Francis Bok is the author of the first contemporary slave narrative, Escape from Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America. Now an abolitionist with the American Anti-Slavery Group, he discussed 21st century human trafficking with McClatchy-Tribune foreign-affairs columnist John C. Bersia.

An official U.S. intelligence report about the “return” of al-Qaeda has sparked considerable worry, echoing the concerns of those who had never stopped paying attention to the rebounding terrorist group.
Nearly six years after Sept. 11, it stands to reason that al-Qaeda would have regrouped and drawn strength from events such as the conflict in Iraq. [...]