Sen. Durbin says he's sorry for Guantánamo comments

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin apologized yesterday for comparing U.S. interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp to Nazis and other historically infamous figures.

"Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line," the Illinois Democrat said. "To them I extend my heartfelt apologies."

His voice quaking and tears welling, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate also apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks. "I never, ever intended any disrespect for them," he said.

The apology came a week after Durbin quoted from an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the naval base in a U.S.-controlled portion of Cuba as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures.

"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 or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings," Durbin said June 14.

The comment created a buzz on the Internet and among conservative talk-radio hosts, but Durbin initially refused to apologize.

"This administration should apologize to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorizing torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure," he said the day after his initial comments.

By Friday, Durbin was trying to clarify his comments, yet the White House and top Republicans refused to relent. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an interview scheduled for broadcast today on Fox News Radio's "The Tony Snow Show," tried to equate the comment with actress Jane Fonda calling U.S. soldiers war criminals during a visit to North Vietnam in 1972.

Yesterday, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley — a fellow Democrat — added his voice to the chorus of criticism, saying, "I think it's a disgrace to say that any man or woman in the military would act like that."

During his apology, which Durbin delivered while looking directly into a TV camera broadcasting the proceedings, the senator said: "I made reference to Nazis, to Soviets, and other repressive regimes. Mr. President, I've come to understand that's a very poor choice of words."

He also reached out to Holocaust survivors, adding: "I'm sorry if anything that I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time."