The odyssey that followed found young Simon almost always hungry and cold, sleeping on floors, getting odd jobs, fearful of the advancing German Army.
What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold, sleeping in Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself, and the number of families living in poverty has risen by three million in the last four years?
On this journey, Mohamed has gone through many situations that no child should experience – hunger, continuous day-and-night walking on foot, threats by smugglers, the cold, sleeping in the open, the proximity of wild animals..
The previous night had been chilly, and I asked the Prime Minister if he was cold sleeping in his tent.
I was on standby 24 hours a day, freezing cold, sleep deprived and lonely, but I never questioned why I was doing this.
For three weeks you have stood in the cold, slept on the floor, skipped out of town to Illinois -- whatever it took, you have done it, and one thing is for certain: Madison is only the beginning.
So I gave myself a cold: cold showers, slept with the fan on so my voice would be a little deeper".
Such techniques included prolonged use of stress positions, exposure to heat and cold, sleep deprivation and even waterboarding.
Here Captus was subjected to noise, cold, sleep deprivation and worse (the redactions keep the reader guessing).
A 6,000-page Congressional report on the Central Intelligence Agency's use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques is "by far the most thorough examination of how the United States came to use nudity, cold, sleep deprivation, stress positions, wall-slamming and waterboarding, methods it had long condemned as abuse or torture," reports Scott Shane, a national security correspondent.
Because Mr. Obama famously said he preferred to look forward, not back at his predecessor's counterterrorism programs, the Senate report is by far the most thorough examination of how the United States came to use nudity, cold, sleep deprivation, stress positions, wall-slamming and waterboarding, methods it had long condemned as abuse or torture.
