Posted on 05/05/2004 7:39:57 AM PDT by TexKat
Sorry, didn't know you were the judge of who is right and who is wrong. I was stating my opinion, but now that I know....
When I was in the USMC, we had a saying: "Excuses are like armpits: most people have a couple, and they usually stink."
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (AP) -- The commander of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq apologized Wednesday for the "illegal or unauthorized acts" committed by soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison, where photographs showed Iraqi prisoners being abused by smiling American guards.
"I would like to apologize for our nation and for our military for the small number of soldiers who committed illegal or unauthorized acts here at Abu Ghraib," Miller told the touring reporters.
==============
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, spokesman for the U.S. command, also apologized for actions at the prison, which was a notorious center for torture and killings under Saddam Hussein.
"My Army has been embarrassed by this. My Army has been shamed by this. And on behalf of my Army, I apologize for what those soldiers did to your citizens," Kimmitt said. "It was reprehensible and it was unacceptable."
We're different from rocks too, but I would not recommend that you try to reason with one, or discuss morality with it.
No matter how warm and fuzzy it makes you feel.
I heard the same thing on the news more than once. And on multiple stations.
Like I said, clearly the person doing this was not the same that had to sweep the floors at night. :)
Just a pervert from the 'don't ask, don't tell' group.
That was no excuse. I was 'splainin' to the poster that I didn't know they were the judge of opinions right and wrong. Whew, I wouldn't want that responsibility!
It's the better of two evils thing again eh?
To be clear, I'm looking at neither of these candidates. One day a real conservative will run for President, but unfortunatly most of the country can no longer be depended upon to vote conservative, as what they think or try to pass off as conservative, clearly isn't.
Most that now consider themselves as conservative, sound more and more like liberals and Clinton supporters IMO.
All these endless flame wars here and elsewhere are a painful, clear indictation of that.
The country seems to be slip into three factions, #1 Leftist Anti American liberals. #2 Moderate liberal globalist neoconservatives that could care less about our borders and sovereignty and are more concerned with their party than country. #3 those real conservative American's that want smaller, less intrusive government, and want leaders that will put a stop to this epic invasion of our country. Group #3 is sick and tired of #1 and #2 and see little difference between them. Unfortunately they are the clear minority, at present.
slinking away.....
It's the truth.
We function at a higher level, and punish those who don't.
Don't give me the warm and fuzzy stuff. They're called moral absolutes..........and there's nothing fuzzy about them.
No doubt about it. Since they're bent on maximum coverage, though, I'd like to see some coverage of the reaction of Arab women to this so-called 'abuse'. I just wonder if there isn't a bit of giggling among them...seeing these chauvinist males completely dominated by an American military woman. Private England may appear as a sort of 'Joan of Arc' to them...
I'd like to see Diane Sawyer covering this angle...
Total stockpile was approximately 300, including test devices and nonoperational weapons (under repair, etc.). Deliverable weapons would've been about 200 or so (and that's an extremly optimistic figure).
Please note that these weapons were all in the 20-60 kiloton range, and not the gigantic city-busters we could deliver later on. (The first operational hydrogen bombs weren't deployed until 1955.)
Also, China provided a paucity of really profitable urban targets; quite simply, destroying all of those targets would've left the vast majority of the countryside untouched, and they STILL could've fielded a few million troops into Korea for a year or so. We would've been expending nukes on minor road & rail junctions to interdict transport--and that consumes warheads at a prodigious rate.
In the end, we wouldn't have accomplished the intended goal--preventing China from supporting Korea--without using the entire arsenal. Meanwhile, Stalin could invade Europe without fear of US nuclear retaliation.
That's life Joe, get back to me when you find your perfect house, car, or world with no imperfections.
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON - President Bush told a skeptical Arab world on Wednesday that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by some members of the U.S. military was "abhorrent" and does not represent the America he knows. He conceded mistakes but stopped short of apologizing in interviews with two Arabic-language TV stations.
"We don't tolerate these type of abuses," Bush told Al-Arabiya television, a satellite channel based in the United Arab Emirates. He said there was "more than an allegation, in this case, actual abuse — we saw the pictures. There will be a full investigation."
