Durbin 'regrets' Gitmo remarks

Washington Times ^ | 6/18/06 | Rowan Scarborough

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Sen. Richard J. Durbin expressed a conditional "regret" yesterday for his remarks linking Guantanano Bay interrogations to Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot after Vice President Dick Cheney and the American Legion unleashed another day of rebukes of the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

Mr. Durbin had refused to apologize for his Nazi speech in a Senate debate Thursday. But as the high-ranking Democrat and his party continued to feel a political backlash, Mr. Durbin issued his third -- and most contrite -- statement yesterday.

"I have learned from my statement that historical parallels can be misused and misunderstood," said the Illinois senator. "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."

Hours earlier, Mr. Cheney kept up the pressure on Mr. Durbin, and the nation's largest veterans groups called on the senator to apologize.

"Senator. Durbin's remarks could very well make him the 'Hanoi Jane' of this conflict," said American Legion National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus. His reference was to actress Jane Fonda, who visited North Vietnam during the war and posed for photographs in an anti-aircraft battery.

"I am totally outraged by his hideous slight of those he should be honoring for their selfless devotion to this nation," said Mr. Cadmus, who leads the 2.7-million-member, nonpartisan group.

Mr. Cheney said on a Nashville radio station that "for him to make those comparisons was one of the most egregious things I'd ever heard on the floor of the United States Senate."

[TomasUSMC]

It would be so refreshing if one of the few Congressmen or Senators went up and just knocked his teeth out.

[shibumi]

Thanks for the link.

Aggressive venting to follow.

[Cyber Liberty]

Bring your friends. I'm popping corn....

[Babu]

Trent Lott was forced to resign his leadership position over a relatively innocuous comment at a birthday party.

Therefore Dick Durbin must resign the Senate over his infinitely more outrageous, not to mention traitorous and lying comments about our military on the floor of the US Senate.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Don't hesitate to let Turbin Durban know how you feel. You can send him a quick email here:"

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Dear Senator Durbin:

Please review the following photographs. You have placed the American soldier on equal footing with the monsters who did these things, so please do not gloss over or ignore them:

Now Senator Durbin, do you really believe that anything done by our servicemen at Guantanamo, or Abu Ghraib is remotely tantamount to the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis? If you don't believe this to be true, why would you deliberately lie about such things? Are your lies the result of ignorance, or something more insidious?

To me, the act of comparing American Soldiers to nazis is incomprehensible, and although I know far better than to expect the truth from you regarding your reasoning, I would suggest that there is no reason you could provide that does not call into serious question your fitness for continued service as a member of the US Senate. Only your full and unqualified retraction of your remarks can preserve any dignity you may have ever had.

Sincerely,

Just Another American

[LZ_Bayonet]

"Durbin is just the usual arrogant democRAT who has defamed our honorable men and women in the Armed Forces."

Maybe this is not just a side-effect. Maybe the REAL motivation for his comments is to undermine the war effort by damaging military recruitment and re-enlistment. By linking our military activity with Nazi's etc., he is shaping a negative and less respectful image of our military, in order to discourage recruitment. He knew it would generate a firestorm and was counting on the constant broadcast of his comments to achieve this end.