Durbin’s “Gulag” Comments & Non-Apology

         This Big B File is about Comrade Durbin making comments comparing our fighting men and women and American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis, Soviet gulags and Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. 

On June 14th, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin made comments comparing our fighting men and women and American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazi Concentration Camps like Auschwitz, Soviet gulags under Joseph Stalin and Cambodian Killing Fields under Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Here is the Actual Statement (click here to hear it):

         Let’s analyze this statement. He said that Guantanamo Bay is the same as Nazi Concentration Camps like Auschwitz. What!?! Does Durbin mean to say that our Fighting Men and Women at Guantamo Bay are treating prisoners a.k.a. terrorists in the exact same manner as Nazi Concentration Camps like Auschwitz…where SIX MILLION PEOPLE (mostly Jews) were gassed with a gas called Zyklon B , which as former SS physician Dr. Hans Munch says that he “witnessed the dropping of Zyklon B into simulated exhaust vents from outside the gas chamber. Zyklon B began to work as soon as it was released from the canisters. The effects of the gas were observed through a peephole by an assigned doctor or the SS officer on duty. After three to five minutes, death could be certified, and the doors were opened as a sign that the corpses were cleared to be burned.” Dr. Munch said that six million people were killed for no other reason than that “anyone who did not fit Hitler’s idea of a pure Aryan race.” (You can read more by clicking here)?
        Does Durbin mean to say that our Fighting Men and Women at Guantamo Bay are treating prisoners a.k.a. terrorists in the exact same manner as the Soviet gulags under Joseph Stalin. Dick Durbin, OVER 25 MILLION PEOPLE were killed in the Soviet Gulags were killed simply because they either disagreed with Stalin’s Policies or just simply opposed him? Does Durbin mean to say that our Fighting Men and Women at Guantamo Bay are treating prisoners a.k.a. terrorists in the same manner as Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. He killed 2 Million Cambodians in the Cambodian Killing Fields? In all, 33 MILLION PEOPLE were killed simply because they either did not fit the mold of or simply opposed these repressive regimes…33 MILLION! Not a word about Durbin’s Comments from his fellow democrats…Not a word.
        Web Blogger Dave Logan called a few of Dick Durbin’s Democratic Colleagues. Senator Ted Kennedy’s office said that they were “Not quite sure, I’ll have to check on that.” Senator Joe Lieberman’s office said that “Mr. Lieberman has no comment at all.” 2004 Democratic Presidential Nominee Senator John Kerry’s office said that “Sen. Kerry doesn’t have a position on Sen. Durbin’s comments.” Oh Really? A number of people, including myself, took Dick Durbin’s Despicable Comments Personally. We took them personally because either we have served in a military conflict, are currently serving in conflicts like Iraq & Afghanistan, or (as it is in my case) we have a relative, sibling and/or friend serving in Iraq right now. For the same reasons above groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) were so incensed over Durbin’s Comments and took them personally.
        Senator Durbin issued his Non-Apology Apology on the Senate Floor on Tuesday June 21st…this after he said to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ” I’m certainly not going to be intimidated by the right-wing message machine. If I’m going to back off every time they decide their unhappy with my statements, then I really won’t be doing my job. Never has he taken back his words…never!
        Color me fickle, but in a normal apology, don’t you take back your words or regret saying them in the first place by saying something like “I regret saying…”, “I was out of line…”, “I wish I hadn’t said…”, “I would give anything to take back those words.” or something else to that effect?
        Unfortunately, the damage has already been done. His comments were plastered all over the Arab Media, which for the most part, has been totally Anti-American and could easily be regarded as the public relations arm of various terrorist groups like Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), Hizballah, HAMAS, and the well-known Al-Qa’ida. Just look at the health stories covered on the nightly newscasts and at the events where the station’s Anchors are in attendance as part of their official duties as Station Representative, and you’ll notice that these are pretty much the same causes and issues championed by people on the far left.
        White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that “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. To compare the way our military treats detainees with the Soviet gulags, the Nazi concentration camps, and Pol Pot’s regime is simply reprehensible. And to suggest that these individuals — I notice comments were made that — comparing it to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. To suggest that these enemy combatants who are detained at Guantanamo Bay should be released just is simply beyond belief to me. These are dangerous individuals who were picked up on the battlefield. They were picked up on the battlefield in the fight against American forces. They were picked up on the battlefield because they are individuals who are involved in plots to do harm to the American people and to innocent civilians.”
        And so I just think those remarks are reprehensible and they are a real disservice to our men and women in uniform. Our men and women in uniform go out of their way to treat detainees humanely, and they go out of their way to hold the values and the laws that we hold so dear in this country. And when you talk about the gulags and the concentration camps in Pol Pot’s regime, millions of people, innocent people, were killed by those regimes. 

        If Dick Durbin was a Republican (and I am Soooo Glad He isn’t), he would have been attacked in the Ancient Media daily and would have been repeatedly called to resign from the U.S. Senate…remember Mississippi Senator Trent Lott a few years back. Senator Lott made comments that We would have been better off with Strom Thurmond as president back in the 1950’s. He was mercilessly attacked in the media. He apologized five times…FIVE TIMES…and his apologies were NEVER accepted. Not only that , but he was repeatedly called to not only resign from the position of Senate Majority Leader, but was repeatedly called to resign from the U.S. Senate as well. Durbin would be forever be seen by the Ancient Media in a negative to very negative light…just like Senator Trent Lott.

        That’s the Big B File. Click on “Post Comment” link below and tell me what you think…I’m Bryan Hewing.