Senator Durbin: White House uses RNC Senators to stifle reasonable inquiry into GITMO gulag war crimes
Note to Conyers Blog: There's a considerable lag in getting comments posted. Sorry about possible multiple posts on this link. I thought there was some sort of block.
This Blog Topic
Durbin correctly discusses FBI memo and raises the issue of Nazis and Pol Pot.
All Senators are allowed to review FBI public documents and make comments.
There is no need for the White House to be upset. Senator Durbin has raised a reasonable question:
I encourage you to read Senator Durbin's entire statement -- He appropriately raises a number of important issues about the consolidation of power in the United States under a Tyrant.
A plain reading of the FBI interrogation reports leaves one to wonder what is going on in the White House, DoJ, and FBI.
What is more problematic is DoD and DoJ are not on the same sheet of music. 170th Military Police Company was present in 2002; they report to the 6th Military Police Group that has a direct line to the Joint Staff.
Small problem, despite the 2002 FBI interrogation notes, DoD now wants to pretend in 2005 that they didn't know.
Why is the Joint Staff misrepresenting the status of the CID report in 2002?
Senator Durbin has simply opened up a reasonable number of questions about the information in the FBI memo.
Durbin commented on the FBI statements.
Review
What Senator Durbin is doing on the Senate Floor is making a speech. He is allowed to say anything he wants. He is a Senator. This is called "Legislative Immunity."
He doesn't have to explain, respond, or justify anything that he says.
White House Misrepresenting situation
Let's consider the specific comments Senator Durbin raised about the arrogant American treatment of political prisoners in a gulag:
Comment: The Senator is quoting from the American State Police FBI report 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 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 tilefloor. 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. |
Review
All the Senator has done is simply take the FBI memo, read it, and then ask the audience/listener to consider "What might have been the source of this memo?"
He isn't implying anything other than that.
Suppose someone were landing on Earth from Mars, and all they had was this memo and a history book.
Where would someone turn to in the history book to find where this memo might be from?
Someone from another world would probably start looking under authoritarian regimes.
The Senator was correct in mentioning the Nazis, Pol Pot. The FBI remarks are clearly the product of a system that is reckless, has a leader that has no regard for the rule of law, and is a Tyrant.
A reasonable person who picked up this FBI transcript would come to the conclusion that it was a translation of some sort of activity going on in a Russian Gulag where they hold political prisoners.
Now here comes the surprise.
Durbin then contrasts what a reasonable person would conclude about "the source of the memo," and surprises us: It wasn't the Nazis or Pol Pot, as you might imagine.
It was the United States!
Which is all more telling. Durbin correctly stated what was in the memo and reasonably contrasted the memo with what the US principles are.
The White House is pretending to miss the contrast. Unfortunately, the White House is the source of the memo on torture.
What is more telling is that the White House delayed commenting on Durbin's remarks made on the 14th of June, and didn't comment until two days later on the 16th.
If it was "truly an outage," I would have expected the White House to immediately respond. They did not.
What's going on
Durbin is not the issue. The real issue is the White House's memos authorizing torture; and DoD's failure to quickly inject itself in 2002 when CID gave the Joint Staff their report.
Indeed, despite knowing in 2002 this was going on at Guantanamo, the US Solicitor General lied to the US Supreme Court about "torture not happening" and "we don't do that."
The White House is on the defensive. It knows that its support within the RNC is waning. Senators and Congressmen in their own party are now defecting. They are no longer quiet with their disgust with the White House war crimes.
Rather than respond to reasonable questions about the mistreatment of prisoners, the White House is doing the same thing as it normally does: Shift attention to the messenger, as it did with the Newsweek and BBC incidents in re the Koran and the 45-minute.
Going forward
This is a non-issue. The real issue is why, despite the well known problems with the GITMO treatment did it require videos and still images to get the White House to admit they did, in fact, have signed policies authorizing torture and prisoner mistreatment.
The Downing Street Memo shows that the White House has a set of rules and lists it has to meet to "sell something." Not just for offensive war, but also a list of criteria they need to defend themselves against war crimes.
