Not Everyone is Criticizing Sen. Dick Durbin
The Administration and the right wing will not succeed in its attempt to smear Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. Durbin’s comments have had the positive effect of stimulating more discussion about the fact that the Bush Administration’s policies have put our troops at risk and hurt our efforts to win the war on terrorism.
Durbin’s constituents, who know him best, seem to recognize that was his intent. Durbin’s hometown paper, the State Journal Register writes,
The real message of Durbin's statement - that we must investigate and stop inhumane treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and other military prisons - is one we can't afford to ignore.
Greg Hinz writes in Crain’s Chicago Business,
Mistreating people, some possibly innocent, in a harsh prison forever is not an Illinois value. Nor is it an Illinois value to take a person who might possess some intelligence of possible value, stake them out naked on the ground, turn up an air-conditioner until they’re shaking with cold, play ear-splitting music, and watch them defecate and urinate on themselves. That, in fact, was the conduct Mr. Durbin was protesting.
And the Daily Southtown editorializes,
Durbin doesn't owe anyone an apology. Our view is that he's calling on the Bush administration to act by the high standards that are the American tradition. That's what we all should be demanding from our president and his administration, and we should not be so naive as to be deceived by the propaganda machine.
Even conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan weighed in on Durbin’s behalf, saying,
I’m just amazed that some can view what has happened and their first instinct is to attack those who have criticized it, rather than those who have perpetrated it. It is this administration that has brought indelible shame on America, and it's people like Dick Durbin who prove that some can actually stand up against this stain on American honor and call it what it is. Good for him. Thank God for him.
Finally, The Raw Story pointed out the hypocrisy of Republicans who have criticized Durbin for referring to Nazi interrogation tactics.
Republicans will try to divert attention to Durbin from the real issue - the deplorable tactics used on Guantanamo detainees. It's up to us not to let them.
Update: The Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial is strongest of all: Durbin shouldn't apologize for telling the truth and he shouldn't let the right wing make the story about him instead of the "hellhole" at Guantanamo.
| < Miss. Jury Deliberates 3 Hours, Deadlocked | Phoning Bill Frist > |
