Reader Scott Wright raises an excellent point regarding Senator Durbin's comments:

Senator Durbin's comments comparing mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay by U.S. military interrogators to that of Nazis are particularly ironic considering the fact that most of the allegations of mistreatment seem to be in regard to "Prisoner 063", Mohammed al—Qahtani otherwise known as "the 20th hijacker".

As most Americans already know, Mr. al—Qahtani had planned to be onboard United Airlines flight 93, which is believed to have been headed for the Capitol building before the four hijackers on board were overpowered by passengers. If Mr. al—Qahtani had been on board that day as a fifth hijacker, the passengers might well have failed to bring down the flight short of its intended target.

So the prisoner whose well—being Senator Durbin is so concerned about would have killed the senator and thousands of his colleagues inside the capital if he had not been prevented from entering the country by alert immigration officials. Osama bin Laden might have had second thoughts about targeting the capital if he knew he had friends like Senator Durbin there.