‘I wish I had a more positive story to tell. But I see no signs of change.’

Thus was I quoted in “Protesterer for døve ører,” a story that reporter Heidi Taksdal Skjeseth published this morning in Dagavisen, Norway’s leading daily newspaper. The headline translates as “Protesting on deaf ears” –  a tragically apt title for the news that half or more of the detainees at Guantánamo are on hunger strike, many of them being force-fed, and that the U.S. government’s response is to send more medics trained to force-feed. Elsewhere in her article (Google Translate version here), Skjeseth notes my comment that nobody in Congress or the White House is expressing much concern these days about what’s happening at GTMO – neither the standstill in the once-promised closure, nor the standstill in military commissions proceedings. (My prior GTMO posts available here; for the most up-to-date developments, see the Twitter feed of Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald.) One hopes for something – something other than a detainee’s death – to break that impasse.

If you’re in D.C. today, you can learn more about all this from Jess Bravin, the Wall Street Journal reporter who’s covered the military commissions for years and penned The Terror Courts, a brilliant book about same. My longer review is yet to come, but you can hear it from the source by attending Jess’ presentation at noon today at the American Society of International Law. Details here. (Update: now that this event has taken place, video available here.)