Durbin refuses to apologize for Guantanamo Bay comments

AP ^ | June 15, 2005

[jdm]

CHICAGO -- Illinois Senator Dick Durbin says he won't apologize for comments comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Nazis and Soviet gulags.

News of the Democrat's comparison created a buzz around the Internet today, fueled by sound bites of yesterday's Senate floor speech on radio talk shows. By this afternoon, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna asked Durbin to apologize.

Durbin says the Bush administration should apologize for abandoning the Geneva Conventions.

Human-rights activist groups and some lawmakers -- mostly Democrats -- want Bush to close the prison.

But administration officials say some of the people who have been detained at Guantanamo later return to fight against the United States.

[Ma3lst0rm]

You have that right. One has to wonder which country they think they are representing?

[roses of sharon]

Ann is great, but that's not the issue, of course Durbin did not believe what he was saying. (if he was really concerned, he would speak to the Pres and Rumsfeld in private)

What is even more devastating is that he said it on purpose, to hurt our war effort, and by extension our soldiers reputations and lives.

He planned and calculated it, and he knows he is lying to incite.

[Rummyfan]

Bump - to remind myself to send this disgusting excuse for an American an e-mail tomorrow demanding his resignation. Of course that won't happen but I'll support whoever challenges him in the primaries - any sack o' sh*t would be better than this waste of oxygen. If he's not defeated in the primary I'll support his general election opponent.

[clintonh8r]

Comrad Durbinsky (Communist, Illinoising)

[marblehead17]

durbin is an ass.

[econ_grad]

No such voice in IL Republican party. RINO George Ryan, the former governor and George Bush's campaign chair, gutted the party completely. He is waiting for his jail-time.

[armymarinemom]

Merge our two replies together to "Turbin Durbin the Dork" and we may have something.I keep thinking DurBIN Laden.

[RWR8189]

I'm sure Daley doesn't appreciate this sort of rhetoric, being that his son recently enlisted.

[DLfromthedesert]

I saw Ross Perot on Hannity and Colmes last evening. As everyone knows, he is not a Bush fan. He stated unequivocally that while we are at war, we should all speak with one unified voice.

Well, traitor Durbin apparently never got that message.

[PhilDragoo]

I called Durbin's DC office today and got through after several hours of busy signals.

"Last night 7:06 Eastern the senator compared FBI interrogation of illegal combatants detained at the Guantanamo prison to Nazis who killed six million Jews, Soviets who killed two million in their gulag, and Pol Pot who murdered two million of his own people. Is the senator off his medication or does he just like giving aid and comfort to the enemy?"

To which Mr. Midol replied, "It's the aid and comfort," and went on to his next caller.

[roses of sharon]

Session has been the only Senator worthy of that body for a decade.

But he is a skilled surgeon, not a flamethrower.

What about Rudy??

[econ_grad]

That will only help him in IL, especially in Cook County.

[Osage Orange]

This piece of spam...is worried that we made these terrorists stand in cells barefoot...while the air conditioning was turned up!!! And our guy's get their heads chopped off...and then their bodies are dragged thru the streets..!!!

Words can't express my anger here..!!!

RANT OFF..!!!

[Paul Atreides]

Republican responses are always tepid, at best.

"I respect Senator So-and-so, and am disappointed in his/her statements. He/she is better than this."

Bull! They are NOT better than that; they ARE that!

[Gritty]

Jerk.

Durbin The Turban!

[RWR8189]

Perot endorsed Bush in 2000 and 2004.

[Happy2BMe]

War is hell. Especially for the conquered.

[skimbell]

I go along with the Allen idea. He made Frist look like Pee-Wee Herman during the "judicial unholy alliance melee".
I hadn't paid him much attention but he looks to be one of very few Republicans in the senate with a spine.

[Lyford]

Absolutely inexcusable remarks.

For youngsters, or people with weak history backgrounds, I've compiled some comparisons, some historical context for Senator Durbin's remarks.

Durbin in context

"I do not here accuse Senator Durbin of hating America, but if he were actively seeking to work against the United States and her interests in the world, he could not produce a statement better tuned to furthering those goals."

[listenhillary]

130 degrees now in Iraq? The poor babies in Gitmo have it sooo hard.