A Very Long, Very Uninteresting Guantanamo Story

I had been looking forward to this very long story in the New Yorker, in part because the title is interesting. "Why Obama Has Failed to Close Guantanamo: Congress is blamed for preventing the President from fulfilling his pledge. But that’s not the whole story."

Alas, the story, by Connie, Bruck, is decidedly not interesting. It's a sometimes breathless but always tired rehash of the story you already know: the bright idealistic dream of restoring American values falling victim to failures of political will and Defense Department conservatism—with innocent aging detainees suffering the consequences. The villains? The D.C. Circuit, Bob Gates, and the government litigators who have had the temerity to litigate on behalf of their clients. It even rehashes the inevitable conga line story.

It's a snoozer. Give it a miss.