View from Dubai: Prisoner No. 650

Just when you think Uncle Sam's war has no more surprises to spring on an unsuspecting world, he comes up with yet another gem. Take the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who grew up in the U.S. and went to top universities including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The woman who had been a star student and a topper throughout a remarkable career had to leave the United States when the authorities began harassing her and her husband for their charity activities in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 upheavals.
The family settled down in Karachi and was never involved in any illegal activities. One day in March 2003, this talented young woman went missing with her three children when she was on her way to Karachi airport.
Dr. Siddiqui resurfaced this week after five years in a New York court as a "top al-Qaida terrorist." She was barely able to walk and speak, which was not surprising given the fact she had been recently involved in a "gun fight with FBI agents" in Afghanistan. The U.S. authorities claim Dr. Siddiqui was captured near the governor's offices in Ghazni, Afghanistan last month with a bag full of "suspicious liquids in tubes."

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