The Code Word

Jun 1st, 2004 • Posted in: What They're Saying

“They grabbed my arms, my legs, twisted me up, and unfortunately one of the individuals got up on my back from behind and put pressure down on me while I was face down. Then he — the same individual — reached around and began to choke me and press my head down against the steel floor…. When I couldn’t breathe, I began to panic and I gave the code word I was supposed to give to stop the exercise…. That individual slammed my head against the floor and continued to choke me. Somehow I got enough air, I muttered out, ‘I’m a U.S. soldier, I’m a U.S. soldier.’”

– U.S. veteran Sean Baker, formerly of the 438th Military Police company in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Baker, who was told to pose as an uncooperative detainee in a training exercise for U.S. soldiers who did not know his identity, received a medical discharge after the beating, which he says caused severe brain injury. The military acknowledges that Baker was injured but says his medical release was for “unrelated reasons” — a statement Baker has denounced as a betrayal, according to a local NBC affiliate.

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