White House Castigates Durbin for Remarks

[wicket]

Scotty is up on his cross again :eyes:

White House Castigates Durbin for Remarks

The White House said a senator's comparison of American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was reprehensible and a disservice to those serving in the military.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it is "beyond belief" that Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin would compare treatment of dangerous enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to the death of millions of innocent people by oppressive regimes.

"Our men and women in uniform go out of their way to treat detainees humanely, and they go out of their way to uphold the values and the laws that we hold so dear in this country," McClellan said.

-snip-

Said McClellan: "I think the senator's remarks are reprehensible. It's a real disservice to our men and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws."

[maddezmom]

1. and again, doesn't respond to what is going on at Gitmo

:mad: deflect, deflect, lie, lie and deflect some more.

[katty]

22. Screw Scott houseboy and his puppet masters!

[Robbien]

2. They are trying to point the finger at someone else for their wrong doing

ABC News reports that a Pentagon memo reveals that Navy general counsel Alberto Mora warned that "top officials could go to prison" over interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo Bay detainees. Mora was previously reported to have called the techniques "unlawful and unworthy of the military services."
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/print?id=852458

Scotty is spinning like crazy trying to cover their own evil deeds.

[w13rd0]

3. Imprisoned without being charges...

....in perpetuity.

Sorry Scotty, you FUCKING NAZI!

[James T. Kirk]

25. Yeah! And then slaughtered them by the millions!

Nazis!!! That they would want to repeat all that nazi stuff is just uneblievable! I thought we bombed the shit out of those bastards back in the forties!

[reprobate]

43. Nothing unbelievable about the Bush's and the nazis. Consider this:

The bush family in the person of Prescot Bush, Mad George's grandfather, supported the rise of Hitler financially. In fact, Prescott's investment bank, which did the money transferrs was closed and confiscated by the US government for trading with the enemy. I think it's only his political connections that kept Prescott out of federal prison.

So there's a long history of the Bush family and dictators. You'd be safe in putting nothing beyond this bunch of treasonous bastards.

[James T. Kirk]

50. To be fair, the elder Bush fought in WWII against the allies of the Nazis,

But what is happening in at Guantanamo is certainly as bad as what the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese did. It's only a matter of time before someone gets killed down there.

[reprobate]

55. He was also CIA agent in charge in Dallas when JFK was killed

[James T. Kirk]

56. And JFK's father opposed fighting Hitler!

The connections are mind-boggling!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kennedy

[BOSSHOG]

4. How does lil scotty know that our troops

"go out of their way" to treat prisoners humanely? And scotty it is a real stretch listening to someone from the bush administration pontificate about standards and values. You and your kind are ruining our standards and its quite obvious conservatives have no values.

GO SENATOR DURBIN.

[Jacobin]

5. Yeah. We have the pictures, so we know how well they are treated

at least in Abu Ghraib...no pics from Gitmo, so I'm sure all is just fine

:sarcasm:

[Soloflecks]

7. And there's much we didn't see...

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/07/15/hersh_children_raped.html

Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has videos

From Daily Kos' partial transcript of a video (link to REAL stream) of Seymour Hersh speaking at an ACLU event. He says the US government has videotapes of children being raped at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
" Some of the worst things that happened you don't know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib ... The women were passing messages out saying 'Please come and kill me, because of what's happened' and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It's going to come out."
(snip)
Update: Geraldine Sealey at Salon on Hersh's remarks:

After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon's custody more horrific than anything made public so far. "If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse," Rumsfeld said. Since then, the Washington Post has disclosed some new details and images of abuse at the prison. But if Seymour Hersh is right, it all gets much worse. (...)
Notes from a similar speech Hersh gave in Chicago in June were posted on Brad DeLong's blog. Rick Pearlstein, who watched the speech, wrote: " said that after he broke Abu Ghraib people are coming out of the woodwork to tell him this stuff. He said he had seen all the Abu Ghraib pictures. He said, 'You haven't begun to see evil...' then trailed off. He said, 'horrible things done to children of women prisoners, as the cameras run.' He looked frightened."

