This entry probably comes a little too late, after the so-called furore over the mistreatment and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers. Yesterday, both Bush and Rumsfeld apologized for the incident (although, it ought to be pointed out, Bush failed to do so when he addressed his audience on Arab tv). It ought to be further noted that Bush only reported that he expressed his apology to King Abdullah of Jordan – it was not a direct apology.

The soldier above is Pte Lynndie England, a 21 year old who joined the reservist unit after high school. I guess it is a fortunate thing that her last name is England – otherwise, Americans might think she’s one of them! But, rest assured, she’s all-American.

It’ll take too much effort to link all the pictures on my blog, so I’ll direct you to Memory Hole instead. It has about two dozen pictures taken off tv shows of the abuse.

And Bush’s widely-reported rebuke of Rumsfeld? It was for “failing to alert him to the existence of the photographs of US troops torturing naked Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail, or of a report detailing the crimes” [Source]. So I guess he isn’t really apologizing for the crimes against humanity, just expressing how sorry he is his team didn’t have enough time to do some damage control, or god forbid, put a positive spin on the events.

::: Related :::

Check out this article from The Observer, which discusses the seeming leitmotif of women abusers in the Iraqi prison scandal, and traces it to the attempts by the “neo-cons” in power to spin in as such.

::: Sidenote :::

What kind of sick exhibitionists were they to photograph the torture? And to allow themselves to be caught on camera smiling? Even if Lynndie England and friends were simply obeying orders, should work and pleasure mix to such an extent? It makes one wonder if there is any credibility in the claims that the acts may have been staged, although the question of ongoing abuse remains unanswered as well.