I Don't Think Two Days Is Too Late, But This Is Too Little

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050617/ap_on_go_co/guantanamo_durbin

Senator Regrets if Remarks Misunderstood

By REBECCA CARROLL, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 27 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Friday that he regretted any misunderstandings caused by his comments earlier this week comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis. The White House, Senate Republicans and others had called for an apology after Durbin's comments Tuesday.

Durbin made the comparison after reading an
FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said Tuesday.​

On Friday, Durbin tried to clarify the issue. "My statement in the Senate was critical of the policies of this Administration, which add to the risk our soldiers face," he said in a statement released Friday afternoon. "I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood. I sincerely regret if what I said caused anyone to misunderstand my true feelings: Our soldiers around the world and their families at home deserve our respect, admiration and total support."

The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday had joined lawmakers and other groups in calling for an apology.

"Suggesting some kind of equivalence between (U.S. military) interrogation tactics demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about the horrors that Hitler and his regime actually perpetrated," the league said in a letter to Durbin that was posted to its Web site.

Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday: "I feel apologies are in order to the men and women of the Armed Forces. I do not ask it for myself."

All seven freshmen Republican senators also made a joint call Friday for an apology.

Durbin had said Thursday that he had never brought U.S. soldiers into the comparison in the first place, and that he was criticizing the approved interrogation methods described in an FBI memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

 

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050617/ap_on_go_co/guantanamo_durbin

Ok, that was Durbin this evening, here he was this morning on the #1 rated morning radio show:

http://www.hughhewitt.com/#postid1719

June 17, 2005

Posted at 3:00PM, Pacific

Durbin Digs Deeper: "[W]e need to take care not to do things that are going to do damage to our reputation or in any way endanger our troops."

Here are some excerpts from a Durbin interview on Chicago radio WGN 720 with host Spike O'Dell this morning. Durbin's stunning failure to grasp what all the anger is about, his pathetic attempt to undo what he said without apologizing and his repulsive attempt to claim victim status because of the blogs and talk radio, all combine to paint a damning portrait of a limited intellect undone by an almosty complete lack of character. As the outraged e-mails from the military, their families and supporters continue to pile up, his refusal to apologize magnifies rather than diminishes his core belief that the American military is defined by Abu Ghraib, that Gitmo is Abu Ghraib, and that the "most reporessive regimes" in history have nothing on Abu Ghraib and Gitmo. His e-mail is [email protected] and his offical web site comment page is here. The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121. Blackfive has great commentary and excellent contact info. The interview:

Q. No regrets on the statements you made?

Durbin: No, I don't, and I'll tell you why. I went to the floor and read a memo from the FBI. This isn't something I made up. It was a memo that was unclassified, was disclosed, and I'm going to take, if I can ask you to bear with me, I'm going to read the highlights of it because it really sets the stage for my comments....[reads investigator memo] It goes on and on and on. I read this into the record because there has been a lot of controversy about what is happening in Guantanamo Bay where we have held 500 to 700 people for some times up to two and a half years with no charges. The Supreme Court has ruled that this Administration's new interrogation policy under Secretary Rumsfeld violates basic rights and I said if I just read this to you and you didn't know where it came from, where would you think this could happen? In the Nazi regime, in the soviet regime? Sadly it happened under Americans. Now the point I was trying to make is, we have departed from standards of conduct which presidents of both parties have played by for over 50 years, and we shouldn't be doing this....

Q. So what you just read there was verbatim and when you read it into the record, it was exactly what was there and there was nothing else added to it?

Durbin: Exactly. And I will tell you what happened afterwards. There was a tremendous reaction, first from the White House, negative reaction, calling my statements reprehensible, demanding some apology to our troops. If you'll listen to this memo, they never say that there was an American soldier involved except an MP guarding a detainee. They talk about interrogators. We don't know if they are from intelligence agencies, private contractors, like Abu Graihb, we have no idea what they are. But I wasn't disparaging our troops. Our troops are following orders. I'm saying the orders coming down from the top are just plain wrong....


Q. I guess one of the reasons people are having such a hard time with this one, is when comparisons are made and you use names like Nazis and Soviet gulags, when you are talking Nazis there were what, 9 million people killed in the camps there. The gulags had about 3 million and so forth. And I know Gitmo is not the Holiday Inn down there, but I don't think anyone has died down there, have they?