There are several questions here: Has Hersh actually seen the video he described to the ACLU, and why hasn't he written about it yet? Will he be forced to elaborate in more public venues now that these two speeches are getting so much attention, at least in the blogosphere? And who else has seen the video, if it exists -- will journalists see and report on it? did senators see these images when they had their closed-door sessions with the Abu Ghraib evidence? -- and what is being done about it?

[Up2Late]

9. They have pictures! The N.Y Fed Court ordered them released

a few weeks ago, I bet they will be released tomorrow, after 5pm (EDT). I think they have until next week though.

[Robbien]

6. The rabid right is going to turn this into a SwiftBoat smear campaign

Daily Kos has the story
http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=?=mtcosmos&url=http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/6/16/25826/4241

What Durbin actually 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 was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

[bluedog]

37. they always

take things out of a qoute and run with it................notice they never do with bush and goon gang..........

[iamjoy]

8. Are We Really Surprised?

I mean, Durbin had to know his remarks were inflammatory and would cause just such a reaction.

How could we think we would get anything but this kind of response given the media spin and current administration?

[Robbien]

13. But Cornyn said Gitmo was in such a pretty place it is almost a resort

Three square meals, fruit and a pretty view. What more could you ask.

[iamjoy]

15. Then Let's Send Him There

but Cornyn's remark (while foolish) was not inflammatory to Americans. Durbin's was.

I am still undecided as to whether this agressive stragegy is a good thing or not, but one thing is sure, we shouldn't act surprised when the quotes get taken out of context and we get called on it.

[Robbien]

16. Sorry you feel that Durbin's true remarks should be silenced

Its bad that one such as yourself feels everyone should be scared to open their mouth in case they will offend the rabid right.

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 was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners.

and I agree.

You may hide behind the sofa and whisper hoping the rabid right will not hear you, but others feel the truth should be spoken out loud and in the open.

[iamjoy]

29. I Didn't Say I Was Scared

Just that we should know by now how our words will get twisted.
Look, if we're going to play football, we shouldn't act surprised when the refs calls the personal foul on us but not our opponent.

[Igel]

44. If I had read those things, and didn't know it was FBI Ior other

American), I would have thought it was the French. Maybe the Serbs.

If it crossed my mind that it was the Germans or the Russians, it would have also crossed my mind that it was an uncharacteristically mild day, or just warming up the prisoners for the main event. Maybe a guard in training, who really hadn't gotten with the program yet.

[TankLV]

47. What Durbin said is just the simple TRUTH.

Whether it is perceived as "inflamatory" or "brutal" is completely beside the point and pointless, and also the resort of the guilty when exposed.

The truth just IS.

[Larkspur]

10. Deanism is so contagious. You rock Durbin!

Being castigated by Scott "The Mouth of Sauron" Mcclellan is a compliment.

[ImADeanDem]

34. I totally agree, but I'm wondering...

Have any Dems "piled on" to Durbin for his comments, or do they reserve that treatment for Dean? (I've been away from my computer for a few days, so I'm not totally up to date with what's been happening -- and of course I can't rely on the MSM to keep me informed!)

[Larkspur]

39. Nope, I haven't heard any DLC Dem who attacked Dean attack Durbin

Not even Lieber-bush has attacked Durbin that I know of and I live in CT.

[otohara]

Beyond Belief Is Lying For War

and the never ending lies we're told everyday by these evil men.

[underpants]

20. "beyond belief"

indeed Scotty

[aresef]

11. Yes...

...everything's fine and dandy at the Guantanamo Hilton.

