“Brake broke loose”
Slahi recounts, “To make a long story short, you may divide my time in two big steps… Post-torture era: where my brake broke loose. I yessed every accusation my interrogators made. I even wrote the infamous confession about me planning to hit the CN Tower in Toronto, based on SSC advice. I just wanted to get the monkeys off my back.” The metaphorical ‘break’ denotes Slahi’s endurance which diminished due to the persistent oppression he was subjected to confess to crimes. Monkeys denote the interrogators who persecute Slahi relentlessly although he is not liable for the crimes they want him to acknowledge.
“Big Fish”
Colonel Davis asserts, “When Slahi came in, I think the suspicion was that they'd caught a big fish. He reminded me of Forrest Gump, in the sense that there were a lot of noteworthy events in the history of al-Qaida and terrorism, and there was Slahi, lurking somewhere in the back- , ground." A 'big fish' denotes a high-profile delinquent; therefore, likening Slahi to one surmises that Colonel Davis is convinced about the great milestone in the war on terrorism. Slahi is not a ‘big fish’ though.
“Endgame”
In the introduction, Larry Siems writes, “There is a chilling passage in the 2004 CIA inspector general's investigation report Counterterrorism and Detention Interrogation Activities, September 2001-October 2003, one of only two unredacted passages in a four-page blacked-out section of the report headed "Endgame." It says: The number of detainees in CIA custody is relatively small by comparison with those in military custody.” The ‘Endgame’ denotes a definitive conclusion regarding the objective of detaining or isolating employees. The detention strategy employed by the CIA is comparable to the one employed by the army.
Conspiracy
Agent Robert tells Slahi, “But you are part of the big conspiracy against the U.S” This remarks implies that the agent is convinced that Slahi is a dangerous Terrorist whose objective is to harm America. His predetermined conclusion about Slahi’s criminality indicates that he would not be convinced by any explanation or response which Slahi gives about him not being involved in terror.
Neutralize
Slahi explains, “Coming from a third-world country, I know how the police wrongly pin crimes on political rivals of the government in order to neutralize them.” Slahi dreads that convincing evidence would be cooked up by the U.S authorities with the intention of proving that he is a terrorist. He is profiled as a terrorist, and the authorities may opt to use him as a scapegoat to punish the terrorism which he has never been involved in. Finding convincing evidence, no matter how flawed, would be effective in neutralizing him and diminishing his chances of freedom.
