Closing Guantanamo

Help me understand this, people. You thought it was a good idea when he promised to close Gitmo. You did realize, didn’t you, that the folks inside would have to go somewhere else, right? Why is this a surprise? Or was the expectation that he’d throw open the doors and give them a friendly pat on the bum as they walked out?

As I understood it, the promise was not a statement that those folks shouldn’t be incarcerated, but rather than an off-shore facility with limited access to the press was an ideal situation for abuse. It seems pretty obvious that if you close a prison, the folks in it have to go somewhere else.

Seems to me like just another opportunity for manufactured outrage. Please keep in mind that if this move surprises you, you’re admitting that you didn’t think about the promise itself for more than about a half-second. And yet none of these news stories say “I told you so.” Why is that?