Posted on 06/18/2005 12:54:10 AM PDT by ambrose
Article Published: Saturday, June 18, 2005 - 12:00:00 AM PST
Senator issues apology for U.S.-Nazi comparison
By Rebecca Carroll, Associated Press
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, 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.
What I'd like to see is the documents he refers to as his sourse of information. Please produce it you Dick.
No, we understood you loud and clear. Your "apology" changes nothing. We are going to keep the pressure on until you do two things:
1) Unequivocally renounce those floor statements comparing the U. S. to Nazi Germany, Soviet gulags, and Pol Pot
2) Renounce your Senate leadership position
Until you do those two things, this isn't over.
Just my own small part to battle the scum we fight against every day.
Scum is right!!! While your letter is being read by Hugh Hewitt, HIS is being read by Al Jazeera the mouthpiece of the terrorists. Absolutely despicable! I can't even post what I wrote to him..it wasn't very lady like! :)
Well I disagree with everything you posted for one because you misquoted both parts of the U.S. Constitution, to wit;
- U.S. Constitution: Fifth Amendment
No person shall (yada, yada) be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, (more yada, yada)....Note the words criminal case in the actual 5th amendment, makes a big difference as those at GITMO aren't criminals, they are terrorists.
- U.S. Constitution: Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.Note the words "unusual punishments". Very distinct from "cruel and inhumane." Unless of course you're French or a Democrat, then everything the USA does to protect itself is "inhumane".
And secondly I disagree as there's the quaint idea that some of us hold in that the protections granted by the U.S. Constitution only pertain to U.S. Citizens and legal residents of the USA and only where the US has Legal Jurisdiction, like say Guam or Puerto Rico. And said protections certainly DO NOT extend to nationless terrorists (aka 'armed combatants') formally of Syria, Pakistan, etc. via some cave in Afghanistan.
Then there's the tiny fact that we are at WAR with these toads all of whom would slit your throat in a NY minute and chop off the heads of all your family members - while they make you watch. And in fact some of those at GITMO who have been released were subsequently RECAPTURED after a fire fight.
Also, in a 'War' the U.S. Constitution doesn't apply anyway, and neither does the Geneva Convention to these maggots as they are not "soldiers" they're terrorists. But I don't want to confuse you with more facts.
He was afraid of offending the Nazis.
Hillory's SILENCE and NO COMMENT on Durbin speaks voloums by the way
She wants to be our NEXT president ..Think abou tthat !
No apology here, and no "misunderstanding" either!
What Durbin and all the other Democratic Partisans are doing during this critical time of war against extremist terrorists is consistent with President George Washington's Farewell admonition regarding what he identified as the danger of the "spirit of Party."
Hear this small excerpt from that dire warning:
". . .the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it."
"It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions."
Historically knowledgeable "wise people" have complained about Durbin's partisan-motivated public statements, which are either uninformed or deliberately intended to damage his country's President's effort to contain and wage a dangerous war against tyranny.
And, he claims they "misunderstood" him????
If the accusatory and inflammatory remarks of Dean, Durbin, Kennedy, Biden, and other partisans are allowed to stand, unchallenged by a "wise people," then we must conclude that the decades-long failure to teach and learn the Founders' principles, and the means by which they can be subverted, has succeeded!
You guys are so cruel..On the floor, AC cranked up all the way , blasting rap music all day and night ..How can they do this to prisoners in Gitmo.? Hey , wait ! That wasen't Gitmo that was my girlfriend's kid's room ...Oppps sorry, wrong gulag
I don't understand this either. The pics serve no purpose at all by being released....except ACLU's purpose.
A "regret" is not an apology. The headline is in error.
That is not an apology and...it was not a MISUNDERSTANDING. The Senator compared our military men and women to Nazis. That is what he said. That is what he meant. When he takes to the microphone and looks America and the mothers and fathers and our military in the eye and says: "I am deeply sorry from the bottom of my heart for what I said. I did not mean it and I take it all back." Then maybe we can forgive him. I doubt it though cause he won't do that cause he said what he said and he meant what he said. He is a Traitor.
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