Dick Durbin needs a history lesson

[MissAva]

I couldnt belice Durbin saying that playing with the AC and.or turing it off or playing rap music is the same as what Hitler or the Soviets did.....

. How dare he dissmiss the suffering and death of millions by comparing it to being forced to listen to bad music. I understand that there are those who dont see the people who are being held at GITMO as combatents. If you feel that way, fine. But please dont say that lack of AC is the same thing as the horrors that millions suffered.

 

[AGBF]

Who is Dick Durbin?

Deborah

 

[Kaleigh]

AGBF,
You took the words righ out of my mouth. Who the heck is he???

 

[AGBF]

Date: 6/17/2005 5:30:29 PM
Author: kaleigh
AGBF, You took the words righ out of my mouth. Who the heck is he???

I hope you''re not asking *me*!!! I don''t have a clue! Well...I have a clue; he''s someone who opposes US torture of enemy combatants.

Deb

 

[Kaleigh]

No I wasn''t asking you. I read your response and was thinking the exact same thing. So can anyone tell me who Dick Dubin is???

 

[AGBF]

Date: 6/17/2005 5:55:05 PM
Author: Feydakin
http://durbin.senate.gov/

Thanks, Steve. I like him already!

He said (as part of a longer speech):

"No one, including the White House, can deny that the statement I read on the Senate floor was made by an FBI agent describing the torture of a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay. That torture was reprehensible and totally inconsistent with the values we hold dear in America. This Administration should apologize to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorizing torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure."

He also said:

"And I remind the White House the Guantanamo Bay scandal has reached such a level of national embarrassment that Senators from both parties are calling for the closure of that facility."

Hear! Hear!

 

[AGBF]

What "the enemy" does may be deplorable. What we do, however, is American policy. And the tortures you listed aren't the half of what has been done to detainees of all descriptions. Many people have died under US torture. You can see the corpse of one Iraqi killed by American troops in Abu Ghraib prison. He's the one they tried to smuggle out as "alive".

By the way, if we arrest an Iraqi in Iraq and he isn't in uniform does that make him s a spy? What about an Afghan in Afghanistan? I'm not in uniform. If anyone invades the US and takes me prisoner because I'm in jeans and a sweater, I'll be invoking the Geneva Convention. But by then there will be no Geneva Convention. US behavior will have convinced everyone else that they, also, need not regard it.

Deb

 

[AGBF]

Date: 6/17/2005 11:23:40 PM
Author: Feydakin
If you pick up arms against a uniformed foe, and you fail to put on a uniform, yes, you are 'non-uniformed combatant'.. It doesn't matter where the battle happens to take place.. The geneva convention applies to uniformed combatants..

Nice. Fair. I wonder if you know what you are talking about. I have never read the Geneva Convention. If it only applies to uniformed combatants as you say, then other facets of international law must allow civilians to defend themselves against armed invaders without giving the invaders the legal right (as opposed to the ability) to torture them or commit genocide against them. I mean, if there are people who violate international law, there must be international law. I am ignorant about international law. We do have a great many lawyers on Pricescope, though.

Deb

 

[strmrdr]

Having met him in person I must say he is a jerk.
He knows history very well he is just trying to get attention.
He will do or say anything to get his name mentioned in the press.

 

[mrssalvo]

He apologized today...

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 6/21/2005 10:29:08 PM
Author: mrssalvo
He apologized today...

Tons of free publicity.

 

[Rank Amateur]

What a clown. He should stick to his guns.

I couldn''t bear to watch it all. Was it a real "I''m sorry for what I did I was wrong" apology or a "I''m sorry YOU and THEY feel that way about what I said" non-apology.

Despite of what our culture seems to be teaching, an apology without contrition it is not an apology at all.

 

[AGBF]

Date: 6/22/2005 8:02:39 AM
Author: Rank Amateur
What a clown. He should stick to his guns.

For once we agree.

