June 17, 2005

I apologize that I didn't join the Durbin the Turban blogswarm yesterday, but to be honest, his remarks comparing our soldiers to "Nazis" literally made me sick!
I'm a little better today and ready to fight!
(I did call my Senators yesterday--Cornyn and Hutchison--to demand that Durtbin be censured and then forced to resign from the Senate.)
Here's the latest action up in Washington:
Durbin rebuked on floor of Senate

The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman yesterday accused Sen. Richard J. Durbin of insulting American soldiers with a "grievous error in judgment" by comparing U.S. treatment of al Qaeda suspects to the crimes of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Pol Pot, and demanded that the Senate's No. 2 Democrat apologize.
    
The rebuke followed a similar rebuke by the commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who called Mr. Durbin "totally out of line."
    
Republican lawmakers lined up to condemn the remarks as making the war on terror more dangerous for American troops.
[No sh*t, Sherlock!--Jen]
    
Some were particularly angry about the Al Jazeera Arab-language news station, which had posted Mr. Durbin's Nazi comparison made in a Tuesday night floor speech.
[That says it all, doesn't it?
To receive this high praise from our enemy's #1 media organ speaks for itself.--J.T.]
    
"That's horrible. That's our worst nightmare," said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, about the posting by the network, which the administration accuses of stirring up anti-Americanism.
    
In a Tuesday night speech to the Senate, after reading an e-mail from a FBI agent, Mr. Durbin said: "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. Sadly, that is not the case. This as the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."
[NO, SENATOR DIRTBAG! I WOULD MOST CERTAINLY NOT BELIEVE THAT OUR SOLDIERS AT GITMO SHOULD BE COMPARED TO NAZIS, SOVIET GULAG GUARDS OR HENCHMEN IN CAMBODIA'S KILLING FIELDS!!!]
    
The scolding of Mr. Durbin by Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, set off a tense debate on the Senate floor that lasted more than an hour.
    
Mr. Warner, joined by Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, repeatedly chastised Mr. Durbin for likening interrogation techniques at the Pentagon-run prison at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to three 20th-century dictators who killed tens of millions of innocents.
    
A clearly uncomfortable Mr. Durbin refused to apologize.
[He needs to be made more than "clearly uncomfortable; I want this "man" to be censured and then forced to submit his resignation from the Senate.
This is unacceptable rhetoric from a U.S. Senator of any or either political party.]

    He blamed the "right-wing media" for the flap,
[Zzzzz. You and Hillary should get together; you'd have lots to talk about.--Jen]
and read his words from Tuesday's Congressional Record to show its "context." He said the real issue was Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld permitting rough interrogation techniques in the war on terror.
[Because of whining from the Left like Durbin's and the MSM's condemnation of interrogation techniques used at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo, our military is now severely restricted as to the methods they can use on these would-be jihadi killers. As it is now, we're limited to turning off the air conditioning and playing Christine Aguilera as "torture" to get these murderers to tell us what we need to know.]
    
But clearly Democrats felt the pressure.
[But this isn't enough--Pump up the volume, America! These are our sons and daughters, wives and husbands, mothers and fathers in uniform past, present and future being maligned and besmirched.]

    Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, came to the floor to defend his chief deputy and to lash out at press reports and the White House, which earlier in the day called Mr. Durbin's remarks "reprehensible."

The noise machine of the far right never stops
[That's right, A$$hole! The Pajamahadeen never sleep, that's why we wear pajamas!]
and it's gotten so much more in operation in the last few weeks," he said. "This is all a distraction by the White House."
[Which is it, A$$hat? New Media or the White House?]
    
But Mr. Reid did not directly address Mr. Durbin's gulag comparison. He was followed by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, who spent more than 10 minutes recognizing Father's Day.
[Isn't that great? Senator KKK always stays on message when key American values are under attack.]
    
Then Republican Sens. John Kyl of Arizona and Jeff Sessions of Alabama further denounced Mr. Durbin's comments and echoed the calls for an apology.
[Nope. An apology isn't enough!
I want Durtbin to be censured, then forced to resign his Senate seat.
Call his office or email it and let them know you're outraged.]
    
Mr. Warner began the Senate debate with a floor speech in which he read from a front-page account of Mr. Durbin's remarks in yesterday's editions of The Washington Times.
   
 Mr. Warner said, "To equate actions of the men and women of the armed forces ... with regard to their services down there in Guantanamo maintaining the detainees to the genocidal acts of murder and repression of the Nazis, of the Soviet gulag, of Pol Pot, I think is insulting to our men and women in uniform.
    
