Godwin's Law Doesn't Apply This Time.
Jun. 17th, 2005 01:29 pmIn my inbox today, there's AFA spam regarding Senator Durbin. I'm going to quote that email in its entirety, but before I do, I want to pull the quote they're referencing so that everyone knows what we're talking about.
Again, just for the purposes of clarification: most of the prisoners at Guantanamo have no direct and provable links to terrorist acts against the United States. When there is evidence against them, charges are brought, and they are prosecuted. (We'll skip, for the sake of brevity, the manner in which said prosecution is carried out.) They are detainees, and most are not charged with specific crimes, merely being held under suspicion. We'll also skip over the part where the United States rounds you up under suspicion, denies you access to legal counsel, and lets you rot in some prison leased from Cuba for years.
That said, this is the AFA's take on the matter.
... it's hard to know where to begin.
Actually, scratch that. It isn't hard at all. "Does he not remember 9/11?" That turns my stomach.
Beyond that, though, the issue is, do we treat these people in our control with any degree of humanity at all. Not one of those people has a direct link to 9/11, despite the AFA's unsubtle attempt at confusing the issue, or they would have been paraded up and down. They are there under suspicion. Suspicion is not proof, and they are innocent until proven guilty. Since not one of them has yet been proven guilty, we then must conclude that, until proven otherwise, Guantanamo is full of innocent people.
Who have been chained in the fetal position, left in their own excrement for hours, been subjected to a steady stream of loud noise for days, and been subjected to extremes of heat and cold. By the admission of one of our own men. This is not unfounded rumour started by some outside operative. He was reading an account of what an FBI agent experienced. And, yes, it does mirror tactics used by Stalin, whose men used the "sweatbox" technique of subjecting prisoners to extreme heat. It does sound just like the concentration camp tactic of subjecting prisoners to bitter cold for hours -- and it was the Gestapo who used sleep deprivation. I cannot imagine trying to sleep or even think through blasting rap music while I am chained on a floor. Perhaps Mr. Wildmon should try the experience himself, and see if he fares better.
In the meantime, nothing in the Senator's comparison fails to translate directly. This is not an apples to oranges situation. Tell me again, then, what in this I am supposed to "support". What in the act of using these methods is there to be proud of? And why, for the love of God, am I supposed to censure someone who did nothing more than tell the truth, make an accurate observation, and refuse to apologise for doing so?
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.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator’s time has expired.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 additional minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DURBIN. It is not too late. I hope we will learn from history. I hope we will change course. The President could declare the United States will apply the Geneva Conventions to the war on terrorism. He could declare, as he should, that the United States will not, under any circumstances, subject any detainee to torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The administration could give all detainees a meaningful opportunity to challenge their detention before a neutral decisionmaker. Such a change of course would dramatically improve our image and it would make us safer. I hope this administration will choose that course. If they do not, Congress must step in.
Again, just for the purposes of clarification: most of the prisoners at Guantanamo have no direct and provable links to terrorist acts against the United States. When there is evidence against them, charges are brought, and they are prosecuted. (We'll skip, for the sake of brevity, the manner in which said prosecution is carried out.) They are detainees, and most are not charged with specific crimes, merely being held under suspicion. We'll also skip over the part where the United States rounds you up under suspicion, denies you access to legal counsel, and lets you rot in some prison leased from Cuba for years.
That said, this is the AFA's take on the matter.
Dear C,
Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, compared American troops at Guantanamo Naval Base to Hitler, the Soviet gulags and Cambodian mass murderer Pol Pot.
Hitler murdered two million Christians and six million Jews. Nearly two million prisoners died in the Soviet gulags. And Pol Pot slaughtered as many as ten million in Cambodia.
Durbin compared the American troops to Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot because of alleged mistreatment of prisoners held at Guantanamo. What earned these American troops the disparaging remarks by Senator Durbin? He said that some prisoners’ air conditioners were turned down too low, some had their air conditioners turned off making the room hot, and loud rap music was played in a room where there were prisoners.
That a U.S. Senator would compare American military men and women to Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pott is beyond belief. Does he not remember 9/11?
When asked to apologize, he refused. He said it is the military that should apologize for how they were treating the prisoners of war.
TAKE ACTION
Send Senator Durbin an email reminding him that our soldiers are there to serve their country by guarding the prisoners of war, and that they do a pretty good job.
Click Here To Send Your Letter Now!
Sincerely,
Don
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and Chairman
American Family Association
P.S. Show your support of our troops by forwarding this to your friends and family.
... it's hard to know where to begin.
Actually, scratch that. It isn't hard at all. "Does he not remember 9/11?" That turns my stomach.
Beyond that, though, the issue is, do we treat these people in our control with any degree of humanity at all. Not one of those people has a direct link to 9/11, despite the AFA's unsubtle attempt at confusing the issue, or they would have been paraded up and down. They are there under suspicion. Suspicion is not proof, and they are innocent until proven guilty. Since not one of them has yet been proven guilty, we then must conclude that, until proven otherwise, Guantanamo is full of innocent people.
Who have been chained in the fetal position, left in their own excrement for hours, been subjected to a steady stream of loud noise for days, and been subjected to extremes of heat and cold. By the admission of one of our own men. This is not unfounded rumour started by some outside operative. He was reading an account of what an FBI agent experienced. And, yes, it does mirror tactics used by Stalin, whose men used the "sweatbox" technique of subjecting prisoners to extreme heat. It does sound just like the concentration camp tactic of subjecting prisoners to bitter cold for hours -- and it was the Gestapo who used sleep deprivation. I cannot imagine trying to sleep or even think through blasting rap music while I am chained on a floor. Perhaps Mr. Wildmon should try the experience himself, and see if he fares better.
In the meantime, nothing in the Senator's comparison fails to translate directly. This is not an apples to oranges situation. Tell me again, then, what in this I am supposed to "support". What in the act of using these methods is there to be proud of? And why, for the love of God, am I supposed to censure someone who did nothing more than tell the truth, make an accurate observation, and refuse to apologise for doing so?
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