Shockingly but unsurprisingly, Bush is trying to put one of his torture architects, William Haynes, on the 4th Circuit Court. Senator Durbin was having none of it at Haynes' Senate judiciary committee hearing yesterday.
I have seen Durbin's statement quoted in just a few places. It needs to be all over the media.
To my recollection, this is probably the first time--and certainly the most well-spoken--that a member of Congress has directly confronted a Bush official on their policy of dishonoring the troops: We have repeatedly seen the Bush administration smear the troops for following orders and promote their chickenhawk superiors for giving those orders. Yesterday, Senator Durbin called them out. Please read below the fold!
Maureen Dowd (Time$elect) quotes Sen. Durbin at length. Here's what he told Haynes:
"The State Department characterizes the use of dogs as an interrogation aid as torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. We publicly condemned the countries of Libya and Burma for using dogs in interrogation. In November of 2002, you recommended that Secretary Rumsfeld approve the use of dogs to intimidate detainees at Guantanamo.
The Department of Defense's own investigation concluded that this technique migrated from Guantánamo to Iraq and Abu Ghraib. At least two members of the armed forces have now been convicted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for using dogs to frighten detainees. It is striking that as these soldiers were prosecuted, you were being promoted. What message are we sending our troops? And what message are we sending the world, in light of your role in promulgating abusive interrogation techniques, like the use of dogs, stress positions and forced nudity. What message are we sending if we promote you to the second highest court in the land?
Well, we're going to dispatch a few privates, a few corporals, a sergeant, maybe it will get to a lieutenant, but it'll never get upstairs. ... Apparently, upstairs there's a promotion party. Downstairs people are being sent to prison."
I haven't seen this quote anywhere else yet. Hopefully, it will get more attention--I'd love to see the video.