The Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice In Guantanamo Bay

About this book

At a July 17 2003 press conference held jointly with Prime Minister Tony Blair President George W. Bush described the prisoners held in Guantanamo: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They are supposedly the worst of the worst of the worlds terrorists. Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith is one of the few people in the world who has had independent access to the prisoners at Guantanamo representing more than fifty. Eight OClock Ferry to the Windward Side is his remarkable account of his descent into the darkly comic world of Guantanamo a legal black hole in which the bleakness of the surroundings are punctuated by moments of humor and absurdity. From the absence of security at the airport to the army protecting iguanas on the roads Eight OClock Ferry to the Windward Side goes beyond the headlines to tell the true story of life at Guantanamo. By bearing witness to the prisoners stories Smith also asks what is done to our understanding of American democracy when the rule of law is jettisoned in the name of combating terrorism.