20 YEARS IN A CHINESE PRISON NO BIG DEAL


CIA operatives John T. Downey and Richard G. Fecteau were captured by the Chinese in 1952 and held for two decades. To these extraordinary men it was no big deal:

There may be some among us who can imagine 20 days in captivity; perhaps a fraction of those can imagine a full year deprived of liberty and most human contact. But 20 years? Downey and Fecteau have consistently sought to downplay their period of imprisonment; and neither has done what arguably too many former CIA officers do these days with far less justification: write a book. Downey has said that such a book would contain “500 blank pages,” and Fecteau says the whole experience could be summed up by the word “boring.”

A refreshing read that counterbalances all the whining about Guantanamo.