Zeitoun: Part 4

Wow. This book is really interesting. What makes it interesting is the fact that its true. For part four, I was in disbelief the whole time reading this. I had to keep looking on the back of the book to re-read that this book truly was non-fiction.

While at one of Zeitoun's houses, Todd, Nasser, and a resident named Ronnie that had been using the phone, all were arrested without question. Zeitoun and the others complied and believed there was just a big mix up and they would send them back after questioning. However, as soon as they got out of the law inforcements' boat, they were takeled to the ground, tied up, and brought to what seemed to be a military base for questioning. Todd asked why they were there, and one soldier said because the were al Qaeda. Todd was in disbelief to this reasoning, but Zeitoun feared this day would come and knew they would be there for a while. I think the reason Zeitoun and his friends were targeted by this military force was because there were two men from the middle east with them. "After 9/11, he and Kathy knew that many imaginations had run amok, that the introduction of the idea of "sleeper cells" ...meant that everyone at their mosque, or the mosque itself, might be waiting for instructions from their presumed leaders." (Eggers 212) Unfortunately, many Muslims are discriminated still to this day because of 9/11 and the idea of undercover and waiting al Qaeda living within the U.S. As a result, bad things happen to good people like Zeitoun and Nasser, and the others in the group. When they brought Zeitoun in, they provided no information for him. "Zeitoun had not been read his rights. He did not know why he was being held." (Eggers 216) Does this sound like our American government? To take someone from their home, accuse them of being a terrorist, tell them virtually nothing of the reasoning for the arrest, and then give them no rights in prison? Not even one phone call. When reading this happened to Zeitoun, I was furious that our federal troops would do such a thing to an innocent person. That America would stoop so low as prejudice. Isn't that what America is supposed to be against? Not only this, but they were in caged in an outside prison made entirely out of cage similar to that of Guantanamo Bay. Everything and every body was visible from the outside and they were unprotected from the elements. In each cell there was only a portable toilet and a steel, upside down U-shaped bar cemented to the ground used as a guide for lines of people in the bus station. Perhaps what made me most mad, was the fact that this prison had to take time to build, so the government was planning to create a prison in New Orleans. "Within a day of the storm's eye passing over the region, officials were making plans for the building of a makeshift outdoor prison." (Eggers 226) So instead of planning how they would have to save so many people and evacuate them out of the city, the government was busy thinking of terrorism. I can't comprehend why they were planning to make this prison. Why wasn't the government's main priority saving people? During Zeitoun's stay at the prison, he witnessed things I would never believe our federal troops would do. They bribed prisoners before they were interviewed, they would give Muslims pork for food, and they would torture people with pepper spray when they touched the fence or wouldn't keep quiet. Zeitoun was later transferred to another high-security prison and learned he wasn't the only one that was arrested for no apparent reason. One sanitation worker was doing his job of cleaning up the city, when the National Guard pulled up and arrested him on the spot. They even arrested a fireman who had been asked to stay. Zeitoun came to the conclusion if a "man came to be suspected by the U.S. government, and, under the president's current powers, U.S. agents were allowed to seize the man from anywhere in the world, and bring him anywhere in the world, without ever having to charge him with a crime." (Eggers 255) I think the government is capable of many things and, although it goes against America's values, I think what Zeitoun's thought was right. When the government puts their mind to something, they are very capable of doing what ever it takes to get what they want, even if it means arresting innocent people. By the end of the section, Zeitoun began to think this country was fallible after all and that mistakes could be made. If I were in this position, I would think the same. I still am shocked to see what the government did to Zeitoun.  Zeitoun's situation, was one of those American mistakes.