Durbin: No, that's true. In all fairness, they did not. But I don't believe we were dealing with deaths at Abu Ghraib either. We were dealing with a situation where when people saw the digital camera photographs, they said "My God! Americans should not be involved in that kind of conducrt." Now I will not demean or diminish the terrible atrocities that were commtted by the Soviets and the Nazis. The points I was, the point I was trying to make there was, if I just read this to you and say "What kind of country, what kind of governemtn would do that," and you'd think of some of the most repressive regimes in history. Sadly this FBI report says its being done by our government. I don't know who in our government. But it should stop....

Q. Weren't you trying too ignite a fire politically speaking with these comments?

Durbin: The comments I made were a day before a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Guantanamo Bay. The hearing was called by Republican Senator Arlen Specter. And to his credit, and I said it publicly when I went to the meeting, he had the courage to do it, because we just don't have investigative hearings on Capitol Hill of this Adminsitration and this war. We just don't do it. And sadly a lot of things have gone unanswered. My point in taking this to the floor and reading into the record this FBI document, this report from this FBI agent, was to make it clear that the criticisms of Guantanamo Bay go to some very fundamental American values. And that we need to take care not to do things that are going to do damage to our reputation or in any way endanger our troops.

Q. Interrogators are the ones who are fault here...Wouldn't the interrogation techniques still be suspect, regardless of where these prisoners are housed?

Durbin: They don't have to be. In terms of closing Guantanamo Bay, yes I have joined in that chorus, but I have quickly added, just changing the address of these detainees isn't going to change the situation. We have to get back and ask some basic questions. Why did this president decide to abandon the Geneva conventions, the first president since we signed on to them after World War II, why did he decide that this war on terror require the kind of interrogation techniques that we have criticised in other nations? Why have we gone this far?...

Q: How would you get information from them...They are pumping Christine Aguilera music in there, and all that stuff, what would you do different?

Durbin: I think you would agree, Spike, that if that there were visual images, digital photos, of what I just described to you in this FBI memo, it would be comparable to many of the things we saw in Abu Ghraib, and the American people said that just isn't who we are. Regret is palatable... That isn't what we stand for. There are methods of interrogation. There's reward and punishment. But you don't have to reach the point where you have someone chained to the floor for over 24 hours in their own urine and feces, tearing their hair out as they go into madness, I mean, that does not apper to me to be an effective way to interrogate anyone and come up with reliable information.

Q: Are you surprised at all this backlash?

Durbin: Yes, I am. Well, I shouldn't be. I have seen it happen before. What happens is this, for your listeners, so they understand now. The people on the other side, the president's supporters, have a pretty substantial newtwork behind them. The first thing they do when they get angry and decide to focus on something, my statement obviously was their focus, they start their blogs, which I don't pay a lot of attention to but some people do. The next thing you know is it moves into this talk radio. I became a poster child for Rush Limbaugh. He put my number on his radio show. People called from all around the country. The Washington Times, a very conservative, Republican newspaper, puts a front page story about me on there. The White House lashes out to me, and pretty soon the mainstream media , it just follows. It has happened time and time again. It's all the blogs! They have a good way of starting the news when they want to protect the president, but the reality is, as the poll numbers show this morning, despite all this effort, the American people are very worried about what's happening in Iraq. We have lost 1700, I want to say 1710, that was yesterday, I think we have now lost 1713 soldiers. I have attended the funerals. I have sent notes to tthe families. This is a sad situation with no end in site, and the president's approval for handling this war is at an all time low.

Q. Would you consider taking up the Pentagon on their offer to go down there and tour the whole thing?

Durbin: Yes, you know, I have tried several times, and they cancelled it for a variety of reasons, but I would certainly do it again. The problem with it Spike, just to be honest with you, is that when they bring in VIPs, you can just guarantee that you are going to see the very best of the best. You aren't going to see any troublig situations. And people are very guarded in their comments. Not that I wouldn't want to see it, and not that I disagree with your premise that no one has died there. We are providing basic care for people who are there. But obviously there have been some excesses. This FBI memo points to it. It is the kind of thing that happened at Abu Ghraib. It is the kind of thing that shouldn't happen any more in the future.


The host is Spike O'Dell on WGN, 720 AM this morning.