Senator Durbin and the Brazilian Chemical inspector are getting treated the Same. Bolton went after the truth and got the Brazilian Fired. The White House is hoping to do the same with Durbin: Make Durbin the issue.
Do not be fooled. The White House knows it is in trouble. It is putting on a false front. It pretends the issues are from "long ago." IN fact, the issues of war crimes, unlawful wars, and intimidation to dissuade reporting war crimes are serious issues.
The White House continues to attempt to divert attention from its tyrant and is hoping to focus attention on those who dare state the obvious: The FBI memos reasonably raise questions about the leadership and system of oversight and controls that is driving the abuse.
A reasonable person from another planet would think that the FBI memo was from the Nazi or Pol Pot diaries.
What is shocking is that the United States has its finger prints all over it. Not just in 2002, but again in 2005 but the President wants to pretend that it's "someone else's problem."
Nope. This is just another distraction by the White House that will slowly chip away at their popular support, not only abroad but at home within the ranks of their own party.
You can expect the White House to make more accusations against those who state what is self-evident: The White House is out of control, reckless, and needs better oversight to ensure it remains under the umbrella of the Constitution.
This tyrant wants all to grovel, then accept "responsibility" for having groveled.
It is time to throw these FBI memos into the inquiry, and find out the answers to questions the President and his talking heads continue to dance around:
The White House has one strategy. To imply that "everyone else" is to blame.
The Downing Street Memo shows that as early as 2002, while the FBI was recording statements in Guantanamo, the White House was planning to commit more abuse in Iraq.
Why? Because they could, and did "get away with it" in GITMO.
There's every reason to believe that as more memos surface, the White House will continue to rewrite history and imply that the issue is old, or that the White House was in the wrong while "Congress failed to look into the issue."
The Downing Street Memo throws all that into doubt. We now know the scope of the deception to deceive the public.
Issues weren't "looked into" because the President incorrectly reported what was going on in Iraq with lies, deceptions.
Indeed, the issue is materiality. Once the White House realized that Congress did rely on the false statements, the White House then shifted to offensive mode and blamed those who are relying on the false and misleading statements.
These are not just matters of the Constitution. They are matters of criminal law.
The White House spokesman knows the game. This is why he continues to distract attention from the President and onto those who dare raise reasonable questions about the recklessness in the White House and their disregard for Geneva Conventions and other required planning to ensure the combat operations were lawful and conducted in a manner that was consistent with the rules of law.
The White House is caught. They are in a trap. And the reasonable Senator from Illinois has asked the important questions:
The answer is: The General assembly would act, take a vote and require US and UK conduct in Iraq to be investigated.
You're right. This isn't "like the Nazis." This is worse: The "defender of freedom" has now embraced the very methods used during the Holocaust to silence, intimidate, torture, and kill those who were unfortunate enough to have been where the US decided to unlawfully invade, take hostages, and hold without charges those who were turned over for bounties.
That is no different than the abuses committed by the British and Roman Empires. In fact, this very mistreatment was the catalyst for the events in 1776.
Something which Senator Durbin knows all to well. For if this leader does not reign in his terror on his own, then the public should reasonably expect more bad news with the photos, transcript, and other information coming out from the interrogation lap top computers.
Senator Durbin did a smart thing. He showed the United States what it is: Something that deserves attention, outrage, and remedy.
The crimes have already been committed. The question remains whether there is enough political backbone within the Congress to call for an inquiry.
Given the defections within the RNC, looming evidence, and timetable for additional disclosures, it is likely that the Democrats will have enough RNC-support to call for an inquiry.
The inquiry should expect the Nixon-like excuses of "we can't release the tapes." IN turn, the inquiry needs to be prepared to take the case to the US supreme Court to order the President to relapse all documents related to the Downing Street Memo.
Where is this going? For starters, look at the Goerring indictment at Nuremburg. That offers a useful template.
Again, these are not simply matters of the Constitution. They are matters of criminal law.
Reviewing the White House Spin
Now that you've reviewed the above material and had a chance to digest the senators' full comments on the abusive American government and consolidation of power, you're now read to review the White House spin.
Let's take a look at a Random press release and go over the specific non-sense coming from the White House.
