So Senator Durbin was forced to go to the well of the Senate to offer up a blubbering ‘apolocorrection’ after being cut off at the knees by Mayor Daley of Chicago. This was his second attempt to apologize for telling the truth while employing a poor rhetorical strategy, and not surprisingly, while the apology is good enough for the always principled Lt. Smash, it still ain’t good enough for our friends at Powerline:
Senator Dick Durbin characterizes his incessant imputation of heinous misconduct to the American military as “a very poor choice of words”: “Sen. Durbin apologizes for Gitmo remarks.” Does he retract his comparison of our soldiers to mass murdering Nazis and Communists? The answer, the Minneapolis Star Tribune will be happy to know, is “no.”
Hugh Hewitt, of course, is not accepting this apology, either:
Dick Durbin’s appearance on the floor of the Senate for yet another attempt at clarification included the word “apologize,” but it was not an apology.
Hugh is, however, thrilled with Mayor Daley’s performance in this whole affair, and took the opportunity once again to impugn the character of most Democrats:
Daley’s an old-school Democrat: He supports the military, and according to the AP, Daley “says its a disgrace to accuse military men and women of such conduct.”
Because, of course, ‘new-school’ Democrats don’t support the military. No doubt Mayor Daley and Hugh are leading the charge to force the judges and the prosecution in the Abu Ghraib cases to apologize for their allegations.
And, in case you thought this was about an apology, and not, as it is plain to see, an opportunistic attempt to extract political advantage from the Democratic party, Michelle Malkin is ready to set the record straight:
I’m certainly not going to be intimidated by the right-wing message machine,” he said. “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. — Dick Durbin, 6/17/05
Yeay, Right-Wing Message Machine! Go, team! Now that Durbin has been smeared as an objectively pro-terrorist, anti-military, Amerikka hating Democrat, it is time to expand the meme:
The contrast between forthright young men like Pete and gasbags like Dick Durbin and Howard Dean is, I think, striking.
Meanwhile as, to the facts of the case, the NABA defense (Not as Bad As) defense has been skillfully refined so as to now be boiled down to “I love Gitmo” bumperstickers, discussions of lemon chicken, and the following thematic maxim:
“Fewer People Die than in American Civilian Prisons!”
Let’s put aside the fact that this civilian v. military metric is a silly comparison, because no one disputes that fewer people die in military prisons than in civilian prisons. Likewise, many of the acts of murder in civilian prisons are inmate on inmate violence, not guard on inmate violence. Finally, and most importantly, Durbin wasn’t talking sabout the 26 allegations of murder that are currently under investigation. He was reading accounts of abuse as observed by an FBI agent:
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.
The account described by Durbin leads to several questions. First, is it believable and credible? Second, is it widespread? And third, is it abuse and/or torture?
As to whether or not what isalleged in the FBI email is believable, of course it is. Let’s look at a table of approved interrogation techniques and compare it to the allegations the despicable military-hating Durbin and his counterpart in the FBI have brought up:
Allegation:
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.
Interrogation Techniques:
Use of stress positions (e.g. prolonged standing)- check
Allegation:
Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18-24 hours or more.
Interrogation Technique:
Prolonged interrogations (e.g. 20 hours)- check
Isolating prisoner for up to 30 days- check
Allegation:
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.
Approved Technique:
Environmental manipulation (exposing detainee to temperature adjustment or unpleasant smell)- check
Allegation:
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.
Approved Technique:
Environmental manipulation (exposing detainee to temperature adjustment or unpleasant smell)- check
Prolonged interrogations (e.g. 20 hours)- check
Use of stress positions (e.g. prolonged standing)- check
Add all the approved techniques together, and I think we can agree that this is a believable allegation, and it is credible, unless you think the FBI hates America. Credible is not the same as verified, but credible does imply that there is a good enough reason to believe that this did probably happen. I don’t know whether or not these qualify as torture, I don’t know if this qualifies as abuse. It sure sounds abusive to me despite being ‘approved’ techniques, and I know for a fact that the rest of the world is not to keen on these measures. Likewise, my reaction if I heard this was happening to our guys would be akin to the reaction I would have if you shoved a red hot poker up my ass. And, despite what the jackasses at Powerline assert, this is not all about “worrying that a terrorist’s air conditioning might not be properly adjusted.”
How widespread is it? I have no idea. But it does appear that descriptions above all are ‘approved’ techniques, and I can offer some additional anecdotal evidence:
A U.S. military policeman who was beaten by fellow MPs during a botched training drill at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison for detainees has sued the Pentagon for $15 million, alleging that the incident violated his constitutional rights.
Spc. Sean D. Baker, 38, was assaulted in January 2003 after he volunteered to wear an orange jumpsuit and portray an uncooperative detainee. Baker said the MPs, who were told that he was an unruly detainee who had assaulted an American sergeant, inflicted a beating that resulted in a traumatic brain injury.
Baker, a Gulf War veteran who reenlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was medically retired in April 2004. He said the assault left him with seizures, blackouts, headaches, insomnia and psychological problems…
The drill took place in a prison isolation wing reserved for suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees who were disruptive or had attacked MPs.
Baker said he put on the jumpsuit and squeezed under a prison bunk after being told by a lieutenant that he would be portraying an unruly detainee. He said he was assured that MPs conducting the “extraction drill” knew it was a training exercise and that Baker was an American soldier.
As he was being choked and beaten, Baker said, he screamed a code word, “red,” and shouted: “I’m a U.S. soldier! I’m a U.S. soldier!” He said the beating continued until the jumpsuit was yanked down during the struggle, revealing his military uniform.
Plus, there are worried lawyers:
Notes from a series of meetings at the Pentagon in early 2003