What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

By George H. Wittman
Published 6/22/2005 12:05:35 AM


For those of us -- and there are millions -- who have gone through U.S.

basic training or Marine Corps boot camp the complaints of Senator Richard
Durbin regarding the treatment of the prisoners at Camp Delta in

are laughable.

What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

What Could Be Worse Than Gitmo?

By George H. Wittman
Published 6/22/2005 12:05:35 AM


For those of us -- and there are millions -- who have gone through U.S.
Army basic training or Marine Corps boot camp the complaints of Senator
Richard Durbin regarding the treatment of the prisoners at Camp Delta in
Guantanamo are laughable.

One wonders what Durbin and the folks at Amnesty International would say
if their little darlings had been forced to stand at attention in
100-degree heat for two or more hours at Fort Jackson or Camp Lejeune in
full combat gear, with 60 pounds of ammo and equipment, waiting for a
general inspection. "What time did you get up, soldier?" the inspecting
officer invariably asks the first trooper in line. The answer is always
the same. "Reveille, sir." As long as you said that, you didn't have to
admit you and your buddies had been up for 36 hours straight "G I-ing" the
barracks, the company street, your weapons and everything that moved or
stood in the area.

"Drop down and give me 20, 30, 50," the training cadre would demand, and
the shaved head recruit falls to the ground and completes his push-ups --
sometimes to the point of exhaustion for those not in top condition. The
heel of the corporal on your back tends to make the task a bit more
difficult. Gosh, we should have had some of those ACLU lawyers.

Another fine element of training occurs when a drill sergeant's mouth is
so close to yours his shouts spit saliva till it runs down your face. One
flinch brings an order for 30 perfect push-ups or an evening of jogging
around the company area with a rifle held with both hands above one's head
while the miscreant shouts the General Orders.

Definitely too tough for those unfortunate terrorists.

Senator Durbin, whose biography shows he spent the Vietnam War in law
school, knows nothing of an American soldier's training life -- and we are
talking about only those first eight weeks of basic training, not the far
tougher regimen for Ranger, SEAL, Recon or Special Forces.

He says he's appalled the Gitmo terrorists had to sit or stand in stress
positions while under interrogation. What about crawling into and cleaning
out an eight-foot deep grease pit attached to each mess hall. That's a
nice little punishment for arriving late to formation. Or what about a
25-mile march with a full field pack, your weapon and ammo, and only one
canteen of water?

Senator Durbin is deeply worried about the impression that is caused
internationally when a terrorist prisoner complains his "space" has been
invaded by a female interrogator. Oh, dear me, did that female make the
poor prisoner feel badly? An American soldier yearns for such
"intimidation." A recruit has no "space." He or she is Government
property.

From what type of mental illness does Senator Durbin suffer? What country
has Durbin been inhabiting? From what planet does this civilian feather
merchant come? Senator, don't insult the hundreds of thousands of on-duty
servicemen and women and the millions of veterans by your politically
inspired pettifogging complaints.

Perhaps Senator Durbin doesn't understand what it takes to be an American
soldier or Marine. Perhaps he thinks the families of the terrorists should
be thought of before the families of the victims of 9/11 or those of our
fallen warriors. He speaks of Guantanamo as an embarrassment. It is he who
embarrasses those who have served.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=8339


George H. Wittman, who enlisted in the Army in December 1950
(#RA12312266), is a member of the Committee on the Present Danger and was
the founding chairman of the National Institute for Public Policy.


--
The Democrats, in their desperate search for an alchemist who can turn
Iraq into Vietnam, stumble into one soft cowpie after another.