United States President George Bush on Wednesday told a skeptical Arab world that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by some members of the US military was ”abhorrent” and does not represent ”the America that I know”. He stopped short of apologising.
”There will be investigations. People will be brought to justice,” Bush said in a television interview that was aired in the Middle East late on Wednesday afternoon.
In the first of two planned interviews, the president did not specifically apologise for the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
But, he said: ”The actions of these few people do not reflect the hearts of the American people.”
”The American people are just as appalled” as Iraqis over images broadcast around the world of naked detainees and gloating US soldiers at Abu Ghraib, a notorious prison during Saddam Hussein’s regime that was taken over by US troops.
”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 in Iraq to promote freedom, good honourable citizens that are helping Iraqis every day,” he said.
Bush said he retains confidence in Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and talked to him earlier on Wednesday and told him 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 US 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-martialled, reduced in rank and discharged from the army. In the other homicide, a CIA contract interrogator’s conduct has been referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
”There will be investigations, people will be brought to justice,” Bush said of the alleged humiliation and abuse of prisoners at the prison.
He also said the US inquiry will look into whether such instances of abuse also took place in other prisons.
”We want to know the truth,” Bush said.
Bush said it is 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 will be dealt with swiftly and firmly.
Bush said the US will cooperate with the International Red Cross.
Asked about the US practice of pointing out human rights abuses in other countries, in an interview with Al-Hurra, a US-funded Arabic-language station, Bush said: ”We also say to those governments, ‘clean up your act’. And that’s precisely what America is doing.”
Al-Hurra is generally viewed in the region as propaganda.
Another interview with Bush was expected to air later on Al-Arabiya television, a satellite channel based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that is popular around the Arab world. — Sapa-AP