Durbin's Comments Rile Serviceman's Wife

qconline.com ^ | June 17, 2005 | Dustin Lemmon

[conservativebabe]

Comments this week from Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., about the treatment of Al Quaida prisoners at Guantanamo Bay angered the wife of at least one local serviceman who helped guard the detainees.

Danette Lemkee said her husband, Brian Lemkee, of the U.S. Army 339th Military Police, couldn't comment about Sen. Durbin's statements in which he compared the actions of Americans at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and a "mad regime" like Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

However, she said the comments upset her. She challenged the senator to come to Arsenal Island where she and her family are stationed and make those comments to the unit’s members.

"I'd like to invite him to our home," she said. "Tell us that to our face."

Mrs. Lemkee noted that none of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been put to death.

"I don't understand how you can compare it to executing a number of people," Mrs. Lemkee said. "How can he compare it to Nazis when Nazis executed people and no one has died in Cuba?"

Mr. Lemkee was stationed at Guantanamo Bay from January to June of 2002 along with about 100 other members of the 339th.

Several others connected to the 339th that were contacted Thursday night declined comment about Sen. Durbin's statements. One relative said the reservists were not allowed to discuss the issue. Others reservists or family members did not return phone calls for comment.

Mrs. Lemkee said her husband never saw any abuse when he was stationed in Cuba and wondered if the senator has been there to see things for himself.

"He's probably never been there," she said. "He's following the political line. He's probably trying to reach the anti-war population."

Sen. Durbin made the comments during a speech Tuesday, and quoted from an FBI agent's report, describing detainees at the center as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.

Last month, Amnesty International criticized conditions for the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The group called it "gulag of our time."

In May 2004, Major Dominic Wibe of the 339th Military Police told the Associated Press he took a strong leadership approach while serving at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and watched closely what went on between the guards and prisoners.

He said he talked to prisoners and guards and had a senior leader present at all times, including times of crisis.

He made the comments after the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad in Iraq.

[conservativebabe]

>"I'd like to invite him to our home," she said. "Tell us that to our face."<

I am sure that this reaction is typical of what other servicemen and their families feel. I sincerely hope this blows up in Durbin's face.

What he said is reprehensible and he ought to be held to account.

[UseYourHead]

Dick Turbin has joined the ranks of criminals serving in government office.