First, I apologize for the harm my country has done to you (among so many others) and continues to do. I regret that my opposition to our national polices has been insufficient to create change (despite the participation of so many of my fellow citizens). I (and I know ‘we’) will continue to speak out both against our national policies and on behalf of those detainees still held on the grip of our national fear.

Second, congratulations on your freedom and for your courage in continuing to be outspoken about the injustices visited on you and your fellow detainees.

If I can say anything to mitigate my country’s actions it is that most of my countrymen are not monsters. They are, if nothing else, scared children who are unfortunately armed with the world’s most powerful armed forces and most lethal weapons. And, while the ruling classes act with malice akin to the imperial dictators of ancient Rome, the American people, frightened by a world they’ve not been educated to understand or to participate in as equals, follow blindly in fear of forces they don’t understand and choose to remain ignorant of.

Salam, Shalom, Peace.