...with the other letter writers here.

The fact that Mr. Kurth is white, educated, and articulate means that he has absolutely no excuse for his blatant ignorance of the consequences for his absurd behavior on an international flight in the wake of 9/11. I'm not going to say he 'got what he deserved,' but he should certainly not be confused with real victims of the criminal justice system.

P.S. I find it ironic that the subtitle of this article is "After a nightmare flight from etc." Whose nightmare, Mr. Kurth? The crew of the plane was not responsible for your lost laptop. The crew of the plane was not responsible for you getting into a position that would enflame your medical condition. Neither the crew nor the Brits were responsible for you flying with a passport dangerously close to expiration. And no one but you was responsible for your terrible, unresponsible behavior.

The issue for me is not whether or not Mr. Kurth 'deserved' what he got. The issues are these:

1. What Kurth did was at best highly irresponsible. Although the state of modern prisons is indeed appalling, the fact that he is white and educated doesn't mean he should get different treatment from other criminals.

2. Prison conditions and the war on terror should not be confused. I can't imagine a person who acted responsibly and civilly getting arrested for the things Kurth was arrested for, regardless of heightened airline security laws. If Mr. Kurth wants to write about the condition of prisons, have at it, but he should not drag in highly political issues.

3. Although he admits to his poor actions on the airplane, he does not seem to take responsibility for them. What happened to Mr. Kurth was a nightmare, but it was not a nightmare perpetrated against him by an unjust society, but by a combination of his own highly irresponsible, criminal conduct, lack of foresight, ignorance of the laws of a country he was traveling to, and some bad luck.

What happened to Mr. Kurth in prison is certainly a nightmare for anyone. But he committed a crime. He got arrested. And he went to jail. He was the architect of his own nightmare. I am a 20-year-old student, I have never been outside the North American continent, and I know better than to act like he did. It's common sense. If he had used a bit of common sense and decency, none of this would have happened.

I still do not see the purpose of this article, regardless of what people think about whether or not he 'deserved' his punishment, etc.

He says it is a cautionary tale.

Caution against what? Most normal individuals are smart enough not to mix alcohol and medications prior to a flight, or bitch out the flight staff and treat them like they're your own personal slaves, or deliberately ignore their instructions even after they warn you that your actions could lead to a 2 year prison sentence. Most normal individuals are smart enough to fly with passports that are not on the verge of expiration. Most smart individuals try to familiarize themselves with the laws of the country they're visiting before they visit.

So, Kurth cautions us, don't do stuff that is stupid and drunk and dangerous and liable to get you sent to prison if you don't want to get sent to prison. What excellent advice.

Perhaps the purpose of this piece was to shock us all into the realization that, yes, prisons actually are as crappy as we already knew they were! Maybe because this article was about a white, educated, literate, non-violent American getting tossed in a foreign prison, as opposed to all the human garbage we normally relegate to our own hellhole-type prisons, we're supposed to be more sympathetic (and in the case of many letter writers it seems to have worked). We're supposed to be outraged that someone like us (except, apparently, much, much more stupid) could possibly be thrown in prison.

This guy, regardless of what he went through, is obviously a shameless opportunist. Letter writers report that when he published this story elsewhere, he left out the details of the circumstances of his arrest and said that it was because of his association with Islam. Complete bullshit, as we can see from this more honest retelling. And, come on. The guy was already formulating the title for his get-rich-quick memoir of his time in prison long before the alleged rape or abuse took place.

So I'm still baffled by this. What is it about? It's not about gross injustice. It's not about human courage. It doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know about the atrocious state of prison facilities all over the world. All it seems to be telling us is that we should be moved because a genuine asshole of a human being was briefly incarcerated because he refused to obey the laws of human decency and common sense and ended up breaking other laws as well.

I just don't get it.

The saddest thing about this entire situation, and what prompted me to reply in the letters section, is that on my page, as I read this short article, were two extremely prominent advertisements for Glenn Beck's show.

Oy to the world.

Someone tell me why this woman isn't running for president?

All wordplay aside, I find it amazing that Bush's intellect is so limited or his memory so short that he cannot recall that he was the one who so blatantly ignored advice of military commanders before and during the military operation in Iraq.

I can only hope that the American people's memory is better.

Perhaps the better question is, why am I still amazed by Bush's juvenile and totally unbalanced perception of himself and his actions?