How do thinkers and intellectuals fare in jail, especially when subjucted to rough treatment and torture? It varies widely by individual, I was thinking. Michel `Aflaq, the Ba`th founder trembled so much in jail, and wanted to get out so fast that he quickly issued a humiliating statement, that Ba`thists would never be able to recover from it. Bakunin's confessions to the Tsar were less damaging, but that is a long story to tell. `Aziz Al-Hajj, the Iraqi Communist Party leader was another embarrassing case: he even appeared on Iraqi TV ("interviewed by none other than loudmouth Muhammad Sa`id As-Sahhaf, a junior Saddam propagandist in those days in the early 70s) and praised Saddam's regime. (Now he is a democracy advocate. Who is not these days?--I am not, I guess). Ibn Hanbal: that man was tough. But what does that say? Does it take a mere physical quality to endure torture and physical humiliation or is it more than that? And what about Al-Hallaj? They were slicing parts of his body while he was yelling out his courageous defiance. Al-Hallaj: if only all his writings survived.