Okay. I think I've finally got my brain around this prison abuse scandal. For many months now, this administration has known that this was coming. They should have been better prepared for the fallout over this if they are as competent as everyone always says they are. First off, I know they knew it was coming because CBS delayed abuse story for 2 weeks. The least Rumsfeld could have done was tell Congress: U.S. Senators Criticize Bush for Not Briefing on Prison Charges.

So once again, this administration is caught hiding the truth. (I'm being diplomatic.) Wouldn't this have been better coming from Rumsfeld rather than Dan Rather? Now, they didn't want to mention this for obvious reasons. See, it kinda hurts the administration's latest reason for going to Iraq: To liberate the Iraqi people. Most of the people in this prison are the people we are supposedly there to liberate. We know from The New Yorker atricle that:

Most of the prisoners, however—by the fall there were several thousand, including women and teen-agers—were civilians, many of whom had been picked up in random military sweeps and at highway checkpoints. They fell into three loosely defined categories: common criminals; security detainees suspected of “crimes against the coalition”; and a small number of suspected “high-value” leaders of the insurgency against the coalition forces.

As the story came out, the pressure built and the President--for whatever reason--goes on two Arab TV stations to tell the people of the Middle East that this was only a few "bad apples" and -- just like whoever outed Valerie Plame and just like Osama bin Laden -- those that did this will be brought to justice. Only one problem: Arab papers blast Bush for failing to apologise. So today -- just like steel tarriffs, the Office of Homeland Security, the investigation of who outed Valerie Plame, a 9/11 Commission, and so many other things -- your President flip-flops again: Bush 'sorry for humiliation' of Iraqi prisoners. (And Kerry is accused of changing his mind a lot!) Only, not really. Who did he apologize to? When you read the story, you'll note that the first paragraph says this:

President Bush on Thursday said he told visiting King Abdullah II of Jordan that he is "sorry for the humiliation suffered" by Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. troops in Iraq.

He told King Abdullah he was sorry, he didn't tell the people that were tortured he was sorry. It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George is trying to get an alcoholic to apologize to him....

This story is not over. Seymour Hersh, who wrote The New Yorker article, had this to say on, of all places, O'Reilly last night:

First of all, it's going to get much worse. This kind of stuff was much more widespread. I can tell you just from the phone calls I've had in the last 24 hours, even more, there are other photos out there. There are many more photos even inside that unit. There are videotapes of stuff that you wouldn't want to mention on national television that was done. There was a lot of problems.

There was a special women's section. There were young boys in there. There were things done to young boys that were videotaped. It's much worse. And the Maj. Gen. Taguba was very tough about it. He said this place was riddled with violent, awful actions against prisoners.

Man, wait till Al Jazerra gets their hands some video to run. That's going to be even worse. Some are trying to justify this as 'war is hell.' Well, this administration sold us a Cakewalk In Iraq, not hell. My wife told me about what one Iraqi said on Nightline last night: a man interviewed in a Bagdad cafe asked how would Americans feel if those were Americans being treated like that by their Iraqi occupiers?

Well?


More Arab reaction
America in the Balance: Sex, Lies and Prison Abuse
Arabs are angered that President Bush has expressed only regrets, but offered no formal apology in his interviews on Arabic-language satellite television. His attempt to place the blame on a small handful of perpetrators reminds Muslim viewers of their own fruitless attempts to convince the American public that September 11 itself was the work of a small handful of terrorists. Many Americans never accepted the latter argument. Can we really expect Middle Easterners to be mollified so easily?

Here we go, Rummy
Resign, Rumsfeld
YOU are fighting against international terrorists in a battle that both they and you describe as being one about values. You fight a war against Saddam Hussein at your initiative, not his, and you say that it is a war about law, democracy, freedom and honesty. A big metaphorical banner hangs above both wars proclaiming that your aim is to bring freedom, human rights and democracy to the Arab world. All of that sets admirably high standards for the conduct of your forces as well as of your government itself. Now, however, some of your own armed forces are shown to have fallen well below those standards. What do you do?
Pelosi Calls on Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to Resign
"Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership of the Pentagon has unnecessarily jeopardized the safety of American troops, and it has seriously undermined our ability to prosecute the war on terrorism. He has been dismissive of international law, of world opinion, and of the Congress. The Pentagon Secretary Rumsfeld oversees has become an island of unaccountability, ignoring the Geneva Conventions, our allies, and common sense.
Rumsfeld resigning would be nice but remeber Cheney, I mean Bush, will just appoint someone else. That person could always be worse.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Don't forget what you're missing because of the prison abuse scandal
$25 billion sought for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan
This is a stop gap measure. The administration is trying to do this without anyone noticing. The President doesn't want to have to make a huge deal out of another $87 billion dollar Congressional fight, it is an election year after all. Also the $25 billion is going to increase the deficit, it is an election year after all. But seriously, they are trying to make sure no one notices how much Iraq is going to continue to cost the taxpayers until after they have spent all their corporate cash to get reelected. Then it's new contracts for everyone in Iraq.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 12:46 PM