Weir Thinking about it

In case anyone still wondered if the Democrats were on a collision course with political obscurity, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin's recent comments on the floor of that once venerable institution should have removed all doubt.

Comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to the Nazis under Hitler, and other mass murdering regimes of Stalin and Pol Pot, the Senator said he was reading from an FBI agent's report describing treatment of the detainees at the Naval base as, 'chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.' By, 'extreme temperatures' he means they didn't have air—conditioning.

"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, Pol Pot, or others that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said. 

Evidently, the Illinois liberal needs a history lesson. Let's see, the nutcase with the square mustache systematically rounded up millions of Jews, transported them in boxcars like cattle, and gassed them to death in human slaughterhouses. The enormity of what Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge party did in the 'killing fields' of Cambodia in the latter half of the 1970s defies hyperbole; more than a million, and perhaps twice that many people were tortured and slain. Stalin was just about the most powerful and murderous dictator in history, sending untold millions to the Gulag slave labor camps to die in servitude to the Communist regime.

And this guy, Durbin, has the temerity to say the US is doing the same things to the couple of hundred enemy combatants being held at Guantanamo? Such scurrilous rhetoric from the second most powerful Democrat in the US Senate will be used by terrorists as justification for killing more of our soldiers in Iraq and other danger zones around the world. In addition, it will be used as propaganda to inspire more attacks on this country.

After a few days of criticism from Republicans and The Anti—Defamation League, who said they were shocked and baffled by such an absurd set of comparisons, Durbin said he wanted to 'clarify' his remarks. Thus began the usual series of disclaimers about how much he supports the troops, the country, apple pie and motherhood.

Too late! He meant every word of what he said, and there wasn't a syllable about supporting the men and women who risk their lives every day so this lowlife legislator can bloviate about the poor treatment of terrorists. Some are asking for an apology, while others think he should resign. Too bad there isn't anyone in the high echelons of power with the courage to say what really should be done; this anti—American hate monger should be tried for treason. His inflammatory distortions and outrageously false parallels have given aid and comfort to the enemies of this country, and can only result in more loss of American lives.

Of course, Senator Durbin enjoys criminal immunity for anything said in the Senate chambers. He can leave the Senate floor and head straight for the next cocktail party with the Kennedys and other assorted leftists, as the men and women in uniform spend their time trying to dodge an increasing number of bullets and bombs during the fallout from the traitor's rancid mouth. When Hillary Clinton, during an interview regarding health care, was asked if she agreed with Durbin, she refused to comment, saying that was not the subject she came to discuss. Does that mean a US Senator cannot take a stand on a breaking story of national significance if she happens to be talking about something else at the time? Suppose the country suffered another attack by terrorists? Would she refuse to comment because at the moment she was answering questions about Social Security? She never had a problem switching gears when given a chance to criticize President Bush or any other GOP leader.

It has become increasingly obvious that our soldiers in harm's way around the globe are fighting more than terrorists; they're fighting leftwing radicals in the Democratic Party, who, if the truth were known, would like to see the US defeated in Iraq. This nonsense about supporting the troops while being against the war is just more convoluted drivel by a spiteful coterie of liberal miscreants who would say or do anything to get back in power. If we are to survive as a nation, we must deal harshly with those who salute the flag with one hand, while stabbing the country in the back with the other.

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. BobWeir777@aol.com