*rolls eyes*

[jobycom]

12. Isn't Scotty Nazi for "You can't make me answer the question?" nt

[AnneD]

14. Sooooo

did the White House ever apologize to Newsweek for getting the story RIGHT about the Quran at Gitmo???? I must have missed that apology and retraction.:sarcasm:

[barb162]

17. piss on Scott

[northzax]

18. he's right, you know

it's not even close. the Nazis targeted Jews, while the Gitmo guards unequivocally target Muslims. See? not the same thing at all.

frankly, I think it's a bad comparison anyway, for a multitude of historical reasons that will undoubtedly have me branded a troll by 50% of the board before they even read them...

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. Durbin struck a nerve, didn't he?

[donkeyotay]

21. Whew! I thought you said "castrates"

He's just flogging him with the usual doublespeak:

"Our men and women in uniform go out of their way to treat detainees humanely, except for a few bad apples at Abu Ghraib, and then there ws that thing in Afghanistan, and then there's the latest about torture in the Kurdish areas, and they go out of their way to uphold the values and the laws that we hold so dear in this country, except for the parts Gonzales rewrote," McClellan said.

-snip-

Said McClellan: "I think the senator's remarks are reprehensible. It's a real disservice to our men and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws, even if our own generals said that overcoming the negative effects of Abu Ghraib had made winning the war in Iraq extremely difficult."

...or something like that.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

23. Hey Scotty...

kiss my Irish-American ass...

I love this part of his response: "It's a real disservice to our men and women in uniform who adhere to high standards and uphold our values and our laws."

They may be your high standards, your values and your laws as a Republican shill, but they certainly are not mine and if my beloved father who was a WWII vet and my beloved brother Terry, a Vietnam vet were still alive, they wouldn't be their high standards, their values or their laws either.

The total hypocrisy of the present day Republican Party knows absolutely no bounds.

Scott McClellan, please do us all a favor and go Cheney yourself.

[stmad]

24. Poll on Durbin

Please feel free to visit www.newsgazette.com and vote on the following poll question:

"Should Senator Dick Durbin apologize for comparing U.S. troops guarding prisoners to Nazis, Stalinists, or Pol Pot?"

As usual, this rag takes things out of context in order to stir up the locals. Dick Durbin is an excellent senator and we need to support him.

Thanks!

[maxrandb]

32. My God!

Was that poll question written by Sean Hannity?

"So Senator, is it that you hate America, or just this president?"

"When you beat your wife, did you use your fist?"

then in screaming, non-stop, repetition.....

"Answer the question!, Answer the question!, Yes or NO, did you use a fist?, Answer the question, answer the question, answer the question...Well if I can't even get a simple Yes or No answer from you, Answer the question, what is it? Do you hate America, or this president, answer the question Yes or No. I didn't ask you if you ever beat you wife, I asked you if you used your fist? I can't believe this. I can't even get a Yes or No answer out of you, answer the question, answer the question, answer the question, see that's why your party is so out of the mainstream, you can't even answer a simple Yes or No question.

Alright let me get Ann Coulter in here, maybe she can answer this question, are you there Ann? Thanks, now you tell me and our listeners, does the Senator hate America, or this president? is he providing aid and comfort to our enemies? is he slandering our great men and women in uniform? You know remarkably, I couldn't get a Yes or No answer from him".

How anyone above the 3RD grade falls for this debate style is beyond me.

[0007]

26. junior is a real disservice to our men and women in uniform

and Scotty is the butt of all jokes with all the so called journalists.

[realFedUp]

27. if the hood fits.....

I would broaden that comparison to the "leaders"
at the top.

[David__77]

28. Waaaa!

Aren't the PC conservative cry-babies something else?!

[wicket]

30. kick

:kick:

[maxrandb]

31. As I said in Another Post

Don't let the right-wing define the debate.

The only thing that is slandering the military are the individuals that abused prisoners, and the leadership that allowed it to happen.

Senator Durbin is right to point out that those actions are not what is expected of the America I know and love.

