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Iraq-Jordan
Bush Vows Justice on Iraq Prison Abuse
2004-05-06
EFL to new stuff.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Acknowledging mistakes but stopping short of an apology, President Bush told the Arab world on Wednesday that Americans are appalled by the abuse and deaths of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers. He promised that "justice will be delivered." "The people in the Middle East must understand that this was horrible," Bush said, trying to calm international outrage. He went on two Arabic-language television networks to take charge of the administration's damage-control efforts.

Bush said he retained confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, but White House aides said the president let the secretary know he was not satisfied with the way he was informed about the unfolding controversy. In particular, Bush was unhappy he was not told about incriminating pictures before they were shown on television or about a 2-month-old Pentagon report before it turned up in the news. Rumsfeld did not know about the images until CBS aired them last Wednesday, a senior White House official said.
As Glenn Reynolds points out, Army CID started its investigation back in December/January. Rummy and GWB should have been told then, I think.
Bush also said he learned of the photographs of the alleged abuse when the rest of the world did. "First time I saw or heard about pictures was on TV," Bush told the Al-Hurra television network.

The difficulty of Bush's task became clear in the first question of a television interviewer who said the evidence of torture made many Arabs believe that the United States was no better than Saddam Hussein's government, notorious for torture and murder. The president murmured under his breath at the comparison.

Bush said the abuses were "terrible" for America's image abroad. "I think people in the Middle East who want to dislike America will use this as an excuse to remind people about their dislike," he told Al-Arabiya television, a satellite channel based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that is popular around the Arab world.

The Washington Post, in an article on its Web site Wednesday night, said it had obtained a new batch of more than 1,000 digital photos from Iraq. The newspaper said the photos ranged from snapshots depicting everyday military life to graphic images of what appeared to be naked prisoners sprawled on top of one another with soldiers standing nearby.

Angry lawmakers called Rumsfeld to Capitol Hill to testify on Friday while Senate leaders - Republicans and Democrats alike - discussed a Senate resolution to condemn the abuses. The number of prisoner deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan known to be under U.S. investigation or already blamed on Americans rose to as many as 14.

Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic rival, said the president's remarks were not enough. "The president of the United States needs to offer the world an explanation and needs to take appropriate responsibility," he said. "And if that includes apologizing for the behavior of those soldiers and what happened, they ought to do that."
Apology is meaningless now. Investigate, get the facts, punish the guilty. That will make a better impression in Iraq.
Interviewed on the U.S.-sponsored Al-Hurra television network, Bush said that Iraqis "must understand that I view those practices as abhorrent. They must also understand that what took place in that prison does not represent the America that I know." Most U.S. soldiers are "good, honorable citizens that are helping the Iraqis every day," Bush said."It's also important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy, everything is not perfect, that mistakes are made," the president said. Drawing a distinction with Saddam's government, he told Al-Arabiya, "A dictator wouldn't be answering questions about this."
As Prof. Reynolds said, CNN has had more airtime on this in the past two weeks than they had on all of Saddam's tortures put together.
While Bush did not offer an apology, Condoleezza Rice, his national security adviser, had said Tuesday that "we are deeply sorry for what has happened," and the commander of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, apologized Wednesday for the "illegal or unauthorized acts" of U.S. soldiers. "We've already said that we're sorry for what occurred and we're deeply sorry to the families and what they must be feeling and going through as well," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "The president is sorry for what occurred and the pain it has caused."
Posted by:Steve White

#19  I think President Bush’s approach to handling this fiasco is perfect, and is paying off handsomely on the “Arab Street.” Check out the underreported reaction of the Joe Averages of the “Arab Street,” as reported by IRAQ THE MODEL blogspot. A severely EFL excerpt:
here we have the president of the greatest nation on earth apologizes for what a small group of pervert soldiers did. . . . These are lessons from the western culture entering the hearts of Arabs, whether the Arab leaders liked or not.
They “get it.”
Posted by: cingold   2004-05-06 8:50:03 PM  

#18  I guess I am going to be the idiot that says this:

The only benefit to pursuing this matter beyond cashiering the commander and disciplining the troops is Jag officers get to go to bars and claim they prosecuted the bastards that did these horific deeds, so they can get a blowjob from a pushover in DC.

Outside of that, no other purpose can be served.

Doesn't it matter this took place in a war zone and that the commander who lost control of her troops was relieved of command? Iffin' it doesn't it sure as hell should.

Rumsfeld and Bush should tread carefully in pursuing this matter else they will appear as micromanaging as Johnson and MacNamara.
Rumsf
Posted by: badanov   2004-05-06 8:37:25 PM  

#17  The unfortunate thing about Kerry is : Soundbites are rare. The "I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Is lengthwise out of character. Usually, he'll wax verbose, which may be a defense against soundbite cherry-picking. I'd hate to be behind him at a busy Quizno's waiting for him to order a sandwich.

Now with this prisoner thing, he is in extasy with the opportunity to show the world what a vocabulary he has and how long a sentence he can make over sanctimonious pronouncements. He is hoping no one reminds him of his "I am a war criminal" statements in 1971. But, in that case he can accuse the asker of being on the payroll of the RNC.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-05-06 12:16:29 PM  

#16  The Dems and antiwar/antiBush press is about ready to sel-destruct with their overplaying of this. Let them rant, most Americans will acknowledge a couple idiots did wrong, should be punished, but will resent those trying for political advantage using innocent soldiers, marines. Let Kerry, Biden, Hildabeast cry their shrill accusations and demands for pullouts and apologies
Posted by: Frank G   2004-05-06 11:57:23 AM  

#15  You guys cheer me up and give me that fighting spirit back!
(I am SO SICK of the Leftist media cluster f*ck over this I could scream...and have! LOL)
Rummy resign? They wish!

And I love our trolls..."murtadd4doo!" ROFL!
Posted by: Jen   2004-05-06 11:49:34 AM  

#14  Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic rival, said the president's remarks were not enough. "The president of the United States needs to offer the world an explanation and needs to take appropriate responsibility," he said. "And if that includes apologizing for the behavior of those soldiers and what happened, they ought to do that."

Sorry for the length, but John F Kerry is a man of many, many words.

If I can paraphrase: "George W Bush owes me a soundbite I can use in a campaign ad!"
Posted by: eLarson   2004-05-06 11:45:16 AM  

#13  Murat, back home in Turkey for a few days? When do you have to get back to work in Germany?

Hey, talk to your union reps at Mercedies that word is spreading about the quality being down. That could cost you your job.
Posted by: Lucky   2004-05-06 11:43:17 AM  

#12  Murat the dipshit trolls in dirty waters...watch your backs around the Turk, Rantburgers.
Posted by: Frank G   2004-05-06 11:34:22 AM  

#11  hi murat! the way coversation is going it sound like you live in another country. just wonder what country that may be? im liking murat. he always make me laugh. :)
Posted by: murtadd4doo   2004-05-06 11:18:12 AM  

#10  Rabirt,

almost every day, my neighbour next over is Armenian, so what.
Posted by: Murat   2004-05-06 11:01:06 AM  

#9  I love it when the Rat pops his head out of his hole and gets it pounded back in.

He must like it, though. He keeps coming back for more.
Posted by: docob   2004-05-06 8:45:39 AM  

#8  Murat -- seen any Armenians lately?

BTW, guys, over at Mudville Gazette there's a timeline of the abuse investigation, and the first comment posts a link to the January 16th press release announcing the investigation.

I'm amazed how many people are upset they didn't know about something that was publicly announced.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-05-06 8:26:34 AM  

#7  Don't get too down AC, this thing ain't done yet. and Murat how much are you paying for a tank of gas? My neighbors and I can afford $40 to fill our gas tanks and we live in a poor redneck town in the back woods. How do your economic, cultural and religious system/beliefs fulfill your life and needs? You sound pretty angry to me.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck   2004-05-06 7:47:50 AM  

#6  As wars go, we haven't begun to spend/fight. Was watching a program on WWII last night which mentioned that 16 million men went into military training. How much you think an army that size costs in today's dollars? And we were nowhere near as wealthy then as we are now. The religious killer clique better not wake the sleeping giant.
Posted by: virginian   2004-05-06 7:22:28 AM  

#5  muRat - Lol! Your jealousy is showing! What a 'tard. There is an old old joke in the US - sourced to Al-Gore's father-in-law, Sen Everett Dirksen back in the 70's, I think, who said, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money."

You see, little one, our economy is measured in $Trillions, sonny. When your country pulls its collective Muslim head out of its ass and fully realizes what Attaturk was really hinting at ("Islam is a giant fucking anchor! We ain't going anywhere till we toss this Turkey!"), you might actually get somewhere, lol! Now run along, sonny.
Posted by: .com   2004-05-06 6:29:25 AM  

#4  Guys, I heard Afghanistan and Iraq have cost the budget already $160bln and Bush is asking for aditional $25bln (which according to experts is not enough)

Guess stealing oil is not that cheap eyh?
Posted by: Murat   2004-05-06 5:42:24 AM  

#3  My we are willing to give up quickly, aren't we? This isn't Mogadishu or the Khobar Towers. We have no choice. We must fight. And we will.
Posted by: RMcLeod   2004-05-06 4:39:29 AM  

#2  AC, that how I felt a couple of days ago, but now I think it will blow over. I find Brahimi's manouvering to dump anyone they percieve as anti-UN much more ominous.
Posted by: Phil B   2004-05-06 4:35:59 AM  

#1  This is the beginning of the end, we are going to lose the war overseas because of this, abuses that were thoroughly investigated and uncompromisingly dealt with before they ever became public.
All this is lost in the reckless feeding frenzy of the media and the insane screaming monkey-rage of the Islamos.
The whole world has gone mad, berserk, stark-staring, shoot-it-the-street-before-it-bites-you crazy.
It is the end of our effort to enforce sanity and defend ourselves in the Middle East, but the killing time has only begun.
To paraphrase Churchill, the Battle of Iraq is over, the Battle of America is about to begin.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2004-05-06 3:16:07 AM  

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