Durbin over the top
On Tuesday night, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill) compared the actions of the U.S. Military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to "torture at the hands of Nazis, Soviet gulags and even Cambodian mass murderer Pol Pot." I find this charge so absolutely ludicrous that it barely deserves intelligent comment.I am not at all for inhumane treatment of anyone, though tough forms of interrogation are often required to get vitally important, life-saving information; information that can be vital to the safety of the people not only of this country, but, literally, of the world. Please remember, we're not talking about the treatment of innocent people, but people who have intent to do harm and who have little or no regard for human life themselves (people who would not be in the situation they are in had they not involved themselves with murderous campaigns).
However, we certainly must remember that these are people...they are human beings and I would not go so far as to say that there may very well be practices that should be looked into and even discontinued, but it is absolutely absurd to compare the men and women of U.S. Military or any of the coalition forces with the worst of the murderous tyrants in the world. It was absolutely irresponsible to speak of the people who put their lives on the line every day in such a manner. They don't deserve it.
Here is the basis upon which Durbin draws his comparisons:
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.Were the detainees uncomfortable? I'm sure they were. Extremely uncomfortable? I'm sure I would be. Miserable? Most likely. But were their tongues cut out? Were they starved to death and dragged off to mass graves? Were they beaten beyond recognition and left to die? Shot at point blank range while they begged for their lives? Were they submitted to electric shock via the genitals, eyes gouged out, or limbs severed? Were their heads sawed off with machetes? I hope you can see the absurdity of such comparisons.
Durbin, nor anyone else, regardless of how little they dislike what is happening in Gitmo or at any other military detention center, has a basis upon which these types of thoughtless charges can rightfully be made. It is a case of mindless, acerbic rhetoric.
There is plenty of room for disagreement among good folk regarding the "rightness" of this war, the decisions of George Bush and the Administration, or just about anything. There is, however, little room for this kind of slander. Whatever his reasons, be they honorable or otherwise, Durbin's words demonstrate a problem all too common among politicians: loose tongues guided by poor choices in order to mindlessly support partisan agendas. Unfortunately, this often leads to more problems and deeper divides.
UPDATE: [6-26-05] See video of Senator Dubin's apology on the floor of the Senate. HT: Ian Schwartz of Oz (Ian has no link at present).
Labels: David C. Price
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 6/17/2005 06:15:00 PM
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