I think we all should "stand-by". I'm not sure what the status is of the ACLU's attempt to get the additional pictures and videotape, but I do remember the looks on the faces of both Democratic and Republican politicians that were allowed to see them.

Even the Republicans that were allowed to see those "additional" pictures had "ash-white, trembling" faces. If you think a couple of pictures of "meat pyramids" is all there is, you're not paying attention!

[confludemocrat]

33. 42% appr. rating, 59% war not worth it, Durbin remark timing well chosen

and not backing down on the remark all very excellent politics and right wing attacks keep the issue alive. Things are turning at last. Makes for a very bad week for the Bush crime family. We need more weeks like this!

[Nancy Waterman]

35. How Durbin should respond

It is the treatment of detainees that is "reprehensible and a disservice to those serving in the military" and to Americans who believe in what their country stands for. Let us be very clear about that.

[maxrandb]

38. Absolutely!

A man should never apologize for the truth. And the truth is, if someone read that FBI report to you, you would be hard pressed to believe they were talking about Americans. Would I have gone as far as Sen Durbin? No, but that is not the point. The point (as I've tried to make repeatedly) is that the individuals that commited abuse, and the leadership that allowed it to happen are the ONES THAT SLANDER OUR BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM.

"Me thinks the Freepers doth protest too much".

An apology now would be like blood in the water to a pack of sharks.

We're supposed to believe an apology will sastify the Freepers, Rush, Sean, Faux News, etc.????

Do not allow them to "Frame the Debate".

If you apologize for the truth, you allow evil to win!

[confludemocrat]

48. Yes, people understand the essential point that was made is true

And what you say about if people read this without knowing who it pertained to exactly theyt would be shocked is a great point, these are the kind of acts that kill us as a nation for years to come, and these times call for a bit of hyperbole-only a bit was all he employed.

[Rose Siding]

36. Durbin has supported the military in ways the WH can't fathom

[mgr]

40. More like Japanese detention or Reservations n/t

[democrat_patriot]

41. Their plan: Discredit 1-3 Dems or Liberal orgs a week.

Hammer it hard, and than move on to someone else. So when 'normal' people hear Durbin's name it's "Oh yeah that BAD man...."*

[Debi]

42. C'mon - the detainees have two servings of fruit! Daily Show anyone? n/t

[TankLV]

45. If the shoe fits..... Durbin must be getting REAL close to the truth!

Seems they really do protest too much!

[Politicub]

46. The "White House" needs to STFU

The GOP majority in congress should be "castigated" for relegating the uber-important DSM hearings to the basement of the Capitol. It is a damn shame that the Gold Star mothers who testified were disrespected by the craven and corrupt GOP.

Bush and the GOP are scum, and undeserving of any respect. The way they put our young people's lives in harms way for a war built on a pack of lies is the true scandal -- not Durbin's out-of-context rhetoric.

[truthisfreedom]

49. thanks for calling attention to it, scotty. and by the way, scotty, what

about gannon/guckert/gosch? got anything on that for us, or are you still STONEWALLING?

[wicket]

51. kick

:kick:

[AngryAmish]

52. Bush is Hitler

However, there is a minority of the American people who do support this regime, just like many Germans supported the Nazis. We, as individuals and collectively, must note who these peole are so they can be dealt with when this regime is overthrown. THese hidden nazis must dealt with, root and branch, if this nation is to be cleansed.

[SillyGoose]

53. Humanely?

"Our men and women in uniform go out of their way to treat detainees humanely, and they go out of their way to uphold the values and the laws that we hold so dear in this country," McClellan said.

Scott, do the Abu Gharaib prison abuse photos summarize your definition of humane treatment?

[Terran1212]

54. "Our men and women in uniform"

One SINGLE congressman goes out of the realm of the Establishment's narrow political spectrum to say what needed to be said, and then this jerk invokes the "but you must support our troops!" brigade.

[leesa]

57. STFU, You Nazis. Ask Dubya about the family patronage of the Nazis