Not quite sure what's happening to Chris Shays. He's gone from being one of my favorite Republicans by far to some kooky nut whose comments get more wild and outlandish each day.
LinkShays: Abu Ghraib Abuses Were Sex RingOct 13 11:15 AM US/EasternRepublican Rep. Christopher Shays says the Abu Ghraib prison abuses weren't torture but instead involved a "sex ring" of National Guard troops.
"Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture," Shays said at a debate Wednesday.
"It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked," added Shays. "And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."
The lawmaker's comments were in a transcript of the debate provided by his opponent, Diane Farrell. Shays' campaign, contacted Friday, did not dispute the comments.
The congressman had been asked what the government should do to restore the nation's moral image in the wake of torture accusations at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay.
Shays is waging a bruising re-election fight against Farrell, who had no immediate comment Friday on her opponent's remarks.
Shays stirred controversy recently when he defended House Speaker Dennis Hastert's handling of a congressional page scandal, saying no one died like at Chappaquiddick in 1969 when Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy was involved.
Abu Ghraib is the Baghdad prison where abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers led to an international scandal.
Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib were brutalized and sexually humiliated by military police and intelligence agents in the fall of 2003. At least 11 U.S. soldiers have been convicted in the scandal.
