Dear Mom and Dad

Abstract

You two were the ideal role models for parents, demonstrating a total devotion to the family. You taught us to believe in ourselves, to be loyal to our beliefs, and to work hard every day. And most importantly, you told all of us kids to just do our best: “Try to do your best and that is all you can do.” If I heard that once, I heard it a thousand times growing up (and was still hearing it many years into adulthood). And then, of course, the famous follow-up: “Did you do your best? If you did, then that is all you did and we are proud of you.” I have tried to write this letter a few times as I mulled over things I wanted to share with you about my experience as Chief Defense Counsel for the Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. My thoughts, of course, reflect so much more than just my experience of being mobilized, because I feel like I have failed for many years to capture the words to express what you two have provided to me and instilled in me—and thus how you prepared me for what I was tasked to do. But I hope my actions reflected more favorably upon your guiding hands. I tried to do my best. I remember when I was first contacted about the vacancy of the Chief Defense Counsel at Guantanamo Bay. I responded that I really didn’t want to be the Chief Defense Counsel and asked if I could be the Chief Prosecutor instead. I was told “not to worry” because I probably wouldn’t be nominated by the Army’s Judge Advocate General; and even if I were nominated by the Army, the other military branches could nominate someone, too; and the Secretary of Defense’s office would make the final selection anyway. So the life lesson here, that I think you both experienced, is that if someone says not to worry—worry. Remember, Dad, when I ultimately received the final telephone call from Washington, D.C., advising me that I was going to be mobilized from my civilian position as the Circuit Court Judge in Boone County to become the Chief Defense Counsel at Guantanamo Bay? You had a little trouble understanding exactly what I was going to be doing. Well trust me, you