You are not one of us. You are our enemy!

The expression “You are not one of us. You are our enemy!” is a guard’s blunt declaration of the divide between the people holding Mohamedou Ould Slahi and the man they hold. Repeated amid torture and hostility, it does more than describe an antagonism: it makes that antagonism the stated condition of every exchange, even when an interrogator later invites conversation under the same label of enmity.

The Enemy as a Category

The guard grounds the distinction in visible uniforms: “Look at your uniform and ours. You are not one of us. You are our enemy!” Slahi answers, “I know.” The exchange reduces the relationship to opposing sides, with clothing offered as evidence of a division that the guard insists Slahi must recognize. The statement does not invite an explanation or dispute; it assigns him a place outside the group and names him as its enemy.

The guard makes the declaration personal as well as categorical: “I don’t want you to forget. If I speak to you, I speak to my enemy.” Slahi again acknowledges the warning. The guard then repeats, “Don’t forget.” The insistence gives the phrase the force of a rule for how their contact is to be understood: even speech between them is recast as speech across a hostile boundary.

Repetition and Its Effect

Slahi describes the guards’ animosity as having reached an extreme. He often felt they had been trained to devour him alive. In that context, “You are not one of us. You are our enemy!” is not an isolated insult but a verbal refrain that makes the threat legible. The repetition—first the declaration, then the warning not to forget—keeps the division present even when no physical act is being described.

The words’ force lies partly in the mismatch between speaking and relating. The guard speaks directly to Slahi, yet defines that very contact as an encounter with an enemy. The phrase acknowledges a relationship while denying any common belonging within it; Slahi’s brief assent registers that he understands the rule, not that the hostility has eased.

An Enemy-to-Enemy Conversation

A later interrogator offers a revealing variation: “You are my enemy,” he says, before proposing, “So let’s talk as enemy to enemy.” He opens Slahi’s cell and offers him a chair. Unlike the guard’s repeated warning, this declaration introduces a conversation, but not a neutral one. The interrogator does most of the talking, praising the power of the United States, while Slahi gives restrained acknowledgments; beneath the apparent exchange, the interrogator tries to elicit admissions to things Slahi says he had not done.

The recurrence shows how the enemy label can serve different immediate purposes without dissolving the underlying imbalance. One guard invokes it to reinforce separation and animosity; the interrogator uses it to stage a conversation while continuing to seek admissions. In both encounters, the phrase defines the terms of contact before Slahi can define them himself.