White House Castigates Durbin for Remarks Jun 16, 7:54 PM (ET) By NEDRA PICKLER |
Reframing
One goal is to shift attention from Senator Durbin's reasonable concerns about consolidation of power, and make Senator Durbin the subject of the debate.
This is a classic defense mechanism to shift attention away from the real issue: The unlawful war of aggression, the White House memos authorizing torture, and a pattern of conduct spanning several years that warrant an inquiry.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and Senate Republicans on Thursday assailed a Democrat for comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. |
The above comment substantially misses the thrust of the Senator's remarks. But then again, the reporter isn't covering the Senator, they're covering the White House spin.
It is "beyond belief" that Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin would compare the treatment of dangerous enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to the death of millions of innocent people by oppressive governments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. |
They are feigning shock. Recall that it was the White House that said it was "OK" to commit torture.
It is not beyond belief that the RNC would circle the wagons around an alleged war criminal like the Tyrant in the White House.
If there's a problem with "how the FBI is reporting the facts," there is nothing stopping the Senate from comparing the FBI notes with the CID report provided to the Joint Staff.
Apparently, despite having the power to get this information, the Senate hasn't looked as evidenced by the statement, "It is beyond belief."
Curious. If an FBI memo about their observations is "beyond belief," then we can only speculate as to the wider body of evidence which the Senators have selectively ignored that is in plain view. In turn, given evidence that the Senators don't look at what is publicly available, we have a reasonable basis to question whether they look at the really scary stuff that is classified; and we also question the basis to which their staff develop questions for their "oversight committee hearings."
Oh, that's right. The Senators' idea of "solving problems" is to do it "behind closed doors" where there's no sunlight. Curious. The same "lack of sunlight" is what allowed these political prisons at GITMO called gulags to continue.
Indeed it was the Senators who visited the gulag in 2002 and observed mock interrogations. That's right. The Senators are "surprised" by what they are reading in the memos because their own staff was shown mock interrogations, not the actual torture that was going on.
The Staffers were shown "interrogations" with people who had already shown themselves to be cooperative. The Staffers were led to believe that "this is how it goes on all the time. Thus, there is no reason to be amazed why the Senators are "Shocked" by what they are reading. For many of them, this is news. They haven’t been following the events, and been blindly deferring to the White House.
"Hay, no problem. Torture? Doesn't happen. Photos? Hay don't know about that."
Tell you what Senators. Maybe if you pull your head out of your lobbyists' ass you'll realized what is going on. Oh, that's right. You don't actually read the entire Congressional record. You rely on the talking points from the White House.
that would explain the two-day delay in speaking out. if this comment was "so outrageous," why hasn't the Senate Sergeant at Arms been called in to arrest someone?
Answer: The comments are privileged. And the Senators could very well make their comments on the Senate floor. But they choose to use the media to spread more nonsense. Why? because the same Senators who don't read the Congressional records also assume that nobody else does. So just get a press release!
Shifting attention away from the White House
The next phase of the distraction is to accuse those who point out the obvious as having violated some sort of standard.
In other words, rather than take responsibility for their own war crimes in the White House, the tactic at this point is to accuse those who are raisin a valid point as having some sort of standard that they must comply with; and that they have violated this standard.
"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," he said. |
You'll notice that in the above comment what they've done is do several things. First imply that the "comment about the misconduct" is the infraction. This is absurd. The real problem lies with those who are violating the law.
The second trick is to then imply that the conduct never occurred. Notice the second sentence where they say, "who adhere to high standards. . . " This is ridiculous. The FBI memo clearly points out that the standards were being ignored.
What's going on? The White House through the RNC and Republicans are hoping to frame the debate not in terms of what the White House violated in the downing street memo, but in terms of whether they can align themselves with favorable principles.
In other words, the ruse is to suggest incorrectly that the FBI reports are wrong, and there was no misconduct; then use a blanket statement of "soldiers are good" and then align themselves with that "favorable position."
Small problem. The misconduct occurred. And all the White House is doing is pointing to something that is an illusion, and saying, "We're with them."
