US senator stands by Nazi remark

Guess where this article came from....

Published on June 20, 2005 By ShadowWar In War on Terror

A US senator has refused to apologise for comparing the actions of US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay to those of Nazis, while others have decried or defended the mandate and method used to hold prisoners there.

US Senator Dick Durbin on Wednesday refused to apologise for comments he made on the Senate floor referring to Nazis, Soviet gulags and a "mad regime" like Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Illinois Republican party chairman Andy McKenna had demanded he apologise.

"Senator Durbin's comments come as a great disservice to our military personnel in Guantanamo," he said.

"They are also a great disservice to all US soldiers and veterans who have fought, and continue to fight, to overcome evil regimes and spread democracy around the world."

Durbin did not plan to apologise for the comments, spokesman Joe Shoemaker said.

"This administration should apologise to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorising torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure," Durbin had said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

Attack

During a speech on Tuesday, Durbin, the Senate's number two Democrat, quoted from an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the naval base in 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 is not alone in his criticism.

Human-rights groups have long accused the administration of unjustly detaining suspects at the prison camp. Amnesty International last month called the detention centre the "gulag of our times".

Rebuttal

President George Bush and other administration officials, however, have strongly resisted such comparisons and questioned Amnesty's objectivity.

"I take strong exception to any characterisations that try to
diminish what our military is doing and the standards and values that they adhere to," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The Bush administration calls the Guantanamo prisoners enemy combatants who are entitled to fewer legal protections than those afforded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

Defence

According to US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, the US government often considers whether it would be better to stop detaining prisoners at Guantanamo.

"That's a question that is evaluated, I would say, quite often," he said in Sheffield, England, where he will attend a meeting of G8 interior ministers on Thursday and Friday.

On Wednesday, he had said "there will of course be an end", but did not specify when.

He also pointed out that about a dozen of those who had been released had returned to fight against the US.

"It's difficult to explain to a mom and dad who's lost their son or daughter how you can have someone in Guantanamo Bay, release them and then they kill your son and daughter," he said.

Since the camp was set up after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, 167 detainees have been freed and 67 others released to the custody of their home governments.

About 520 detainees from about 40 countries remain at Guantanamo. Only 12 have been handed over to military commissions for investigation of possible war crimes and four have been charged.

Debate

In a three-hour hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, legal experts from the US military and the Justice Department said the US had a right under the Geneva Conventions to hold enemy combatants.

But committee chairman Senator Arlen Specter suggested lawmakers would have to clarify what he called a "crazy quilt" of laws and regulations governing the detentions.

Some lawmakers want the facility closed, saying it has become a liability that inflames Muslims against the United States.

"Guantanamo is an international embarrassment to our nation, to our ideals and it remains a festering threat to our security," Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said.

Survey

A Pew Research Centre poll, taken over the weekend, indicated most Americans agree that reports of abuse at Guantanamo are isolated incidents, and 39% think the news media is paying too much attention to the issue.

The poll found a sharp partisan divide on the issue - Democrats believing the abuses to be systemic and Republicans saying they were isolated incidents.

This article is from Al-Jazzera.net, makes you think maybe they like the US being divided amongst themselves. You tell me does this help the Terrorist or help the US? DO I have to tell you??

Comments

Island Dog

on Jun 20, 2005

I'm still amazed of how the media has ignored this. Tell me again how the media isn't liberal again.

bakerstreet

on Jun 20, 2005

Its nice to know he's announced his retirement. I just hope he understands that he has announced his retirement. You never know, though, I could be wrong. He may have a bunch of nuts electing him like Rangel and Chappaquiddick Ted.

Dr Guy

on Jun 20, 2005

Its nice to know he's announced his retirement. I

I have not seen that. But given the sorry state of democrats in general, it would not surprise me.

ParaTed2k

on Jun 20, 2005

He stands by it, and he can choke on it!

Guantanamo is an international embarrassment to our nation, to our ideals and it remains a festering threat to our security," Senator Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said.

The Traiter Durbin (D, IL) is more of an embarrasment, Sen. Leahy, so why are you embracing his remark???

Dr Guy

on Jun 21, 2005

Sen. Leahy, so why are you embracing his remark???

Leaky Leahy? He was the one kicked off the senate Intelligence committee (not for lack thereof) for leaking secrets that are not supposed to leave the Intelligence community! His own Colleagues (back in the day when there were honorable Democrat senators) did it.

Leauki

on Jun 21, 2005

"According to US Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales on Wednesday, the US government often considers whether it would be better to stop detaining prisoners at Guantanamo."

Perhaps they should be extradited to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia officially regard Bin Laden and his ilk as traitors and revolutionaries (and rightfully so). And I believe Saudi Arabia has the death penalty for treason.

That would solve the problem.

Island Dog

on Jun 21, 2005

Keep Gitmo open, 58% of Americans say in poll

Keep Gitmo open, 58% of Americans say in poll

BY KENNETH R. BAZINET DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - A new poll yesterday showed most Americans want the prison at Guantanamo Bay to remain open, giving a boost to President Bush's defense of human rights conditions at the lockup for suspected terrorists. "Many of those folks being detained, in humane conditions I might add, are dangerous people," Bush told reporters. "The fundamental question facing our government is what do you do with these people?"

A growing chorus of critics have called for Guantanamo to be closed amid reports of torture and desecration of the Koran, but a majority of Americans approve of the way prisoners are treated there, a new poll shows.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll showed 58% of the respondents believe Guantanamo should remain open, while 36% say shut it down.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/320975p-274491c.html

JollyFE

on Jun 21, 2005

Do people think that if we close Gitmo we are just going to fling the doors open and set these people free or something?

Therein lies the rub with the likes of turbin durbin, kenedy, clintoon, amnesty international (lower case intentional) and the rest of these loony toons. They all want to belong to the "I Hate America" club, yet offer no solution I've ever seen to this supposed problem that really doesn't exist.

JollyFE

ParaTed2k

on Jun 21, 2005

DNC: "Solutions" "We're supposed to be about solutions?"

JollyFE

on Jun 21, 2005

DNC: "Solutions" "We're supposed to be about solutions?"

duh! What was I thinking!? lol

JollyFE

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