Omar Deghayes: 'I gave them a really hard time.' © Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

“I didn’t realise what was going on until the guy had pushed his fingers ­inside my eyes and I could feel the coldness of his fingers. Then I realised he was trying to gouge out my eyes,” Deghayes says. He wanted to scream in agony, but was determined not to give his torturers the satisfaction. Then the officer standing over him instructed the eye-stabber to push harder. “When he pulled his hands out, I remember I couldn’t see anything – I’d lost sight completely in both eyes.” Deghayes was dumped in a cell, fluid streaming from his eyes.

Excerpt: ‘How I fought to survive Guantanamo‘ (Guardian, UK)

I don’t want to give the impression I dislike Obama. I think he has toiled strenuously against many idiots this past twelve months. I think he’s carried a nation-sized curse of rhetoric and is subject to a Bush-beaten electorate hoping for more than neglect and dis-empowerment. However, I am disappointed he hasn’t yet been able to close Guantanamo, especially as it seemed like one of his easier-to-achieve promises.

Friend, Steve Silberman, pointed out Ezra Klein‘s WaPo article about where Obama has gone wrong this past year. Obama tried to get stuff done in a congenial manner but it was just not sexy enough for the American public. He never even tried to sell it;

Obama’s presidency has tried to show, not tell. He’s not given speeches about how government can work. He’s not tried to change minds about the theoretical possibility of government working. He’s tried to make government work. Winning achievements, not arguments, has been at the center of the administration’s agenda.

But that’s meant letting the government work. And that turns out to be an ugly thing, full of deals with pharmaceutical companies and concessions to Nebraska and delays and press releases and controversy and anger and process stories and confusion. Americans don’t like Washington, and they like it less when they see it more. Obama’s strategy has meant they see it constantly, and there’s no one really guiding them through its thickets.

Conclusion: No pleasing everyone. Politics is a b*st*rd of a career.