Leaving Guantanamo

This multilayered work follows a group of Guantanamo detainees from a single Middle Eastern country, Kuwait, portraying their lives before their capture, to their experience at Guantanamo, to their ultimate release and the lives they have been challenged in remaking after returning home. It is an intimate look at real men held for years without charge and without hope. Eric L. Lewis has represented Guantanamo detainees for more than twenty years and he conducted the hearings that gained the release of the last two Kuwaiti 'forever prisoners.' As part of a committed team, he spent time with these men and their families, fighting to gain access to courts and navigating the politics and diplomacy of the Global War on Terror. As well as telling the story of his time with the Guantanamo detainees, Lewis also analyzes how Guantanamo has changed American law and culture, and how its legacy continues today.

• Provides an in-depth account into the personal stories of a group of Guantanamo detainees from one country, Kuwait, who were generally educated, prosperous and with histories of charitable work
• Details how the US Government knew early on it was not holding terrorists, but nevertheless implemented a program of torture and coercion to create the illusion of progress in the Global War on Terror
• A unique, multiple-perspective look into the transformative legal and political developments prompted by the Global War on Terror