Deb

 

[MissAva]

Did he retract his apology? I heard a qoute from him saying that this whole notion of his being forced to apolgize was silly and that he hadnt said anything offensive, just that he was being honest and truthful when no one else had the courage....I truely do not understand politicians...

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 6/24/2005 2:04:40 PM
Author: Matatora
Did he retract his apology? I heard a qoute from him saying that this whole notion of his being forced to apolgize was silly and that he hadnt said anything offensive, just that he was being honest and truthful when no one else had the courage....I truely do not understand politicians...

He will bring it up as much as possible to get as much publicity out of it as possible.
As long as he can use it to get media attention he will and as often and as many times as possible.

 

[rubydick]

Just back from Bangkok. And back in action.

This is the FBI report Durbin quoted from:

"On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold... On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor."

It''s an FBI report. So I''m sure many will dismiss it as lefty propaganda.

Yesterday, a few people from Congress went down to Gitmo and made a show of eating the food prisoners are fed. News reports did not indicate whether or not they consented to be chained hand-and-foot in a fetal position to the floor during their visit. Even Duncan Hunter did not go there (I know more than a little about that bastard, since like Duke Cunningham, he is from San Diego).

Unsubstantiated reports, however, have indicated that Dubya has been soiling his drawers lately, even though he''s not incarcerated in Gitmo (hope does spring eternal, however).

The good news today is that tits are again free in the Justice Department. As a major tit lover, I applaud the actions of Latin lover and torture freak Alberto Gonzales. Free the tits, FREE THE TITS! Now, Alberto, how do you sleep at night?

 

[movie zombie]

welcome back, richard!

apparently someone forgot to tell those lefty FBI agents that gitmo is no worse than frat pranks at a tropical resort.

peace, movie zombie

 

[MissAva]

First off I would like to point out that our troops who serve all over the world are not given AC, unless it is donating, if you would like to help I can provide you the information. Next off NO ONE HAS DIED AT GITMO, so comparing GITMO to the Nazis and Gulag(sp) just shows how gullible the American people are, or uneducated. I find the concept of comparing a lack of air conditioning or hand cuffing in the fetal position to be a great deal less offensive then forcing people into ovens or watching their wives and children raped in front of them. It was a horribly disrespectful thing to say to those who suffered and died. Quite Tacky.

 

[rubydick]

Ah yes, the fact that the US has not killed any prisoners in Gitmo, but rather has rendered those it wanted to truly abuse to third countries, makes all the difference, doesn't it? Those nasty Nazis who killed people with their own hands were so much worse, weren't they? Because we do the same via third-party proxy, we are superior, right? Now I'm starting to understand what "family values" really means, along with the six or seven degrees of separation.

Just who are we kiddiing? Let me answer that: only ourselves.

And before you begin laying into Democrats like Clinton, rest assured that I hold them equally accountable. Their hands have just as much blood as the Repugs.

Despite my attitude, I still find amusement that some use the name of Jesus Christ to justify their crimes.

And yes, feel free to call me jaded, jilted, misguided, missing all the clever parts of a brain that allow one to sit back and not just accept, but condone and, indeed, champion all that we all understand, deep in the kernal of our being, is wrong.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Reduction is the mathmatical equation by which we can do evil and yet convince ourselves we are still following our religion, still doing good. But when one does the math in an honest way, it simply doesn't add up.

 

[MissAva]

I;m sorr but why is it that you think that my religion has anything to do with it? Just surious which faith is it that I follow?

 

[rubydick]

It's Dubya's religion I was referring to. As he has stated, God speaks to him and he's the one who's directed the torture.

 

[MINE!!]

(sigh)

 

[fire&ice]

Date: 6/28/2005 11:33:26 AM
Author: MINE!!
(sigh)

Exactly. Can''t you just accept the fact that we are evil, guilable & don''t look at reality the same way?

Also, that there is ONLY ONE TRUTH.