I got your back, Dick!
Jun. 16th, 2005 03:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vulgarweedThat just sounds wrong, doesn't it?
The latest target on the Mighty Wurlitzer hit parade seems to be my downstater darling, Dick Durbin, who seems to have strapped on his high-waders and sloshed right through a bit of the Godwin's Law swampland. Talking about Gitmo, that is. Now, he didn't say quite what Sean Hannity says he said, as is usual, but that hasn't stopped the hate campaign, nor the White House professional martyr Scotty Boy getting back up on his cross again.
DailyKos diaries on the whole non-scandal:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/25826/4241
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/16437/9450
This is what he said. An excerpt; sadly thomas.gov search links don't stay up, but you can find the whole thing at senate.gov under June 14, s6594, I believe:
What should we do? Imagine if the President had followed Colin Powell's advice and respected our treaty obligations. How would things have been different?
We still would have the ability to hold detainees and to interrogate them aggressively. Members of al-Qaida would not be prisoners of war. We would be able to do everything we need to do to keep our country safe. The difference is, we would not have damaged our reputation in the international community in the process.
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 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.
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.
I report. You decide. Heh.
He's getting a lot of hate today. I sent some love. You could too, whether you're an Ill-Annoyin' or not.
And when you're done appreciating a fine honest Irishman on this lovely Bloomsday, have a smile. Link gacked from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethbethbeth: Ulysses for Dummies! A thing of beauty.
The latest target on the Mighty Wurlitzer hit parade seems to be my downstater darling, Dick Durbin, who seems to have strapped on his high-waders and sloshed right through a bit of the Godwin's Law swampland. Talking about Gitmo, that is. Now, he didn't say quite what Sean Hannity says he said, as is usual, but that hasn't stopped the hate campaign, nor the White House professional martyr Scotty Boy getting back up on his cross again.
DailyKos diaries on the whole non-scandal:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/25826/4241
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/16/16437/9450
This is what he said. An excerpt; sadly thomas.gov search links don't stay up, but you can find the whole thing at senate.gov under June 14, s6594, I believe:
What should we do? Imagine if the President had followed Colin Powell's advice and respected our treaty obligations. How would things have been different?
We still would have the ability to hold detainees and to interrogate them aggressively. Members of al-Qaida would not be prisoners of war. We would be able to do everything we need to do to keep our country safe. The difference is, we would not have damaged our reputation in the international community in the process.
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 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.
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.
I report. You decide. Heh.
He's getting a lot of hate today. I sent some love. You could too, whether you're an Ill-Annoyin' or not.
And when you're done appreciating a fine honest Irishman on this lovely Bloomsday, have a smile. Link gacked from
bethbethbeth: Ulysses for Dummies! A thing of beauty.
