The following words appear on the dust jacket of My Guantanamo Diary, to be published in June by PublicAffairs:
WHO EXACTLY HAS AMERICA DETAINED ALL THESE YEARS AT GUANTANAMO? THE WORST OF THE WORST? OR THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH?
Mahvish Rukhsana Khan is an American lawyer, born to immigrant Afghan parents in Michigan. Outraged that her country was illegally imprisoning people at Guantanamo, she volunteered to translate for these prisoners. She spoke their language, understood their customs, and brought them Starbucks chai, the closest available drink to the kind of tea they would drink at home. And they quickly befriended her, offering fatherly advice as well as a uniquely personal insight into their plight, and that of their families thousands of miles away.
For Khan, the experience was a validation of her Afghan heritage–as well as her American freedoms…
Two questions. 1) Where the hell did she get Starbucks chai in Cuba? 2) Is this a joke?