- Jan 10, 2002
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Bush to speak on Arab TV about abuse
By Seattle Times news services
WASHINGTON ? President Bush, concerned about the worldwide uproar created by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, plans to speak directly to the Arab world in two 10-minute interviews this morning.
The Bush administration's top foreign-policy officials, meanwhile, yesterday publicly apologized for abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
Photos of U.S. soldiers engaging in abuse and humiliation of inmates have been widely published in the Arab media since first aired last week in the United States. Cable-news outlets such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have shown the images repeatedly. An Arab League spokesman described them as "beyond disgust."
Exposure of the abuses has added new difficulties to U.S. plans for a transfer of political power from occupation authorities to Iraqis on June 30, undercut U.S. claims to champion human rights and further inflamed public opinion in a region already disillusioned by what Arabs perceive as Bush's bias toward Israel.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed human-rights minister said yesterday he had resigned to protest abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib, which was notorious as a torture facility during Saddam Hussein's regime.
Bush will give one interview to Al Hurra, the U.S.-sponsored pan-Arab network, and one to Dubai-based Al Arabiya network. Al Jazeera, the Arab network often criticized by U.S. officials, was not given an interview.
In a series of news conferences, interviews on Arab satellite channels and other public appearances, top White House, State Department and Pentagon officials struck an uncharacteristic note of humility in trying to quell the worldwide furor caused by the broadcast and publication of the evidence that Iraqi prisoners were abused and humiliated.
A cultural insult
In the Arab world, humiliation is among the most egregious of abuses. For Iraqis, subjugating a man before his wife, using a foot or boot to strike a man, or in any way compromising a man's sexuality or a woman's modesty are the most unforgivable of transgressions.
An official investigation into abuses at Abu Ghraib prison describes these acts, among others:
? Forcing detainees
to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time.
? Forcing groups
of male detainees to masturbate while being photographed and videotaped.
? Sodomizing
a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broomstick.
? Arranging naked
male detainees in a pile and jumping on them.
? Allowing a mocking
woman in the presence of the naked prisoners.
"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people and what the families must be feeling. It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national-security adviser, told Al Arabiya.
Rice said Bush will "speak directly to the Arab world" and was "personally sickened" by pictures displaying some of the abuses.
Bush also will give an interview to Al Ahram, the government-owned Egyptian daily, tomorrow.
The new administration tone of contrition marked a sharp change from what was widely perceived in some countries as U.S. arrogance in launching an invasion of Iraq without the backing of the United Nations, controlling all aspects of the postwar reconstruction effort and starting a campaign to promote democracy throughout the Arab world.
MORE at URL
By Seattle Times news services
WASHINGTON ? President Bush, concerned about the worldwide uproar created by the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, plans to speak directly to the Arab world in two 10-minute interviews this morning.
The Bush administration's top foreign-policy officials, meanwhile, yesterday publicly apologized for abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison.
Photos of U.S. soldiers engaging in abuse and humiliation of inmates have been widely published in the Arab media since first aired last week in the United States. Cable-news outlets such as Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya have shown the images repeatedly. An Arab League spokesman described them as "beyond disgust."
Exposure of the abuses has added new difficulties to U.S. plans for a transfer of political power from occupation authorities to Iraqis on June 30, undercut U.S. claims to champion human rights and further inflamed public opinion in a region already disillusioned by what Arabs perceive as Bush's bias toward Israel.
Iraq's U.S.-appointed human-rights minister said yesterday he had resigned to protest abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib, which was notorious as a torture facility during Saddam Hussein's regime.
Bush will give one interview to Al Hurra, the U.S.-sponsored pan-Arab network, and one to Dubai-based Al Arabiya network. Al Jazeera, the Arab network often criticized by U.S. officials, was not given an interview.
In a series of news conferences, interviews on Arab satellite channels and other public appearances, top White House, State Department and Pentagon officials struck an uncharacteristic note of humility in trying to quell the worldwide furor caused by the broadcast and publication of the evidence that Iraqi prisoners were abused and humiliated.
A cultural insult
In the Arab world, humiliation is among the most egregious of abuses. For Iraqis, subjugating a man before his wife, using a foot or boot to strike a man, or in any way compromising a man's sexuality or a woman's modesty are the most unforgivable of transgressions.
An official investigation into abuses at Abu Ghraib prison describes these acts, among others:
? Forcing detainees
to remove their clothing and keeping them naked for several days at a time.
? Forcing groups
of male detainees to masturbate while being photographed and videotaped.
? Sodomizing
a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broomstick.
? Arranging naked
male detainees in a pile and jumping on them.
? Allowing a mocking
woman in the presence of the naked prisoners.
"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people and what the families must be feeling. It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened," Condoleezza Rice, the president's national-security adviser, told Al Arabiya.
Rice said Bush will "speak directly to the Arab world" and was "personally sickened" by pictures displaying some of the abuses.
Bush also will give an interview to Al Ahram, the government-owned Egyptian daily, tomorrow.
The new administration tone of contrition marked a sharp change from what was widely perceived in some countries as U.S. arrogance in launching an invasion of Iraq without the backing of the United Nations, controlling all aspects of the postwar reconstruction effort and starting a campaign to promote democracy throughout the Arab world.
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