Why no apology about Iraqi prisoners?
What's so hard about a simple "I'm sorry"?
My God, even if someone didn't really give a damn about the prisoners and only cared about political damage control, you'd think it would simply be smart to make a loud and clear apology for what happened to the Iraqi prisoners at the hands of our (US) military.
Yet Bush was all over Arab TV "regretting events" and "promising to get to the bottom of this" and assuring that this wasn't "the American way", but very, very conspicuous by its absence was a pure, simple, heartfelt (or even simulated heartfelt) apology.
This has not gone unnoticed by Iraqis, other Arabs, or anyone else.
Maybe an apology wouldn't have helped much, but the blatant lack of one certainly has hurt.
And forgetting political spin and diplomacy, saying "I'm sorry" would have simply been the decent, compassionate thing to do.
For what it matters, for my own part, let me say I personally am sorry that my country has let this kind of thing happen, and I'm sorry that we don't have leadership with the decency and humility to apologize when it should.
My God, even if someone didn't really give a damn about the prisoners and only cared about political damage control, you'd think it would simply be smart to make a loud and clear apology for what happened to the Iraqi prisoners at the hands of our (US) military.
Yet Bush was all over Arab TV "regretting events" and "promising to get to the bottom of this" and assuring that this wasn't "the American way", but very, very conspicuous by its absence was a pure, simple, heartfelt (or even simulated heartfelt) apology.
This has not gone unnoticed by Iraqis, other Arabs, or anyone else.
Maybe an apology wouldn't have helped much, but the blatant lack of one certainly has hurt.
And forgetting political spin and diplomacy, saying "I'm sorry" would have simply been the decent, compassionate thing to do.
For what it matters, for my own part, let me say I personally am sorry that my country has let this kind of thing happen, and I'm sorry that we don't have leadership with the decency and humility to apologize when it should.
Comments
It's as if he is afraid of being sued or tried in court. Well guess what. He -is- responsible, even if only in that unrealistic sense. The least he can do is apologize. It can only help, even if only in a selfish "do it to get elected" sense.
God, I can't stand the man.
Plus he has that pressed down look. What's up with that. Remember Archie Bunker when he was on TV delivering his editorial about how airlines should pass out handguns to prevent hijackings? Bush has that squashed look now.
The buck stops....at Rumsfeld it seems.
I mean, I take him at his word about his faith and what that means in his life. Maybe I'm just ill informed about his kind of faith, but I would have thought that one of its characteristics would be humility and a willingness to admit error, or take responsibility for error on his watch.
My impression has been that one of the things Bush's supporters admire is exactly that kind of "groundedness", of having the common touch and not taking himself too seriously.
Yet as far as I know he has never taken responsibility for anything (in the buck stops here sense) or apologized for anything ever. Not now or in Texas or ever.
Even, as in this case, it would be the smart thing to do.
Which seems like a kind of pridefulness or self righteousness that doesn't jibe with his image or the idea of serving God, either one.
Originally posted by addabox
i have to say this kind of thing actually puzzles me.
I mean, I take him at his word about his faith and what that means in his life. Maybe I'm just ill informed about his kind of faith, but I would have thought that one of its characteristics would be humility and a willingness to admit error, or take responsibility for error on his watch.
My impression has been that one of the things Bush's supporters admire is exactly that kind of "groundedness", of having the common touch and not taking himself too seriously.
Yet as far as I know he has never taken responsibility for anything (in the buck stops here sense) or apologized for anything ever. Not now or in Texas or ever.
Even, as in this case, it would be the smart thing to do.
Which seems like a kind of pridefulness or self righteousness that doesn't jibe with his image or the idea of serving God, either one.
Bush does not come across to me as a man of faith.
I do agree with your statements here.
I fear Bush is simply a social conservative who panders to social conservatives and wishes to maintain an image of being a "man of faith"
Could I be wrong about this? Sure...
Do I question Bush being a man of faith? You bet I do.
Fellowship
Originally posted by Fellowship
Do I question Bush being a man of faith? You bet I do.
Fellowship
You and me both.
(Heavy sarcasm in above post...)
It was the "evil doer's"...
[
Do I question Bush being a man of faith? You bet I do.
Fellowship [/B]
I don't know if Bush is a man of faith or not.....but whatever faith he professes to follow has little or nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus.
Originally posted by shetline
What's so hard about a simple "I'm sorry"?
