GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA — Some prisoners call him "Brother." Others call him an enemy of God. Some don't speak to him at all.
But the 48-year-old Arab American cultural advisor brought here 14 months ago believes he is making a difference as he works with terrorism suspects and their military jailers on ways to avoid religious and cultural conflict.
It's a work in progress, he concedes, having witnessed recurring hunger strikes, a May riot among previously well-behaved prisoners, and three suicides in June that were the first deaths among nearly 800 prisoners the U.S. government has sent here.
The advisor, who cannot be identified because of military rules and concerns for his family's safety, attributes the suicides to a misguided rumor that an act of martyrdom would result in the rest of Guantanamo's prisoners being freed.
"They thought they were doing good, that they were sacrificing themselves," he said. "They thought there would be planes lined up to take the others away."
Since the suicides had no effect, "I don't think it will happen again," he said. "The world didn't respond the way they thought it would."
The advisor, who has lived in the United States since 1981, is a civil engineer by training and formerly the owner of a retail business. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said, he wanted to go back to Iraq. Eventually, he got a job as a linguist with the U.S.-led occupation. He believes his 2 1/2 years of service with U.S. forces gave him an edge over three competitors for the $250,000-a-year job here.
He says the prisoners' behavior has improved since he arrived in September 2005, two years after a Muslim chaplain here was arrested and accused of aiding the enemy. The lay advisor attributes the "calmer" environment now to revised detention practices proposed by himself and the Joint Task Force commanding the network of camps and prisons.
"They see we are making an effort in understanding them," the advisor said of the detainees. "I sit down with them, one on one. I let them know I don't care how they got here."
He describes himself as independent of the military and says he speaks his mind "whether it is to the guy on the cellblock or to the admiral," referring to the task force commander, Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr.
His suggestions for more sensitivity in a detention environment deplored by human-rights groups and European allies have resulted in some bizarre bows to religious tradition.
