Illinois Senator Durbin appears deeply concerned that Gitmo detainees were kept too warm or cool while being interrogated. He argues such treatment makes the US look bad. Yet this sort of thing -- much, much worse, and in his own backyard-- apparently hasn't provoked any similar or greater complaint from him:

Over the last two decades, Chicago, Illinois has earned the reputation of having one of the highest rates of police coerced false confessions in the United States. Many documented cases involved the use of unusually brutal tactics, including electric shock, beatings and using a plastic bag to restrict oxygen.

Electric shock? Beatings? I'll take the chilly room or the one with the dog, thanks! Somehow, I suspect concern about harsh treatment, anytime or anywhere, isn't really Senator Durbin's driving motivation here.

Maybe I'm just a rube, brainwashed by Karl Rove's mighty mind-control machine, but I can't help but wonder: if we can't even make detainees uncomfortable, then what are we supposed to do? Do we just sit by idly and let people die because we can't do anything to attempt to get information from terrorists? I mean, seriously, what is Durbin proposing we do instead -- just release them? Will he sign a release form, saying he'll be accountable for any attacks they might commit after their release?

Finally, if keeping someone in a room "over a hundred degrees" (I spent an entire summer living in such temperatures with no air conditioning, thanks) is just like the Khmer Rouge's killing fields, then what does it mean to actually beat or shock someone?

We are out of comparisons.

Update: Senator Durbin has apologized for his remarks. If it's fair to excoriate him, then it's also fair to give credit where due. Good for him: it takes a lot to do something like that. Consider the criticism in this post mooted and rescinded. If he took back the remarks, then the counter-argument no longer applies either.