 

[Annie]

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/cartoons/06-17-2005.gif

 

[ThomasPaine]

Dickie boy has been a leftie jaw boner for quite some time but I'm not sure what in blue blazes he was trying to accomplish with his putrid statement. Trying to slam the President, sure, that's a dem given. But comparing Gitmo to the Nazi death camps, or the gulags of Stalin, was unjust.. I want him to make public that "memo" that he was merely "reading from". I really don't see that it matters if he was quoting another or speaking extemporaniously. The comparisons between Gitmo and the others is ridiculous. The people of Illinois should call for his removal. His statements were, and will be, aiding and abeting the enemy. If it were up to me he would be drawn and quartered, but I'm old-fashioned that way.

 

[Annie]

Dickie boy has been a leftie jaw boner for quite some time but I'm not sure what in blue blazes he was trying to accomplish with his putrid statement. Trying to slam the President, sure, that's a dem given. But comparing Gitmo to the Nazi death camps, or the gulags of Stalin, was unjust.. I want him to make public that "memo" that he was merely "reading from". I really don't see that it matters if he was quoting another or speaking extemporaniously. The comparisons between Gitmo and the others is ridiculous. The people of Illinois should call for his removal. His statements were, and will be, aiding and abeting the enemy. If it were up to me he would be drawn and quartered, but I'm old-fashioned that way.

The 'people' of Illinois will not likely do so. In this case, I agree with Newt, the Senate shoud censure him.

 

[ThomasPaine]

The 'people' of Illinois will not likely do so. In this case, I agree with Newt, the Senate shoud censure him.

does "censure" under the Senate rules involve any bamboo being shoved underneath the perpetrators fingernails, or perhaps, on the more accomadating side, maybe a hot cinder placed in the eye? Just looking for a little education in the methods of "censure". It must be some form of torture 'cause we Americans, according to Senator Durbin, are just a bunch of heathen, torturous, Muslim right depriving, don't give a damn about the world's opinion, yahoos..

 

[Adam's Apple]

Too bad revoking Durkin's citizenship isn't an option. Some of these people who delight in tearing down the U.S. should be deprived of their citizenship and forced to live elsewhere. Then--too late for them--they would realize what a great country the U.S. is and how, much to their regret, they failed to appreciate it when they had the opportunity. There is no perfect country, and there never will be. Forget utopia here on earth. If I lived in Illinois, I would certainly remember this "shining moment" of Durbin's when he is up for re-election.

 

[Annie]

does "censure" under the Senate rules involve any bamboo being shoved underneath the perpetrators fingernails, or perhaps, on the more accomadating side, maybe a hot cinder placed in the eye? Just looking for a little education in the methods of "censure". It must be some form of torture 'cause we Americans, according to Senator Durbin, are just a bunch of heathen, torturous, Muslim right depriving, don't give a damn about the world's opinion, yahoos..

I wish the Senate would try such tactics, but not likely. Scott Ott would agree with the idea though:

http://www.scrappleface.com/MT/archives/002229.html

There are links at the site. (BTW, this IS SATIRE!!!)

June 16, 2005
Rumsfeld Promises Durbin Better Treatment at Gitmo
by Scott Ott

(2006-06-16) -- Just a day after Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin compared U.S. personnel at the military detention facility at Guantanamo to those who worked in Nazi concentration camps, Soviet gulags and in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld promised the Illinois Senator that he would receive better treatment during his own Gitmo captivity.

"The unspeakable cruelties that Sen. Durbin decried on the Senate floor must stop before his own detention on treason charges," said Mr. Rumsfeld. "After all, Dick Durbin is an American citizen, not an ordinary enemy combatant bent on destroying this nation and increasing the danger to our troops by inflaming the passions of the Muslim world."​

A spokesman said Sen. Durbin is still a free man and a patriot, and he has drafted legislation renaming a favorite Gitmo menu item to reflect his solidarity with the oppressed Muslim inmates.

Under the measure, the dish made of ground, spiced and fried chick peas would be called: "Freedom Falafel."

 

[Nienna]

And I know Gitmo is not the Holiday Inn down there, but I don't think anyone has died down there, have they?

Durbin: No, that's true. In all fairness, they did not.

So no one has died….

no one has died there. We are providing basic care for people who are there.

No one has died, and basic care has been provided. OK. What is the problem? Am I missing something?

you have someone chained to the floor for over 24 hours in their own urine and feces, tearing their hair out as they go into madness

Okay, urine and feces are gross, but 24 hours and they go mad? Aren’t these terrorists made of sterner stuff? Are they being electrocuted? Water torture? Just being chained and stinky makes them crazy in 24 hours?

It's all the blogs!

Darn those bloggers! You mean people can get information from other sources besides the MSM? And maybe make up their own minds about things? How dare they!