That doesn't do anything to advance the White House cause. Rather, all the White House is doing is avoiding these issues:
The White House has many problems:
A. The public knows
B. The White House responses in 2003 to the 2002 report do not suggest a very quick response or interest to the issues
C. The misconduct occurred
D. The US Solicitor General mislead the US Supreme Court
E. General Meyers dissuaded release of the GITMO photos until after the hearing before the US Supreme Court.
Surely if there was "no problem" we wouldn't be hearing from the White House in 2005 about issues in 2002. Yet, the White House wants it both ways.
They like to point to 2002 as "evidence of something" [we have yet to get them to point to any evidence . . .]; yet when it comes to the Downing Street Memo in 2002, they want us to "forget history."
Why the double standard on time?
Who is giving the White House the green light to say that they alone can point to events in 2002 as "having some status," but when it comes to memos that are outside their ability to explain away, suddenly those memos are "old history."
Curious. A double standard on time. Two ways of approaching memos from 2002. One strategy is to speak out; another is to get Senators to accuse; a third strategy is to imply that it's "old news." Looks like the White House enjoys looking at history in various shades.
Same thing the Nazis did. What would we expect from the small cells who revere Hitler and his covenants with he fellow man/ If you want to read more about the White House, RNC and PNAC fascination with the Nazis and Hitler, you can pay a visit to a small group in DC. [ More . . . ]
Continuing the accusations
This phase of the analysis focuses on the detailed accusations. Again, the issue is that the White House is stuck in a corner. It knows that it cannot explain the slow response from 2002.
The objective of this phase of the smear is to shift attention from the White House war crimes and torture memos, and accuse the accuser.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., criticized Durbin for spouting "loose comments" . . . |
Notice the words used: "Loose". That's kind of vague. perhaps the Good Senator Warner would be kind enough to look that word up.
Rather, "loose" implies something that is not fastened. Yet, a plain reading of Senator Durbin’s comments clearly suggests that his comments are well hitched to the entire speech.
In fact, if we were to review the entire speech, we might see more of how the good Senator from Illinois has carefully crafted a legal foundation to clearly hitch the abusive conduct in Guantanamo with specific articles of impeachment in re war crimes.
I'm not clear that the Senator's Comments were "loose." I think if that term "loose" is to be applied, then the issue is to have the Senators explain why the FBI memos [that Senator Durbin was quoting] are loose, and what efforts the Senators are using to ensure that the "loose" FBI-memos are tightened.
Are the Senators asking that the FBI agents who are "carefully trained" at Quantico get better training?
can the Senator point to some specific 302s from the FBI that are "loose" or somehow crafted in a manner that was "not hitched" with the FBI's Manual on Administrative and Operating Procedures?
Surely, if there's something "loose" in the FBI, we have yet to understand why the Senators are not ensuring the FBI is tightened. Then again, why expect the Senate to do anything when they refuse to take action and "look into" the issues of intelligence.
That's right. Rather than say, "Hay, we as a Senate are collectively going along with this deception and doing white wash investigations on the intelligence community and blindly agreeing to "solutions" that distract attention from the needed reforms and discipline in the White House, we're going to go along with this non-sense about "accusing the accuser."
That's not surprising. That is to be expected when the Senate is cow towing to a Tyrant.
Failed efforts to discredit
One sure sign of a problem is when those who are under reasonable scrutiny for their deviations and unlawful wars, is for them to shift attention.
How do you do this? The goal here isn't to defend yourself.
Rather, the goal for the White House is to strip Durbin of any public standing by discrediting his judgment.
That's seems quiet surprising. For it is the White House "lack of judgment" in launching this illegal war of aggression and ruses bases on the Downing Street memo that it is using to 'justify' abusing the prisoners.
Deny Reality
Another strategy is to imply that reasonable observations are disconnected from history. In fact, a plain reading of the Holocaust has countless accounts of prisoners in Concentration camps talking about their hair falling out, complaining of excessive heat variation, and unsuitable conditions.
Remember, these are human being we're talking about. They are not cattle that you leave penned up in the Meatrix.
Unfortunately, it appears some Senators are used to eating fine steak but not all that clear on how those animals were treated. So it is not all that surprising that a culture that shows disdain for animals would also treat those they view as animals in a manner no different than animals.