"The danger that loose comments such as that, comparisons which have no basis in fact or history, could do harm to the men and women serving wherever they are in the world today in this war on terrorism. Because this is the type of thing that is picked up and is utilized by press antithetical to the interest of the United States and [who] distort in their own way.
    "I feel apologies are in order to the men and women of the armed forces."
[BIG TIME.]
    
Mr. Durbin quickly appeared on the Senate floor but offered no apology. He read that part of his speech again.
[Again! The nerve! Because he isn't sorry.]
He said he had read earlier from an FBI's agent letter on harsh treatment of suspected terrorists and had compared such treatment to what would be found under the Soviet gulag, Nazis and Pol Pot.
    
"To suggest I'm criticizing American servicemen, I am not," Mr. Durbin said.
[BULLSHIT, if you'll excuse my French!]
"I don't know who was responsible for this. But the FBI agent made this report ... I was attributing this form of interrogation to repressive regimes.
   
 "Now sadly we have a situation here where some in the right wing media have said that I've been insulting men and women in uniform. Nothing could be further from the truth. I respect men and women in the uniform."
[Really? Since when? This second?
I never bought the Dems' "We support the troops, but not the war." crap in the first place.]
Mr. Warner did not accept the explanation. [Good for him!]
He said the government is now investigating FBI and al Qaeda inmate complaints and it was wrong for Mr. Durbin to read from one agent's unsubstantiated letter before all the evidence is in.
    
"There is no verification of the accuracy of that report," Mr. Warner said. "For you to have come to the floor with just that fragment of a report and then unleashed the words 'the Nazis' ... It seems to be that was a grievous error in judgment."
    
Mr. McConnell then read Mr. Durbin's references to the Nazis, gulags and Pol Pot and asked, "Does the senator from Illinois stand by these words?"
    
Mr. Durbin answered: "In this particular incident that I just read from an FBI agent describing in detail the methods that were used on prisoners, was I trying to say that, 'Isn't this the kind of thing we see from repressive regimes?' Yes."
    
There was criticism of Mr. Durbin outside the Senate.
    
The VFW's commander in chief, John Furgess, said, "The senator was totally out of line for even thinking such thoughts, and we demand he apologize to every man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of our country."
[Damn straight! The sooner the better, but Durbin will continue to be a Dick. Hide and watch.]

    Several Democrats ducked the furor yesterday.
    
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, declined to comment, saying she had not heard Mr. Durbin's speech. When a reporter read the passage to her, she declined again.
    
The offices of Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut did not answer calls for comment.

I can't believe that Joe Lieberman would countenance Durtbin's kind of talk, but Clinton and Kerry ("...in the manner of Genghis Khan") are probably secretly cheering the Dick.
Durtbin the Turban is Howard Dean with a Senate seat.
I'm sorry, but even blogging this has made me very upset all over again and reaching for the Pepcid and the Excedrin.
It's not even worth it for me to do a thoughtful analysis explaining why it's unfair to "compare" Gitmo and the genocidal régimes of Hitler, Pol Pot and Stalin--You know it's outrageous on its face.
Our guys in uniform are humane and respectful of their fellow human beings, even if it's a jihadi killer captured on the battlefield trying to kill Americans that looks like an oranguatan and acts like a barbarian.
When I think of what the Left demanded when Sen. Trent Lott made a harmless remark at a private birthday party, then I feel perfectly comfortable asking for Durtbin's censure and resignation for "official" remarks he made on the Senate floor as a major "statesman" of this country.
There are 2 ironies at play here also, which Dick the dick Durtbag is too stupid to "get:"
1.) If this "poor, innocent" man who was being interrogated, i.e. the 20th 9/11 hijacker, had made it onto Flight #93 on 9/11, that plane would very likely have hit the Capitol building and killed everyone in it, like pathetic *sshat Durtbin and most of our other Congresspersons and Senators.
2.) Camp Gimto represents the only place on Cuban soil where a prisoner can get humane treatment:
Durtbin conveniently "forgets" to include the horrible torture and summary executions of those who oppose the Castro Régime when he lists those of Hilter, Pol Pot and Stalin.
Durtbin's gotta go.
And he must apologize--and at length--to our troops, past and present.
And publicly declare which side he's on this war, ours or the terrorists' (as if we didn't know already!).
To alleviate my fury for the moment, I bought myself an "I love Gitmo" Tshirt.
Go here to get yourself one, too!
Rush has some fetching Club Gitmo T-shirts, as well!
And because it's clear that apologist numbnuts like Durtbin, Teddy Kennedy, Leahy and "Kos" have "forgotten" what torture really looks like and what true atrocities were committed at history's real hellholes like Abu Ghraib under Saddam, the Jawa Report gives us all a thoughtful reminder: (Warning: Graphic images!)
Kos Says U.S. Torture 'Equal' To that of Saddam Hussein (A comparison)