Seeking to counter photographs beamed around the world of U.S. soldiers gloating over naked detainees in demeaning positions, Bush sat for interviews with both Al-Arabiya, which is popular around the Arab world, and with Al-Hurra, a U.S.-government funded station.
He used the word "abhorrent" in both interviews to describe the activities in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, a notorious prison during Saddam Hussein's regime now run by the U.S. Army.
Bush dismissed, however, any implication that Americans were no better in their treatment of prisoners than Saddam.
"A dictator wouldn't be answering questions about this," he told Al-Arabiya.
"The people in the Middle East must understand this is horrible, but we're dealing with it in way that will bring confidence to not only our citizens, which is very important, but confidence to people in the world that this situation will be rectified and justice will be done," he said.
The interviews were broadcast in the region late Wednesday afternoon.
"There will be investigations. People will be brought to justice," Bush told Al-Hurra. "The actions of these few people do not reflect the hearts of the American people."
"The American people are just as appalled" as Iraqis, Bush said in the same interview. "People in Iraq must understand that I view those practices as abhorrent. They must also understand that what took place in that prison does not represent the America that I know," Bush said.
"The America I know is a compassionate country that believes in freedom. The America I know cares about every individual. The America I know has sent troops into Iraq to promote freedom — good honorable citizens that are helping Iraqis everyday," he said.
Bush said he retained confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, telling Al-Hurra he told Rumsfeld earlier Wednesday to "find the truth and tell the Iraqi people and the world the truth. We have nothing to hide."
Bush's appearance on Arab television came the day after the Army disclosed that it is conducting criminal investigations of 10 prisoner deaths in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus another 10 abuse cases.
In addition, the deaths of two Iraqi prisoners already have been ruled homicides. In one case, a soldier was court-martialed, reduced in rank and discharged from the Army. In the other homicide, a CIA contract interrogator's conduct has been referred to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, the Army said, although an intelligence official said the CIA Inspector General was still examining that case.
As Bush spoke, this official, who requested anonymity, also said Wednesday that the CIA Inspector General is investigating yet another two deaths involving CIA interrogators. That brought to 14 the number prisoner deaths already blamed on Americans or under U.S. investigation.
Bush said in both interviews that the U.S. inquiry would look into whether abuse took place in other prisons.
"I want to know the full extent of the operations in Iraq, the prison operations. We want to make sure that if there is a systemic problem -- in other words, if there's a problem systemwide -- that we stop the practices," Bush told Al-Arabiya.
In the Al-Hurra interview, Bush said it was important for "the people of Iraq to know that everything is not perfect. That mistakes are made. But in a democracy, as well, those mistakes will be investigated, and people will be brought to justice."
Administration officials have tried to assure the American public and the world that the abuse of prisoners at the prison was an aberration, and that guilty parties would be dealt with swiftly and firmly.
Bush said that the United States would cooperate with the international Red Cross.
Asked about the United States' practice of pointing out human rights abuses in other countries, he told Al-Hurra, "We ... say to those governments, `clean up your act.' And that's precisely what America is doing."
The disclosure of the prisoner abuse — condemned throughout the world — came just two months before the United States is to turn over civilian authority to a new Iraqi interim government.
Bush said the U.S.-led coalition's decision to transfer security duties in the volatile city of Fallujah to an Iraqi battalion led by one of Saddam's former military leaders should not be a message to the Iraqi people that the United States was lowering its expectations for freedom in Iraq.
"Quite the contrary," Bush told Al-Hurra. "We're raising expectations."
Bush also expressed continued confidence that a peaceful Palestinian state can emerge from the Israel-Palestinian conflict, defending his support — criticized across the Arab world — for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's territorial plans.
"I felt that a withdrawal from the Gaza by the Israeli prime minister as well as the withdrawal from four settlements from the West Bank by the Israeli prime minister was a step toward peace," Bush told Al-Hurra.
And according to those who watched the President and the transcripts of those interviews posted on this thread that is what the President did.
As for your second paragraph... rubbish!
As for your third paragraphy... two wrongs don't make a right.
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