Indeed, this is at the heart of Senator Durbin's comments. That the US is engaging in not just inappropriate and lawless behavior, but this conduct is anti-thetical to every standard of conduct we normally associate with the United States.
. . . and comparisons that "have no basis of fact or history." |
To be clear, Durbin's comparisons are valid. Moreover, it is telling that the White house through the Senators are asserting the contrary, implies they are very worried.
Why? Well, a long time ago, people used to giggle and laugh when people posed pictures on the Internet of Bush in a Nazi Uniform. "Oh, those internet blogs . . ."
But today, the problem the White House has is a Senator of the United States isn't just laughing about this, but actually pointing out conduct on the Senate Floor that cold impeach the President.
What was the White House foolish enough to do? They made a public comment. Not only does this attract additional attention to the White House, but it actually increases the White House problem.
Now, the public knows about the Durbin Speech. And the public can see the links between the Downing Street memo and the games going on with the White House "reaction" to the FBI memo.
Egregious judgment
The other trick is to discredit the messenger with some sort of implication that they are somehow lacking mental abilities.
Durbin's remarks in a speech Tuesday in the Senate were "a most egregious misjudgment," Warner said. |
It remains a matter of law whether "misjudgment" is a real word. How can one "misjudge" an FBI report?
All the Senator has done is relay the FBI report outlining the abuses and war crimes committed under the direction of the White House.
No, that's not poor judgment. That's further evidence of a wider criminal conspiracy to violate the law, undermine the constitution, and ask the world to continue to pay homage to war criminals.
That's worse than poor judgment. That's absurd. Outrageous. And deserves public outrage and further commentary and debate not just in the Senate but in every state legislature:
But let's get back to the Durbin comments. It seems reasonable in light of the White House ruses in the downing street memo that the public should be reasonably be concerned.
In fact it would be poor judgment for Senator Durbin to have not commented on what is not only self evident, but a pervasive pattern of conduct, denial, and lack of accountability.
we can only speculate why the Senators are quick to question the abilities of those who speak out about what is obvious. We can only wonder why, despite the many months since the DSM was written, why so many senators have remained silent.
The Senators in the RNC have a problem. They failed to ensure their party's leadership was following the laws of war. That's poor judgment.
Misleading
Unfortunately, the press release fails to capture the entire tone of the Senator's remarks.
Notice that they're focusing on the Senator's Comments about that being 'wrong." However, this doesn’t' capture the entire speech.
Also, notice that they're incorrectly associating his "valid perceptions of the memo" with negative words.
However, the real problem is the conduct within the FBI memo: Who's committing the abuse? Not Senator Durbin. But the way the article is written it makes it look as though the person who is commenting on the abuse is the one who committed the original abuse.
So we can see what is going on. The same "effort to silence the opposition" that we saw prior to the Iraq invasion [as evidenced by the Downing Street memo and operation mass appeal] is going on today in 2005.
Defending himself, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said Thursday it was "just plain wrong" to say he was diminishing past horrors. |
The issue isn't Durbin's response. The issue is to notice the extent that the White House hopes to shift attention from the War Crimes to those who are raising valid concerns.
The trick is to sidestep the issue, and imply that the "subject of the debate" is the denial, all the while hoping the public fails to see the diversion. Did you miss that?
The press release incorrectly implies that Durbin is "defensive." Rather, the real issue is: "The White House using this non-sense strategy as a 'defense'.
Also, it is incorrect to assume that "associating an FBI 302 record of abuses" somehow diminishes the abuses of others.
This implies that history of the Nazis is somehow changeable. This is absurd.
Again, this is more of the "put their focus on the public-commentary" and "get others to justify their position."
A more effective strategy would have been for the Senator to have raised the issue of the White House abuses, cover-ups and war crimes. Better yet! Get a blog and stop talking to the media that cuts and pastes your comments.
Oh, that's right! That's what he Congressional record is for: To ensure there is a record. But what does the "media" do? They cut and paste for the White House. How interesting.
Aren't blogs nice.
Get Accuser to Justify Himself
The article then makes Senator Durbin the focus. This is a problem. Because rather than putting attention on the White House and asking them about the Downing Street memo [again] and getting the White House to explain [again] about the war crimes, the White House is now successfully getting Durbin to justify his position.
