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SALEH SNOUSSI administration.” That was the final offer to Chief Corporal Sahban al-Gamoudi – that he accept their participation in his scheme if he wished to avoid a struggle with powerful men like Colonel al-Jibali, who enjoyed the confidence of the highest authorities and had been the head warden at prisons which had used torture and execution since the 1980s. Sergeant al-Hadi Ammar had also participated in a number of liquidations of enemies of the Revolution, both inside and outside the country, and could himself communicate directly with the highest authorities. For those reasons, the Chief Corporal decided it would be best to be satisfied with the money he had made from his scheme before its discovery and to accept them as partners on the same terms as the prison’s other money-making schemes, which they had set up and developed in pools of blood and mass graves. The difference between the members of the administration was resolved before it could get worse and prompt higher authorities to install other men in their posts to punish them for their failure to reach an understanding on dividing the booty.They had realized that securing their future well-being meant reaching an agreement on dividing the plundered goods and being content with that amount, no matter how small it seemed compared with the booty raked in by the other gangs that were running businesses making illegal profits in the millions. Matters calmed down and returned to the previous status quo in the Abu Saleem Prison; Corporal Ma‘tuq Madi was the only loser under the new agreements. He only received a small share – no more than two hundred dinars a month. He felt extremely cheated but pretended to be satisfied and appreciative. Privately, he decided to take revenge when the opportunity arose, because he was as wellinformed as any of them of all the secrets and all the incidents that had occurred in the prison; he had participated in the massacre from beginning to end, carting off the corpses of the victims to communal graves in his truck. The gates of the prison continued to safeguard the secrets of what had occurred there for more than five years and the families of the victims continued to visit the prison at the end of every month, bringing goods and food stuffs, without knowing that they were nourishing dead men who had departed from this life years before, whose bones were rotting in the dirt. 76 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES
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JAD EL-HAGE Cats up a Pole “AND DON’T FORGET to tell your grandma we’re still fighting on,” said Marjory’s mum.What she meant was: still seeking donations, organizing charity events, writing to dignitaries and celebrities in the hope of saving the Casa del Desierto from demolition. Marjory smiled indulgently at her mum’s last-minute instructions.Then they hugged goodbye near the old, derelict building. Though the Casa had been deserted for decades, inhabited only by feral pigeons, many in Barstow couldn’t imagine the destruction of its formidable arcades Andalusian ornaments, vast halls and elegant stairs. It was equally unimaginable that the Santa Fe trains would soon stop passing through this part of southern California. Once in LA, Marjory would be listening to her grandmother with the same tolerant smile of a well-mannered youth putting up with her elders. “You know, Marje dear, I was the first and only black to serve at La Casa…” And, as always, Grandma would spread her souvenirs out on her shabby sofa, stroking with added affection the black and white photos from that enchanting European period which had BANIPAL 43 – SPRING 2012 77

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SALEH SNOUSSI

administration.”

That was the final offer to Chief Corporal Sahban al-Gamoudi – that he accept their participation in his scheme if he wished to avoid a struggle with powerful men like Colonel al-Jibali, who enjoyed the confidence of the highest authorities and had been the head warden at prisons which had used torture and execution since the 1980s. Sergeant al-Hadi Ammar had also participated in a number of liquidations of enemies of the Revolution, both inside and outside the country, and could himself communicate directly with the highest authorities. For those reasons, the Chief Corporal decided it would be best to be satisfied with the money he had made from his scheme before its discovery and to accept them as partners on the same terms as the prison’s other money-making schemes, which they had set up and developed in pools of blood and mass graves.

The difference between the members of the administration was resolved before it could get worse and prompt higher authorities to install other men in their posts to punish them for their failure to reach an understanding on dividing the booty.They had realized that securing their future well-being meant reaching an agreement on dividing the plundered goods and being content with that amount, no matter how small it seemed compared with the booty raked in by the other gangs that were running businesses making illegal profits in the millions. Matters calmed down and returned to the previous status quo in the Abu Saleem Prison; Corporal Ma‘tuq Madi was the only loser under the new agreements. He only received a small share – no more than two hundred dinars a month. He felt extremely cheated but pretended to be satisfied and appreciative. Privately, he decided to take revenge when the opportunity arose, because he was as wellinformed as any of them of all the secrets and all the incidents that had occurred in the prison; he had participated in the massacre from beginning to end, carting off the corpses of the victims to communal graves in his truck. The gates of the prison continued to safeguard the secrets of what had occurred there for more than five years and the families of the victims continued to visit the prison at the end of every month, bringing goods and food stuffs, without knowing that they were nourishing dead men who had departed from this life years before, whose bones were rotting in the dirt.

76 BANIPAL 43 – CELEBRATING DENYS JOHNSON-DAVIES

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