This week, the best-selling memoir he wrote from prison was rereleased  — with the U.S. government's redactions restored.

If I wanted to, I could put my pen down right now, close my office door behind me, and go for a long walk outside.

Today in Nouakchott, Mauritania, it is terribly hot and dry, so that would not be the wisest choice, but freedom is having that option. And freedom is choosing to write instead, not because my life depends on it, but because these days, thank God, it finally doesn't.

A year ago this week, a U.S. military cargo plane touched down on this city's arid runway and I was escorted, unshackled, down the airplane's ramp and toward a group of government officials.