“What happened unfortunately for John is that the United States made an abrupt change after the 9/11 attacks. We switched sides. John was on the ground there when that happened. He certainly didn't go to Afghanistan to do anything against America. He never fought against America. He never fired a gun at an American. He was simply rescued.”
“The silver lining in this whole cloud is that we have wonderful visits with our son. Ordinarily a son who is 25 doesn't have much time to spend with his father. But we have a lot of time.”
“In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man who became involved in a spiritual quest and became the focus of the grief and anger of an entire nation over an event in which he had no part.”
“I think we all have to realize that the odds are against it. It is difficult to envision a situation where all those hotheads in Washington can turn around and recognize the kid got a raw deal and should be released.”
