On serious note, Gitmo tactics far from torture

The Chicago Tribune ^ | June 18, 2005 | John Kass

[YaYa123]

Some readers are angry that I made light of the politics surrounding the treatment of suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. They're upset that I didn't take it seriously.

OK. I'll take it seriously, particularly statements by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who compared Guantanamo to Hitler's camps, Stalin's gulags and the Cambodian killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot murdered roughly 50 million people. At Guantanamo, suspected terrorists have been made uncomfortable, including a minion of Osama bin Laden's who was forced to listen to Christina Aguilera tunes. But I haven't heard of anyone being killed there

[YaYa123]

It's good to know The Chicago Tribune isn't ignoring Durbin's outrageous accusations! Let's hope he's feeling more than a little, hometown heat.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

On a series note, I want a ticket to Club Gitmo! I am worried about gaining weight, though.

[NonValueAdded]

I was grocery shopping the other day and my daughter was complaining that it was too cold in the meat department. In fact, she was shivering. Can I expect Amnesty Int'l at my door and "Dick" Durban denouncing me on the floor of the Senate?

[Txsleuth]

I know I would be eating better than I do now if I ate what Duncan Hunter showed that they eat....

I usually eat a sandwich or salad...because I have to make it, I don't have a chef like the patrons of Club Gitmo have...and they even have room service...dang!

[Dutch Boy]

People like Durbin and his ilk have no sense of proportion or history. It doesn't take much effort to learn how cruel the real dictators were to the enemies and even their own people.

Durbin's problem is that he hates GWB and the republicans and nothing else matters. The left has corrupted the word "truth" to believe anything you want it to believe. They cannot understand that no matter how much they believe something that if it's not real it's just not real.

[yoswif]

The Chicago police department has ADMITTED far worse attrocities than anything alleged at Gitmo. For instance, putting plastic bags over suspects heads till they nearly suffocate to force a confesseion. The Chicago police department is run by the same Democrat machine that put Durbin in the Senate. Of course, Dem leaders or MSM would never think of comparing the Daley administration to Nazis. The Daley administration is critical to any Dem chances of electing Senators or winning electoral votes in Illinois.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

People like Durbin and his ilk have no sense of proportion or history.

Durbin is a slug.

His own family hates him.

Imagine "tortured" by being forced to listen to loud rap music.

That means there are literally millions of inner city children being tortured in schools, buses, trains, subways and at home.

And I don't hear them complaining.

Perhaps dickhead Durbin should call for a ban on loud rap music.

Cowards and self-loathers like that lowlife and Ted Kennedy can only associate with their own kind.

Soon nobody else will take them seriously.

[A.B.Normal]

I looked up torture, because durban doesn't know what it is. Reference.com had me going, because the definition is in the interpretation. Indeed, "suffering" could be interpreted as being in the mind of the prisoner, IMHO. But even digging there seems to show durban is either insane or un-American:

" torture is defined as severe pain or suffering, which means there exist levels of pain and suffering which are not severe enough to be called torture."

[Arnold Zephel]

[ozzymandus]

But the air conditioning was too hot or too cold! Wasn't that how the Japanese tortured US troops on the Bataan death March?? Didn't the Nazis use that method to kill prisoners in the death camps?

[angelsonmyside]

"The Chicago police department has ADMITTED far worse attrocities than anything alleged at Gitmo. For instance, putting plastic bags over suspects heads till they nearly suffocate to force a confesseion"


OH my, does Durbin have any outstanding traffic tickets or anything, :)

[FairOpinion]

Not to worry, you can get plenty of exercise too, if you wish.

Cartoon by Freeper Blumtoon.

Blumtoon cartoons

And the volleyball is for real.

What's going on at Gitmo? (Inmates playing soccer, volleyball, reading Agatha Cristie in Arabic)

"The best-behaved detainees are held in Camp 4, a medium-security, communal-living environment with as many as 10 beds in a room; prisoners can play soccer or volleyball outside up to nine hours a day, eat meals together and read Agatha Christie mysteries in Arabic."

[Mr_Moonlight]

Imagine "tortured" by being forced to listen to loud rap music

Rap Music is an 'art form' practiced primarily by Black people in an urban setting. At the risk of getting hammered by FReepers on this, does not Durbin's equating being forced to listen to loud Rap music as a form of torture make him out to be a RACIST ???

[YaYa123]

"But the air conditioning was too hot or too cold!"

I cede thermostat control to no one, so that, according to my husband, I can use the AC torture method on him.

[festus]

I am worried about gaining weight, though.

Don't be. If Durbin's right they have some great sauna's at the club. You can just sweat the pounds right off.

[Dutch Boy]

My grandfather's brother was in a nazi POW camp for years. He was mistakenly reported dead in the middle of the war and was tortured until the end. He was nearly starved to death and his fingers had been broken several times and had objects shoved under his fingernails. When he came home the family barely recognized him.

[JarheadFromFlorida]

Let's all get it straight. What happens at GITMO are intimidation tactics and NOT torture. Liberals hate their own president more than they hate Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden or the terrorists and they want Bush to fail. Liberal Democrats are so desperate to regain power that this is what they have resorted to.

[CarlEOlsoniii]

You are very right. This is not Torture. I was underwhelmed when I heard what was happening at Gitmo, but not shocked at all. These TERRORISTS have INFORMATION that will save the LIVES of some of Americas sons and daughters, and I wouldn't mind tougher intimidation tactics.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Yeah. [eyes off in the distance blissfully.] I'd love to be interrogated by some trooper chicks. Handcuffs? Kool! And good, affordable healthcare is so hard to find. I guess they miss the healthcare they got back home. FRegards....