Please take a minute to send a word of encouragement to Senator Durbin.

[illini]

As you may well know my Senator Dick Durbin is under attack for comments on torture in Guantanamo Bay. I am sure he could use a little support from the people. That means you.
You know its funny how people are "upset" Senator Durbin's comparison and not by the torture.


http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm

[graywarrior]

1. I emailed him yesterday. He's a good guy.

[illini]

6. Thanks

NT

[illini]

7. The full contents of the quote.

Senator Dick Durbin.

"When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here — I almost hesitate to put them in the record, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:

‘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 up so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold....On another occasion, the 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.'

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."

[mzmolly]

2. done and recommended!

:hi:

I told him not to back down for telling the truth.

[ooglymoogly]

3. done and thanks for the link

kicked and recommended

[man4allcats]

4. Done. Link to statement included.

Anyone wishing to read the complete text of Senator Durbin's June 14 Senate Floor Statement on Guantanamo Bay can access it by clicking Guantanamo.

My message to the Senator follows:

Senator Durbin,

I have just finished reading the complete text of your June 14 Senate Floor Statement on Guantanamo Bay. I only want to say that I applaud you for your courage in standing up to this administration and speaking the truth. I fear that there are not enough like you. I regret to say that I fear the United States, like Nazi Germany before it, may well have already sealed its own grim fate with this administration. I hope I am wrong. In any case, as decent people we must have the courage of our beliefs even if ultimately we lose our freedom and our very lives. In the end, we will be judged as individuals not by whether we won, but rather by what we stood for. Thank you for standing up for America and the Constitution.

[illini]

10. Very nice thanks.

nt

[Tigress DEM]

5. My email

Senator Durbin,

I hear you are getting flak for speaking TRUTH to Power. If the people allowing torture to take place at Gitmo can't handle the fact that it brings up comparisons to the most horrible acts in world history, it's really their issue - not yours.

Even Amnesty, who said their comparisons may have been somewhat overboard, said there still were valid simularities (in some but not all catagories) to gulags.

Hang in there and thanks for your effort to bring attention to this awful mess. I just wish as many people were upset about the fact that America is practising torture as they are about the fact that people are calling US on it.

[jmcon007]

8. It was a pleasure to send him a note.

[illini]

9. Thanks

nt

[CityDem]

11. I sent a note yesterday

Told him to keep firing with both barrels.

[illini]

12. Thanks

nt

[Catrina]

13. Done

I think that each time he is asked to apologize for his statements, he should ask the question 'Was George Bush right or wrong to apologize for what happened at Abu Ghraib, when he appeared before the world with the King of Jordan? Did his apology not confirm that what happened there was unnacceptable to a decent society? I applaud and agree with him for taking a stand against the use of torture as a policy of this country, do you?'

email of support sent to him ~

www.pinsforpatriots.com
www.downingstreetminutes.com

[illini]

15. Very nice! Great point.

nt

[spuddonna]

14. done! n/t

[MoJoWorkin]

16. done

I also told him to give Obama a bit of advice from me--to start acting more like him (Durbin), as I have never been disappointed in Durbin, ever. I told him he was the best Senator in the whole damn place.

[me b zola]

17. done

I am writing in support of you and all of the outstanding work that you have done as a Senator. I am also writing to thank you for the bravery that you have shown in daring to speak the truth on the floor of the Senate, in particular, your recent comments on the conditions at GITMO and the policies that allow those conditions to exist. I, unlike your detractors, have read the full statement that you made, and you deserve to be commended for exposing the truth about the abyss that this criminal administration have lead our nation into.

We have come to a period in time where the wheat is being seperated from the chaff. Those who raled against you on the floor of the Senate have exposed themselves to be complicit in the subversion of the Constitution as well as to be accessories to the crimes of this administration.

Please know that you are held in the highest regard by myself and other patriots who yearn for the day for honor and the rule of law to be restored to our once great nation.

Thank You,

XXXXXXXXX

[kliljedahl]

18. Done, here's mine

Sir,

Although I cannot vote for you, I wish I could. Please do not back down in any way or retract the statements you made concerning our treatment of prisoners. You are right on target and should continue to hammer this point. I support you 100%. The Bush administration has disgraced our country in the eyes of the world. And please oppose expansion or renewal of the so called "Patriot Act". What is happening there could very well happen here if we are not careful. Please keep up the good work.


Keith’s Barbeque Central

[impeachthescoundrel]

19. Done

And thank you.

[Robbien]

20. I've been sending him one daily since Wednesday

to help offset the mass emailers from the rabid right who you know are continuously swamping the Senator's email and phone.

[illini]

21. Great job! Thanks!

nt

[Pool Hall Ace]

22. Done

:kick:

[Ksec]

23. told him NOT to apologise to the freakshows

They have no power to fear any longer. Laugh at their threats and call them Nazis again

[illini]

36. Thanks again to all

nt

[Cocoa]

24. done

Thank you for all your work on foreign policy, especially for your opposition to the Iraq war, and even more for your work on getting proper protection to the troops.

And thank you for your clarification on your statements about Guantanamo. We need the focus to be on Iraq and Guantanamo and not on you personally.

[Pharaoh]

25. Done and nominated!

http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=2005061821444755:party:

:dem: :dem: :dem: :dem:

[kimpossible]

26. Done. Kick! nt

[EFerrari]

27. Did on Friday. Good idea & thanks for posting.

:kick:

[Just Me]

28. done

:hi:

[Hubert Flottz]

29. Done!

I've watched Senator Durbin on Cspan's coverage of the Senate for years and I have nothing but respect for the man! The Pubbies should try and be more like Mr. Durbin, but they care more about their bank accounts and their goose stepping than they do their country. Dick Durbin is a patriot who has the courage to step up and to do the job he swore to do. I wish Mr. Durbin was sitting behind the National Dunce's desk today, because the world would be a far better place.

[zippy890]

30. done

Its appalling the Durbin has been attacked with the argument that he is causing harm to American troops-- Who was it that sent those troops over there based on a pack of lies, and with no plan to secure the peace?

[StaggerLee]

31. Done! He's a flippin' hero!

Dear Senator Durbin,

Thank you so much for speaking out on the torture and abuse of Prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. You are truly a voice of sanity in an insane period in our history. Speak out and speak out often! I applaud you in your efforts to protect those who are suffering needlessly. (prisoners AND our troops) You are a truly a patriot and a man of integrity. Thank you.

[EC]

32. done... n/t

[Independent_Liberal]

33. Done!

[alcuno]

34. Illinois resident

Done

[sojourner]

35. Faxed a letter just now! n/t

[illini]

37. Thanks.

:kick: