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BACK TO : PROPAGANDA 'OWN GOALS' IN THE GWOT
Bush Tells Arab World That Prisoner Abuse Was 'Abhorrent' by D Stout & T Neilan  ;en=fd3368b674977ff2&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
New York Times, May 5, 2004 Bush Tells Arab World That Prisoner Abuse Was 'Abhorrent' By DAVID STOUT and TERENCE NEILAN WASHINGTON, May 5 - A somber President Bush made a personal appeal to the Arab world today, expressing his deep sorrow over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in American custody, vowing that those guilty would be punished and declaring that their actions did not represent "the America that I know." "The actions of these few people do not reflect the hearts of the American people," Mr. Bush said in an interview with Al Hurra, an Arabic-language satellite television channel financed by the United States government. "The American people are just as appalled at what they have seen on TV as Iraqi citizens have. The Iraqi citizens must understand that." When asked in a second interview how he thought the incidents were being perceived in the Middle East, Mr. Bush replied: "Terrible. I think people who want to dislike America will use this as an excuse to remind people about their dislike." In the second interview, with the Arab-owned Al Arabiya satellite TV network, Mr. Bush said that Americans "stand side by side with the people of Iraq who are peaceful," adding, "peaceful people that look for a better day." Mr. Bush's interviews represented an abrupt turnaround for the White House, which on Tuesday expressed its regrets through Secretary of State Colin L. Powell; the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice; and other surrogates. Arabs were reacting coolly to the president's gesture, according to a Reuters dispatch from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. "This is not going to wash with the Arab audience," a former Jordanian foreign minister, Jawad al-Anani, said. "It's a good gesture, but he should have publicly apologized." A Palestinian, Reem Hosari, said: "The damage is done. Iraqis lost confidence in the big ideas of American democracy and freedom. Regardless of what he said, they have seen the opposite of what they were promised. Under a democracy these things should not happen at all." Although Mr. Bush did tell reporters last week, after the initial news reports, that he felt "deep disgust" at the abuse, the president did not mention the matter at all during his campaign swing through Ohio on Tuesday, although he did say again that the Middle East and the world were better off without Saddam Hussein. Today, while not actually issuing an apology for the actions committed by soldiers ultimately under his command, Mr. Bush expressed personal regrets, and he said he knew he was speaking for millions of Americans, including the great majority of the military. "First, the people in Iraq must understand that I view those practices as abhorrent," Mr. Bush said in the Hurra interview as he acknowledged Arab outrage over the incidents in the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. "They must also understand that what took place in that prison does not represent America that I know," the president went on. "The America I know is a compassionate country that believes in freedom. The America I know cares about every individual. The America I know has sent troops into Iraq to promote freedom - good, honorable citizens that are helping the Iraqis every day." Mr. Bush said he hoped the people of Iraq would know "that in a democracy, everything is not perfect; that mistakes are made." But in contrast to the dark era of the Hussein regime, Mr. Bush said, the recent abuses will be brought to light and the guilty brought to justice. At a White House news briefing this afternoon, Mr. Bush's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, seemed to offer an outright apology. "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," Mr. McClellan said. "The president is sorry for what occurred and the pain it has caused." Anger over the abuse and humiliation of prisoners - and the complaints of some leading lawmakers that they were kept in the dark about it for too long - continued to foment on Capitol Hill, where the Senate Intelligence Committee was holding a closed hearing on the episode today. In response to a question from an interviewer, Mr. Bush said he stood behind Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld - "Oh, of course I've got confidence in the secretary of defense" - but Mr. Rumsfeld's fate remained a matter of discussion. Senator John S. McCain, an Arizona Republican and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, did not rule out the possibility that Mr. Rumsfeld might have to go. "I don't think you could reach that conclusion yet," Mr. McCain said on the ABC "Good Morning America" program. But "clearly there has to be a full, complete, independent investigation." Mr. McCain, who was a prisoner of the North Vietnamese for more than five years, has expressed anger not only over the abuse of the Iraqi prisoners but at what he says was the administration's slow response in informing Congress. Mr. Rumsfeld himself, in an interview on the same ABC program, replied somewhat indirectly when he was asked whether he was, in effect, apologizing for the abuses. "Oh, my goodness," Mr. Rumsfeld said. "Anyone, any American who sees the photographs that we have seen has to feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who were abused, and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable and certainly un-American." Asked whether he could envision circumstances under which he would feel compelled to step aside, he again replied indirectly. "Well, it seems to me that the chain of command is the chain of command," he said, alluding to the several investigations now under way. Mr. Bush's personal appearances are part of an administration effort to stem the tide of Arab anger at the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and they apparently reflected a sharpening consensus among his top political advisers that he had to take a more visible and expanded role in denouncing the abuses and promising justice. Mr. Bush's remarks came a day after the United States military disclosed that the Army had conducted 30 criminal investigations into misconduct by American captors in Iraq and Afghanistan, including 10 cases of suspicious death, 10 cases of abuse, and 2 deaths already determined to have been criminal homicides. "There will be investigations, people will be brought to justice," Mr. Bush said of the humiliation and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, a notorious site that was used for torture and killings under Saddam Hussein. Mr. Bush said that the American inquiry would look into whether such instances of abuse also took place in other prisons. "We want to know the truth," Mr. Bush said. Photographs on television showing prisoners at Abu Ghraib being subjected to acts of humiliation, sexual and otherwise, have been broadcast worldwide, particularly enraging Arab audiences in the Middle East. Mr. Bush's statement was part of two 10-minute interviews he gave this morning, one to Al Hurra, which broadcasts from Springfield, Va., and the other to Al Arabiya, which is based in Dubai. Al Arabiya was barred from reporting in Iraq by the American-appointed Iraqi Governing Council last November after it broadcast an audiotape of comments purportedly made by Mr. Hussein. It has an estimated 20 million viewers in the Middle East, compared with 25 million for the leading Arab satellite station, Al Jazeera. A random telephone survey to determine Al Hurra's viewership figures was conducted over two weeks in early April in major Middle East cities. The survey, of households with telephones and satellite dishes, found that the station was watched in the previous week by an average of 29 percent of adults, the station reported. David Stout reported from Washington and Terence Neilan contributed reporting from New York for this article. |