This is a classic diversionary tactic.
He said he was comparing interrogation techniques that the FBI report said were used at Guantanamo with those in foreign detainee camps. |
This phase of the analysis focuses on how they are able to shift the debate and attention from "the White House abuses" and get the accuser to argue the wrong point.
Again, the summary of the Durbin response misstates Durbin’s' original position was that a "plain reading" of the memo would ask one to wonder "where did this memo come from"?
Actually, the real objective of the comments was simply to highlight the abuses of the detainees under a tyrant that had amassed so much power that he could do whatever he like.
The article incorrectly focuses on the specific comments, and misses the overall speech related to the larger issues outlined in the Downing Street Memo: Deception, manipulation, movement without regard to the rule of law.
Bingo
Buried in the article, we finally get to the heart of the matter: Why is the United States doing this; and this conduct is not something we would expect in the United States.
Again, going back to the original speech, we find that the Senator has accurately and appropriately outlined his concerns with the consolidation of power.
"This is the type of thing you would expect from a repressive regime. This is not the type of thing you would expect from the United States," Durbin said. |
The key point is that the FBI memo outlines a course of conduct that is contrary to the Geneva Conventions. Those many years of fighting the Nazis in Germany have been for naught. They are now in the White House committing abuses, denying reality, and then shifting attention to other matters.
This is not leadership. It is bullying on a national scale. Again, that is no different than the Germans in the 1930s and 1940s. If anything, Durbin's comments failed to denounce the White House in explicit Terms: "There are Nazis in the White House and they are continuing their abuses."
Wouldn't it have been nice to have had someone like Durbin in the Reichstag speak out against the Nazis in the 1930s? How history might have been different.
Oh, that's right. That's why Senators speak. To influence policy, not continue with what is imprudent.
Isolating the issue
One problem with the media "report" is that it doesn't capture the overall Durbin Speech. Again, Durbin's speech wasn't just about the FBI memo and White House leadership in spreading this Nazi-like-abuses in the American gulag at Gitmo.
Rather, Durbin was talking about the overall momentum of the country in consolidating power under a Tyrant.
Durbin made the comparison after reading an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures. |
The above comment, although true, misses the larger issues in the full speech: An undesirable momentum in concentrating power. The GITMO-reference simply illustrated with appropriate contrast how far the US had drifted from its once high water mark in human history.
Not to be expected, when the United States no longer had an enemy abroad, it simply embraced the misconduct and did the same to those who were also in vulnerable positions. No different than the Nazis.
"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 said Tuesday. |
The above comment is entirely consistent with the lesson from the Downing Street Memo: that the US hoped to 'do whatever it wanted' without regard to the rule of law.
Deny reality
The next strategy is to deny reality. First, there have been deaths in Guantanamo. Secondly, the issue is how the detainees are treated.
Sens. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointing out that millions of people died in the camps that Durbin cited, while no one has died at Guantanamo. |
The assertion that "nobody died" at Guantanamo is factually wrong as reported by the BBC in this report:
He claimed he had heard other detainees being tortured, and believed this had led to the deaths of two men, which he said he "partially witnessed".The clip from the AP article above [not the BBC Article] asks us to "forgive" the United States simply because "not as many died". This is called "cultural relativism."
In other words, what they've done is made the basis of comparison so extreme that it diminishes the Unite States.
But here again, is the sleight of hand. For this is exactly Durbin's point. That a plain reading of the FBI 302 memo blurs that distinction between the Nazis and the Americans.
We are not clear after reading just the 302 that the FBI is talking about the United States. Rather, the report could easily have been a report from an SS camp in Europe.
Let us remember that the situation is documented in the FBI report. Are we to believe that the FBI incorrectly reported the facts; and that the CID report from 6th Group to the Joint Staff are inconsistent?
DoD has no answer because they know the answer: Their Commander in Chief sat on the report, did nothing for over one year, and "finally got around" to issuing some flaky memo about "we don't commit torture."
