this and was so touched. its moving and really opens you up
to reality..im now passing it down for others to read and so far
theyve told me its an excellent read and... Read more
to reality..im now passing it down for others to read and so far
theyve told me its an excellent read and... Read more
Published 18 months ago by A. Siddiqui
5.0 out of 5 stars
An insight from the other side
Well worth the read, extremely refreshing to obtain an informed analysis and perspective from an individual who had formed their views without sitting in a library and on the other... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2010 by Hamed Hassan
5.0 out of 5 stars
1 persons review.
Great book to read, once I started I really could not put it down - really. i havn't often come across books that are really well written. Read more
Published on 16 April 2010 by E. ahmad
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chilling
Imagine being arrested in the dead of night at your home by secret agents and being taken away without explanation, and finding yourself imprisoned for years in a grotesquely... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2008 by ComicalGeeza
4.0 out of 5 stars
An important first-hand account
This is an important book and by the end of it I felt ashamed that Britain had played a part in the injustice it relates. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2007 by Mcduff
4.0 out of 5 stars
An important first-hand account
This is an important book and by the end of it I felt ashamed that Britain had played a part in the injustice it relates. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2007 by Mcduff
5.0 out of 5 stars
If there is one book you read this year, let this be the one.
Well written, powerful true story. Could not put it down until I finished it in 3 days. Moazzam Begg's books is intense, funny at times and thought provoking. Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2007 by Sam Tighe
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well written, trust worthy account of guantanamo bay
This is a very well written account of the live of Moazzam Begg which draws on his experience of Guantanamo bay as its main topic, but also delves into his early life. Read more
Published on 23 Sep 2006 by Mr. Gavin E. Burton
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