Poems from Guantánamo

Sta per uscire un libro di poesie di detenuti a Guantanamo, per l'University of Iowa Press. Tra queste, quelle di Jumah al-Dossari. Il Pentagono ha secretato alcune delle poesie.

[...]

Falkoff won't be able to include all of the works he had hoped to, because the Pentagon has classified some of the poems. In a September 18, 2006 memo, a Pentagon official explained that several poems submitted for declassification had been rejected because poetry “presents a special risk” due to its “content and format.” It was not made clear whether the Pentagon believes the danger lies in the power of words or in the risk that detainees could send coded messages to terrorist operatives through their poems. “As much as I'd like to think it's the former, I presume it's the latter,” Falkoff replied when I asked him about the military's thinking on the matter.

The Waste Land: Declassified poetry from Guantánamo Bay, Ken Silverstein, Harper's Magazine, 23 gennaio 2007