For what it matters, for my own part, let me say I personally am sorry that my country has let this kind of thing happen, and I'm sorry that we don't have leadership with the decency and humility to apologize when it should.
Quite likely the world would be better off if people of your thinking were crowding the corridors of power
Why has Bush failed so miserably in the interviews?
1) He has a low self-esteem, therefore he feels it is humiliating to say "We/I are sorry, we did wrong" and therefore is trying to avoid it. His spokesman had to go on air and say "sorry" repeatedly afterwards.
2) He is lacking empathy. I don't doubt he is angry about the misconduct of his troops, but I also doubt he is hurting at the thought of people being tortured. After all, he has ordered to have terrorist supects captured by the US handed over to third world authorities with the clear knowledge they'd beat the stuffing out of them.
3) He is driven by a grand design. Any obstacles, anything that goes wrong is a mere glitch. He'd rather adapt reality to his design than the design to reality.
4) Deep inside, he despises and/or fears the arabs. He told arab TV: "I think people in the Middle East who want to dislike America will use this as an excuse to remind people about their dislike,". True on the one hand, but an obvious attempt at blaming some "people in the Middle East", instead of acknowledging guilt. And a horribly wrong thing to say in such a situation. This should not have been about what the arabs do to the US' image, but what US soldiers did to arabs.
All kidding aside, as the leader of the occupying forces in Iraq, it's his DUTY to do damage control right now. Whether he personally believes he's responsible or not.
He SHOULD have bit the bullit and given an apology. Where's the debate on this matter segovius?
And when you love war....
On April 30, 2004, George W. Bush said, ?A year ago I [gave a] speech?saying we had achieved an important objective, accomplished a mission, which was the removal of Saddam
Hussein. As a result, there are no longer torture chambers or mass graves or rape rooms in Iraq.? Even as Bush spoke those words, he and millions of newspaper readers and television viewers across the world were aware that torture chambers, rape and sexual abuse of detainees in Iraq are not a thing of the past. The shocking revelations and photographs from Abu Ghraib also
provided stark proof that the practice of torture is not limited to
"uncivilized" societies.
The Abu Ghraib scandal breaks at a time when some commentators argue that the "war on terrorism" may require the US government to suspend, in certain cases, its legal and moral prohibitions on torture. Has the specter of terrorism rendered torture a "lesser evil"?
Lisa Hajjar, professor in the Law and Society Program at the University of California-Santa Barbara and an editor of Middle East Report, argues to the contrary. In "Torture and the Future," now accessible in Middle East Report Online, she shows that "the one core right that all human beings can claim" is the right not to be tortured.
Read her essay online at:
http://www.merip.org/mero/interventi...ar_interv.html
Bush apologizes in press conference.
Originally posted by Jubelum
1:23 Central Time:
Bush apologizes in press conference.
The buck was passed, Jesus will forgive him, the US public will forget about it, and the slate is wiped clean, things will return to normal....except cameras and recording devices will be banned from Iraqi prisons from now on.
Originally posted by segovius
Damn - and I just ranted for 10 minutes about why he wouldn't - I hate that guy
Don't worry- you're not the first person to underestimate the shrub.
Originally posted by Jubelum
1:23 Central Time:
Bush apologizes in press conference.
No he didn't apologize. Apologizing and simply saying sorry are not the same thing. Bush did not say "To all those Iraqi nationals tortured (or abused) at the hands of the US military I'm am before you to humbly apologize." What Bush did was tell a dignitary a day after his prime chance to apologize that he was sorry. What was he sorry for? Was he sorry for the abuse (probably)? Was he sorry these abuses were brought to light (probably)? Or was he politically sorry as a matter of expedience? The apology should have been included in the 10 minute discussion on the Arab networks yesterday. He didn't and the world became even more outraged. Now this after the fact contrition looks to be politically motivated. I'm not going to say it is politically motivated but it "looks" that way.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't some prisoners actually die?
XXXX X: Mr. President, I think I've found a way for you to apologize without actually apologizing.
P. Bush: Bring it on.
XXXX X: Mr President, I thought we weren't gonna use that anymore?
P.Bush: Bring it on, bring it on! Heh heh heh. Just kidding.
XXXX X:
P.Bush: Won't that harm my Commander in Chief Air Craft Carrier Landing War President image?
XXXX X: Not really. Besides, you can also "add" that you also told him that you were equally sorry that people seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America.
P.Bush: Well I'll be damned. You ain't purtty but you sure are smart Karl!!
XXXX X: