Bush: Iraqi prisoner abuse on Arab TV
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| Wed, 05-05-2004 - 10:17am |
Bush to address Iraqi prisoner abuse on Arab TV.
President Bush will give interviews to two Arab television networks Wednesday about reports of U.S. military personnel abusing Iraqi prisoners, the White House said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the 10-minute interviews with Al-Hurra, a U.S.-sponsored network, and Al Arabiya will take place about 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) in the Map Room at the White House.
"This is an opportunity for the president to speak directly to the people of Arab nations and let them know that the images that we all have seen are shameful and unacceptable," McClellan told reporters during a Bush campaign tour.
Referring to photographs that have surfaced showing Iraqi prisoners being abused McClellan said, "The images do not represent what America stands for, nor do they represent the high standards of conduct that the military is committed to uphold. The U.S. believes in treating all people with dignity and respect."
Asked why Bush would not meet with the Arab network Al-Jazeera, McClellan would only say the other two networks "reach a wide range of people in the Middle East."
McClellan said the actions of the accused soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq "do not represent what 99 percent of the men and women in the military stand for." (Full story)
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that he would take "all measures necessary" to ensure that abuse of detainees in Iraq "does not happen again."
Rumsfeld defended the Defense Department's handling of the matter in the face of congressional criticism, noting that a criminal investigation by the Army was under way and publicly disclosed three months before what he called "deeply disturbing" photographs were broadcast last week.
"This is a serious problem, and it's something the department is addressing," he said at a Pentagon news briefing. "The system works. The system works."
Rumsfeld said the criminal investigation was one of six launched since January.
More..............
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/05/iraq.abuse.main/index.html


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Anyone involved should be court-martialed and imprisoned at hard labor in Levenworth for several years.
In our culture this is appropriate, I don't know what is done in Islamic culture to atone for "sins". If I was Islamic, GWB would have to apologize for much more than these agregious acts. My conclusion is Bush is angry because these guys screwed up his vision of success, they become an easy scapegoat.
About thirty years ago, UC Berkeley did a study about what happens when prisoners are dehumanized. The results were so disastrous that the project had to be curtailed about half way through. Bush as been very vocal at demonizing the other, he is the leader after all. IMO, an apology is not going to make much difference.
>"prisoners are dehumanized"<
Even in a civilian setting
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Prisoner%20Abuse
Wednesday, May 5, 2004 · Last updated 2:10 p.m. PT
Bush: Iraqi prisoner abuse 'abhorrent'
By TERENCE HUNT
AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- 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 stations to take control of the administration's damage-control efforts.
The difficulty of Bush's task became clear in the first question of an 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.
Six months before the U.S. election, the prisoner-abuse controversy poses a major problem for Bush, already on the defensive about rising American casualties and persistent violence. Portraying itself as the provider of freedom in Iraq, the administration finds itself rocked by condemnation over pictures of American soldiers gloating over naked prisoners and scenes of abuse at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
Angry lawmakers called Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Capitol Hill to testify on Thursday 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 14.
Separately, the administration asked Congress Wednesday for an additional $25 billion for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional Republicans said, a change from the White House's earlier plans not to seek such money until after the November elections.
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, and if that includes apologizing for the behavior of those soldiers and what happened, then we ought to do that," Kerry said.
Bush said that what happened at Abu Ghraib was "more than an allegation, in this case, actual abuse - we saw the pictures. There will be a full investigation." He said he retained confidence in Rumsfeld.
Interviewed on the U.S.-sponsored Al-Hurrah 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."
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."
Asked why Bush himself had not apologized, McClellan said: "I'm saying it now for him."(me:
Renee
I'm jumping in here...
Renee
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