President George W. Bush to offer apology on 2 Arab Televison station networks

5/5/2004

[Miss Marple]

HE DID NOT APOLOGIZE.

[Dane]

Joe, keep on posting, you are great.

You make my point about some(like Joe Hadenuf) being total knee jerk every time you post on FR.

[bray]

You do not know there was sodomizing with a broomstick. Those are charges, yet to be proven or verified. Ever hear of innocent until proven guilty or does that only apply to Democrats??

Pray for W and Our Troops

[AFPhys]

That's why the President went on Arab TV... to undo the harm (and there was great harm done) that those soldiers did.

I have to take a minor exception to this statement. I am NOT certain that there WAS GREAT HARM done here.

Potentially, if the president, and the military, are able to take this and show the world just how we differ in the way we handle such abuses by our citizens, this could even turn into a public relations coup. Very, very tough, but I am not despairing that this can not be accomplished.

As a former officer, and squadron exec, I witnessed military crimes and trials. We are pretty efficient and just when we encounter any abusive behavior by our military personnel, in my experience. This prison abuse is clearly counter to behavior we expect from prison personnel, and it will be punished - I suspect that punishment will be a tad more harsh than would otherwise be the case due to the publicity - but I don't think that is unwarranted.

There is nothing written in stone yet here. We may really be in a Romans 8:28 situation if America handles this the right way. And, by the way, I think the outrage from all American quarters is an appropriate step for the best result to come to fruition.

[Hildy]

You haven't a clue as to what my father would have thought about this, but I guarantee you it's closer to my ideas than to yours.

[carton253]

I wonder if you think apology is a four letter word.

If you don't feel sorry for the prisoners that is your business.

I don't care why the prisoners were in jail... they were in our care... and those soldiers bullied and humiliated them. There was no cause for it.

Their crimes does not justify what those soldiers did...nor does it stop the repercussions that are rippling through the Arab word.

The ripples needed to addressed.

[highlandbreeze]

Condemnation has been happening all too frequently, lately.

[AFPhys]

Are you aware that one of those two broadcasts was on an American-funded network, apparently? That being the case, I believe it was very appropriate that the President give an interview to a second journalistic outlet.

[carton253]

Well, I agree with everything you said except I think there was great harm done. Now only in the Arab world, but here at home too.

[Teplukin]

LOL... you joined 4 days ago? I assure you the "ninnys" were here then.

well, I had been lurking before. But I don't recall this level of Bush-bashing - EVER. It is so utterly infantile, not to mention dis-respectful.

[Maigrey]

I know we are the good guys, wearing the white cowboy hat. We have the obligation to do the right thing in regards to addressing these problems, and rectifying these issues.

What I despise is that the Pro-Muslim media are spinning this that all 'mericans are evil, and we'll treat them all as such. I also despise the 'merican Media who are gleeful to oblige the propaganda for these actions, when there has been some manipulation behind the scene for the timing of these issues coming out.

I have no problem for doing the right thing, even with cost and expense. What I have a problem with is the hypocracy of the media when soldiers and contractors are being killed, and desecrated, and there is no outrage, or global outcry for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Lastly, I'm trying to get it through all the foil that these prisioners would prefer death to shame, and humiliation. They have no problem with real torture at the hands of fellow muslims, but when they are humiliated by those who are non-muslims, there is indignation. Am I missing something? Can you tell that I am frustrated?

[hosepipe]

Him being a "Uniter not a divider", will cost him the election. The boy needs a slap from his momma. Another Uniter and not a divider was named Neville Chamberlain.

[Miss Marple]

I am still mystified at the behavior and the pictures. I mean, how high an IQ do you need to say to yourself, "stacking up nude prisoners and taking their pictures is not a good idea?"

And on top of that the women posing with them! I bet their parents are so proud.

The whole thing is an embarassment and should be dealt with as quickly as possible. I think the president did the right thing.

[jpsb]

I think I posted a couple of times that I suppose what I thing the President is trying to do is worth a try. I am not hopeful, but you are much closer to the action then I. I know very few Muslims and what to keep it that way.

We will see how this plays out.

Re Islam, my take is that all Islam is radical, some muslims are just less vocal then others, particularly when around westerners. Hope I am wrong and would be interested in your opinums.

You don't seem to be the typical America sucks european poster. Happy you are here on FR.

[Poohbah]

You do not know there was sodomizing with a broomstick.

The investigation concluded that said event happened--i.e, they have physical evidence and testimony.

Those are charges, yet to be proven or verified.

CENTCOM disagrees with you--that is a finding of FACT from the investigation.

Ever hear of innocent until proven guilty or does that only apply to Democrats??

"Innocent until proven guilty" only applies to the courtroom, not an Internet message board. And I go off on Democrats, too, so STFU/

[Hildy]

It reinforces the fear??? The prisoners should be in fear, shouldn't they? It's not like we're going out into the street and humiliating innocent civilians, putting guns to their head and kidnapping them, are we? We're not strapping bombs to our children and sending them into buses, are we? What's wrong with this picture. WE'RE TRYING TO WIN A GLOBAL WAR HERE, not be voted Ms. Congeniality.

[BobFromNJ]

RIGHT!!! HE DID NOT APOLOGIZE!! SEE "TRANCRIPT OF PRESIDENT BUSH ON AL HURRA NETWORK" for the whole comment!

[Wait4Truth]

President Bush has a moral center. He views this conduct by a few of our soldiers as wrong and not the way our military acts - if he did not address this, all the good our military men and women are doing would be lost. The President did the right thing here and it is amazing to see the instant slamming of him. He did not apologize - he said what was done by these soldiers was wrong - and he is RIGHT.

[FreeReign]

[Dane, #67]:All I can do is make my comments about the IMO, knee-jerk, comments from some(not you), when these threads pop up like weeds on FR. You know and have seen the comments many times(Bush is a coward, yada, yada, yada) and those comments come from a thread that is based on a headline, with no actual quotes or transcript, simply amazing, IMO.

[Sir Gaiwain, #72]:I'm sure once Bush apologizes...

Yada, yada, yada. Weed Be-Gone!

[Mr. Mojo]

I don't care why the prisoners were in jail....... those soldiers bullied and humiliated them.

Would you feel the same way if you knew for certain that the prisoners in question were Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the deaths of many Americans? .....Or how about if bin Laden himself was the one "bullied and humiliated?"