Posted on 06/16/2005 11:38:05 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The White House said a senator's comparison of American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was reprehensible and a disservice to those serving in the military.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it is "beyond belief" that Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin would compare treatment of dangerous enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to the death of millions of innocent people by oppressive regimes.
"Our men and women in uniform go out of their way to treat detainees humanely, and they go out of their way to uphold the values and the laws that we hold so dear in this country," McClellan said.
Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, made the comparison during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday after reading an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay 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.
Said McClellan: "I think the senator's remarks are reprehensible. It's a real disservice to our men and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws."
A Durbin spokesman said Wednesday that the senator did not plan to apologize for the comments. The senator issued a statement saying it's the administration that should apologize "for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorizing torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure."
Human-rights groups and other congressional Democrats have accused the administration of unjustly detaining suspects at Guantanamo. Amnesty International recently called the prison "the gulag of our time" and some Republicans have questioned whether it should remain open.
I'm not blaming the Republicans, I'm suggesting that they get a pair and start fighting back for once.
Hot tea with meals, friend! That's the latest dietary advice I've been given. Bye now.
Laura. . .Ann. . .so many good repubs to handle this. Newt made a great attack on Durbin on Fox News this morning; and he offered to 'debate' him on any college campus re the issues Durbin raises.
He would cream him, of course; and no question; that he will not respond to Newt's invitation.
Wonder what it would take to get Ari back. McClellan is just not up to the job and actually compounds the damage by appearing weak - would I ever love for a FReeper to take that job!
Actually this somewhat toned down response is adequate for now...it may provoke Durbin into saying something even worse, and then they can really pour on the heat...drip, drip, drip (don't fire all ammo at once!).
AHA! That tells us they are getting plenty of negative calls. YEEHAW
Without our military, we would have a Berlin Wall down the Mississipi River - west side speaking Japanese and the east side speaking German.
LOL, when I first read the title of the thread I thought it said, "White House castrates Durban for his comments."
" I'm not blaming the Republicans, I'm suggesting that they get a pair and start fighting back for once."
Where's the President ? Where's Cheney ? Rumsfeld ?
Every decent American should be outraged that Durbin equated the men and the women of the military with those who gassed and murdered 6 million men, women and children in concentration camps .
They made lampshades from human skin at Buchenwald.
The Nazi sadism and medical experimentation was unspeakable.
How dare Durbin says our soldiers are the moral equivalent of Josef Mengele and Hermann Goering !!
And where is the Jewish community ?
Durbin equated the death camps to the playing of rap music and hot rooms .
Where is Simon Weisenthal ? The ADL ?
Norm Coleman ? Russ Feingold ? Diane Feinstein ?
Steven Speilberg and the Shoah Foundation ?
Just imagine if Pat Buchanan had said what Durbin did.
THE DEMOCRATS ARE RATS!!!
I agree with the Senator. According to the Geneva Conventions, enemy soldiers out of uniform are suppose to be summarily SHOT!
Hell, besides booby-traps our troops are relatively safe. It's the unarmed civilians that have a problem!
Sadly, I'm afaid you are correct. Every state needs a "Swift Boat Vets" to get the message out, to stand toe to toe with the SOBs and expose them for who and what they really are.
"A"= really "A"....? (sorry, major smarta$$)
Sen "Dhur-bin laden" needs to be given a one-way trip to the middle of the Anbar province and then have a personal "tete-a-tete" with one Abu Musab al Zarqawi. Hopefully he can experience exactly the kind of islamofascist "meeting of minds" that poor Nicholas Berg had.
#
Your husband is stationed at Guantanamo?
I wonder if Senator Durbin realizes that the Branch Davidians suffered as much or more than most these terrorists. These people had loud music piped through their compound all night (one of his complaints), no A/C or utitlites because their power was cut (another complaint), no food or water brought in...even for the children...and eventually being gassed and burnt to death. Where were these freakin' liberals and civil libertarians when US citizens were experiencing this same "torture"...occuring live on TV?
Comrade! That was my major, too! :)
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