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My name is Terry Holbrooks. I was previously in the military and was a guard in Guantanamo Bay where I converted to Islam.

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Prior to joining the army, I'd usually hang out at a pool hall. There's a pool hall that I would sit and play pool at for the majority of the evening.

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That and drinking. I was drinking very heavily.

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I joined the military due to the fact that I wasn't really going anywhere with my life. I wasn't content.

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And I wanted to be more productive than my parents had been.

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Kind of bring some pride to the Holbrooks legacy.

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We flew to ground zero.

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So we could see ground zero that day.

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It was the last thing we saw of America before we left was ground zero.

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They really drilled this intense necessity of hate and anger towards these people.

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Who are these other 775 people? I can't imagine there being that many co-conspirators.

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It just seemed kind of ridiculous to me.

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And obviously, as time has shown, we've sent 550 of them home now.

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So they weren't guilty to begin with.

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They were always smiling.

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There must be something in your faith or in your life that's lacking in mine.

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Because I'm here, and I'm not smiling every day.

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But you are. That's amazing.

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What do you have that I don't?

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More often than not, the detainees, prayer itself, prayer call would be mocked.

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What they'd be saying during prayer would be mocked.

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The Army doesn't care.

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It's just not a matter of concern.

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We don't need to be culturally sensitive or culturally aware of these people.

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I don't think they ever thought that individuals were going to be talking with the detainees.

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Detainee 590, the general.

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He was kind of a celebrity, so to say.

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He would ask you questions that would probe thinking.

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It wasn't necessarily he was trying to argue with you.

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He would ask you questions that would make you think.

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He introduced me very much to Islam.

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He had a lot to do with my acceptance of Islam.

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I sent my shahada with him, and he congratulated me.

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I think it's very much possible to fully adopt to Islam,

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and to live an Islamic life, and to be a good Muslim,

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and at the same point in time, be an American.

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One of the things I've noticed since I conversed with every door that I close,

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Allah opens a better door.

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I found Islam in Guantanamo,

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and it's not something that I could ever find anywhere else.