The Commander in Chief needs to explain why, despite teh 2002 report, his SECDEF didn't get "around to" issuing guidance on 5100.77 until the Summer of 2003. 5100.77 was clearly stated in 1998, so why the delay in responding to the 2002 report from CID to the Joint Staff?
The White House has no answer because they know their "comamnder in Chief" had a policy of taking the glvoes off, and "fixing the facts" to justify abusing "whoever he wanted to" because he was making his own rules.
This is at the heart of Durbin's comment: The abuse of power.
Indeed, this common course of conduct is the link beteen the Downing Street Memo, the GITMO gulag, and the White House war crimes in both waging a war of aggresion, and in creating an illusoyr "defense" to behing held accountable for these war crimes.
Documented Violations of Law
Recall, the Dossier also referenced the various ICRC and Human Rights Watch reports about Saddam.
Yet, today when these reports get mentioned there is a double standard. Unlike the days when the dossier was created using Human Rights watch reports of abuse, today this same agency is shades as being "unreliable" because it speaks out about American Gulags.
Human-rights groups and other congressional Democrats have accused the Bush administration of unjustly detaining suspects at Guantanamo. Amnesty International recently called the prison "the gulag of our time." Some lawmakers - including at least one Republican - have questioned whether it should remain open. |
Gulags are places where political prisoners are detained. GITMO is a gulag because GITMO is a place where people are being held without there being any charges filed against them.
Supposedly they are "bad people," all the while the US is negotiating with other "bad people" in Iraq. Yet, the Iraqi freedom fighters have been called "good, honorable" people
Because there's no charge brought against these prisoners in Guantanamo, we can only conclude that they are being held for non-criminal related purposes. The only option is that they 're being held for political purposes. That is what a Gulag is: It keeps people locked up when there are no valid charges pending and there are no criminal trials expected.
Cut and paste
I'd really like to know who the editors are that let the above types of information get disseminated as "news."
It seems more like a cut and paste of the White House RNC-PNAC than something that is critical.
Associated Press writer Rebecca Carroll contributed to this report. |
There's not much sense relying on the AP for wire repots when they appear to be nothing more than drivel coming from the White House.
This White House is using drivel to create a defense against war crimes. We've already learned about MI6 Operation Mass Appeal and the Downing Street Memo showing that much is thrown around without regard to facts.
It looks as though the AP is doing more of what got the country into Iraq: Going along with the White House version of events, and not critically looking at the motivations of those who are accusing the accuser.
The appropriate energy should be put on the White House and their war crimes in engaging unlawful war. The Senators who speak out about the abuses need to be given the respect they have been long denied: They're raising reasonable questions about the White House and their failed leadership in engaging in a war of aggression.
This is what we learn from the above news report in light of the Downing Street memo:
Reference
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Others of interest
Orcinus
First their outrage over being correctly described. Then the RNC calls the Democrats Nazis.
Gullible media.
Here is the original press release: White House Castigates Durbin for Remarks Jun 16, 7:54 PM (ET) By NEDRA PICKLER WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House and Senate Republicans on Thursday assailed a Democrat for comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. It is "beyond belief" that Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin would compare the treatment of dangerous enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay to the death of millions of innocent people by oppressive governments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "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," he said. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., criticized Durbin for spouting "loose comments" and comparisons that "have no basis of fact or history." Durbin's remarks in a speech Tuesday in the Senate were "a most egregious misjudgment," Warner said. Defending himself, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat said Thursday it was "just plain wrong" to say he was diminishing past horrors. He said he was comparing interrogation techniques that the FBI report said were used at Guantanamo with those in foreign detainee camps. "This is the type of thing you would expect from a repressive regime. This is not the type of thing you would expect from the United States," Durbin said. Durbin made the comparison after reading an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay 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 said Tuesday. Sens. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., pointing out that millions of people died in the camps that Durbin cited, while no one has died at Guantanamo. Human-rights groups and other congressional Democrats have accused the Bush administration of unjustly detaining suspects at Guantanamo. Amnesty International recently called the prison "the gulag of our time." Some lawmakers - including at least one Republican - have questioned whether it should remain open. --- Associated Press writer Rebecca Carroll contributed to this report. |
posted by Constant @ 7:22 AM
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