US naval base, Guantanamo, Cuba:
It could be a recreation room on any US university campus. Except the pins in the foosball machines have been carved out.
"We had to take the faces off in the foosball machine because they do not believe in idols. We had to learn all this about their religion on coming here," says a guard.
It's an admission that does not come easily. At the time of 9/11 many Americans were woefully unaware of the tenets of Islam and detainees at Guantanamo complained of abuse and deliberate insults to the Muslim faith by guards and officers.
"Guantanamo has become a symbol of the notion of a war against Islam rather than a war on terror," says Shayana Kadidal, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
Today, authorities admit that they have learnt from the past. Now, all guards undergo an intensive training and sensitization program about Islam before taking up their posts.
In the kitchen, the chef insists the detainees food is halal. Every detainee is given what is called a Muslim kit, which includes a copy of the Koran and a prayer mat.
"In every room in this camp you will find an arrow pointing to Mecca so when the call for prayer is made detainees can stop whatever they are doing and pray. We do it out of respect to them," says a guard.
Today, GTMO administrators cite respect for Islam as watchwords for those working in the prison but after 8 years of a foreign policy that seemed to be aimed at injuring Islam and Muslims as revenge for 9/11-- from the invasion of Iraq to the humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib - words may not be enough.
"This process turns many people who might have been sympathetic to the United States, into haters of the United States, and that's one of the main reasons why it's so important that GTMO be shut down," says Larry Cox, Executive Director of Amnesty International, USA.
The abuses that are said to have taken place in camps like Guantanamo testify to the caricature of the US that its enemies have painted: that America is a ruthless imperial power determined to suppress and abuse Muslims. This has made the closure of Guantanamo the first step needed to normalize America's relationship with the Muslim world.