I also encounter this issue, and Jamie's work-around works for me, at least so far as building the image. I'm not sure if the following ldd error is of concern:
...
debirf> modules complete
debirf> creating debirf initrd ('nested')...
/usr/bin/ldd: line 161: /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2: cannot execute binary file
2577 blocks
223 blocks
debirf> creating rootfs.cgz...
339021 blocks
debirf> creating wrapper cgz...
148195 blocks
debirf> debirf initrd created.
debirf> kernel: /var/tmp/debirf/rescue/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem
debirf> initrd:
/var/tmp/debirf/rescue/debirf-rescue_squeeze_2.6.32-5-686-bigmem.cgz
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