> Maybe I'm going slumming, but I'm going to try to get inside the head of a Taliban foot soldier who has just been captured.
>
> In all likelihood, this guy has been miserable most of life. He has traveled on foot or a bicycle or on horseback. Maybe a few times he has ridden in the back of a truck. He has lived in a harsh climate in very crude surroundings, the food probably hasn't been exactly first class, he has been treated like an animal, slept in a cave or a tent or in the open, and has never had any hope for anything better. Then everything gets worse. He gets captured. In his army, captives have probably not been treated very well, and he knows what to expect. But he is wrong.
>
> At first he has his weapons taken away and is roughly taken to a pen, maybe chained up and he fears for his life. But then things take a different turn. He gets food, clean clothes, maybe even a bath. He gets medical attention and a comfortable place to sleep. People ask him lots of questions, but nobody harms him. After a time, he rides in trucks, maybe an airplane or a helicopter. Sooner or later, he is placed on a large airplane or a ship and taken to a tropical paradise. Sure, it's Cuba, but compared to where he has been all his life, it's a paradise. He will be housed in a new building, he will continue to be well fed and cared for. He will see sunshine and feel the balmy breezes and be more comfortable than he has ever been. Barbed wire and armed guards are nothing new to him so they don't bother him much. It's a soft life.
>
> Now I wonder if this will be a little confusing. What are all these Americans up to? Don't they know who their enemies are? Or maybe he will just wonder what all that fighting was all about.
> Howard

Umm... I don't know where this is quoted from, and it's probably misquoted, but:

A Golden cage is still a cage, and gilded fetters chafe.

He still does not have his freedom, either to move, or to believe in what he used to believe in. You could say what you have said about most people in prisons, whether prisoners of war or of societies' rules, but does it make prison any more desirable? (On the other hand, Shawshank Redemption, Anyone?)

sam"still thinking hard about this one"hael