"During that time my daughters grew up without me. They were toddlers when I was imprisoned, and were never allowed to visit or speak to me by phone. Most of their letters were returned as 'undeliverable,' and the few that I received were so thoroughly and thoughtlessly censored that their messages of love and support were lost."

As the story of Lakhdar Boumediene's experience at Guantanamo winds its way across the internet, all I can think of is everyone who told me that if people were being held in that place, there were probably good reasons for it, because if there weren't they wouldn't be in Guantanamo. How ridiculous to think so.

A long time ago I got called for jury duty and spent two days hanging around a city courthouse. To my surprise, I got selected for a trial. During the voir dire phase of juror selection, the defense and prosecuting attorneys took turns asking us questions intended to determine if any of us were unfairly prejudiced, crazy or just extra unhappy to be there.

The defense attorney singled me out. He gestured at the defendant. "Obviously he's done something wrong, or he wouldn't be here, right?"

Of course, the answer to this is no -- in fact it is his right to be here, to have a trial at which to plead his case. Because, allegedly, that's how we roll in the US of A, no matter how sensationalized your story has become. The defendant had probably spent a single evening in the county lockup that previous night, and I could see it in his expression: thank God I am here.