Quote 4: Checkmate

Pg 318, Ebook Edition

But I found in chess a very interesting game, especially that a prisoner has total control over his pieces, which gives him some confidence back.

[The strongest guard] taught me how to control the centre… After that the guards had no chance to defeat me.

This quote holds significance as it is during a time where Mohamedou is no longer a terrorist in the eyes of his closer guards but a friend. After obtaining the chest set from one of the guards, his relationship with them grew tremendously. Not only did chess give him a boost of condience and a sense of control (as quoted) but he was taught to control the centre. The centre I know to be--although I am not a chessplayer-- one of the most strategical places on the board. You have both strong defense and flexible choices of action. Defense and action are without a doubt what Mohamedou needs the most in GTMO. With the first win against the guards the power balance within the newfound community changed. Mohamedou was finally becoming an equal.

I often compared myself with a slave. Slaves were taken forcibly from Africa, and so was I. Slaves were sold a couple of times on there way to their final destination, and so was I. Slaves were assigned to somebody they didn’t choose, and so was I. And when I look at the history of slaves, I noticed that slaves sometimes ended up an integral part of the master’s house.

(pg 306 Ebook Edition)

This is another quote that illustrates how he felt about these newfound friends in the most likely of places. Yes, his head guard did try to torture him with music like “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor” by Drowning Pool and tell him he deserved to die 3000 times, but by the end of his post, Mohamedou had become a figure deserving of his respect.