By Matea Gold, Times Staff Writer
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. ? Sen. John F. Kerry said Wednesday that the U.S. military should postpone the courts-martial of several soldiers linked with the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, saying the trials would demoralize the rank-and-file at a time when the government should be examining the behavior of commanders.
During a 20-minute interview with radio talk-show host Don Imus, the Democratic presidential candidate said that the trials, the first of which was scheduled to take place in Baghdad next week, should be held only after a complete investigation into who was responsible for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.
"I think it leaves a terrible taste throughout the military," Kerry said of the courts-martial.
He called the trials "inadequate" and "rushed," adding: "I think it's sort of a panicked move to try to display to the Arab world and others that we're going to do things immediately."
Kerry, who has called for Bush to be held accountable for the humiliation and torture of the detainees, said again Wednesday that the incidents resulted from "major failures in command."
He repeated his call for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign, and suggested Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for the post, among others.
In interviews, the Massachusetts senator reiterated the pointed language he had used in recent days about the war in Iraq, accusing the Bush administration of "miscalculations and incompetence."
"I just think the president is making unbelievable ? just catastrophic mistakes for our country," he said on "Imus in the Morning."
Some Kerry allies had been complaining that he had been too cautious in his comments on Iraq as turmoil escalated in the country last month and even as photos of prisoner mistreatment surfaced recently. Last week, Kerry began sharpening his criticism.
Still, as he campaigned in Orlando, Fla., and Little Rock on Wednesday, Kerry displayed a certain level of caution as he was pressed in several interviews to react to the situation in Iraq, a sign of the charged political terrain he was navigating.
Kerry said he disagreed with a comment by his Massachusetts colleague, Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, that the U.S. had replaced former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in running torture chambers in the country.
He emphasized that his call for Rumsfeld to resign was based more on the overall management of the war than the prison abuse scandal ? despite the fact his campaign has circulated a petition stating that the mistreatment of the detainees requires Rumsfeld's removal.
And at one point, Kerry followed a critique of the administration's approach in Iraq by insisting, "I'm not saying that politically."
Republicans have pounced on several of Kerry's comments as evidence that he is exploiting the situation, including a remark he made Tuesday connecting the abuses to "America's overall arrogance in policy."
"At a moment when America and Americans stand strong behind our troops on the battlefield, John Kerry is attacking President Bush and the military and seeking to divide along party lines," Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
The Kerry campaign rejected that charge, noting that Republican lawmakers had also questioned and criticized the military's handling of the abuses.
Kerry spent the last few days pitching his healthcare plan in swings through Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Florida, and during town hall meetings he had not mentioned the abuse scandal.
One national poll released on Wednesday indicated that the prison scandal was starting to seep into views of the presidential race.
Bush's job approval rating among 1,800 people interviewed nationwide May 3-9 fell to 44% from 48% in April, a poll by the Pew Center for the People and the Press showed.
The percentage of Americans who think the nation is headed in the right direction is at 33%, an eight-year low, and for the first time, a majority of 51% said the Iraq war was going poorly, the Pew survey said.
The poll also found Kerry leading Bush, 50% to 45%. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5%.
Kerry, in an interview with Associated Press Radio on Wednesday, said he believed the American public remained concerned about domestic issues, despite the furor over the incidents at Abu Ghraib.
"We're all interested in what's happening in Iraq, and we're deeply disturbed by it and upset, particularly by the events yesterday," he said, referring to the release of a video depicting the beheading of a young American. "But life goes on, and people realize that we've got to make America strong here at home."
In his Wednesday morning interview with Imus, Kerry was asked whom he would appoint to head the Defense Department.
"I have any number of people that I would make secretary of Defense, beginning with our good friend John McCain, as an example, and many others who could manage it very effectively," said Kerry in one of his nearly daily references to McCain on the campaign trail.
He went on to list Sens. Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and John Warner (R-Virginia), as well as Clinton administration Defense Secretary William J. Perry, as possible candidates for the post.
Despite the media's focus on Iraq, Kerry said, the situation there won't determine the outcome of the presidential election in November.
"No, I think this is much bigger than Iraq," he told AP Radio. Later in the day, in a predominantly Latino neighborhood of Orlando, an audience of several hundred waited for the senator to speak at the Englewood Community Center.
But in a gym festooned with campaign banners that read "Affordable Healthcare ? A Stronger America," people seemed to have something else on their minds, along with the cost of prescription drugs and doctor's bills.
"Bush lied; people died!" the crowd chanted, as they waited for the candidate to arrive.
