From AP, with thanks to J.P. Mackie, who asks, “Can we expect the same from any Islamic leaders “” to come on TV and express their dismay about the murderous mutilation of innocent workers passing through Fallujah, or the senseless killing of a pregnant mother and her 4 children?”
WASHINGTON – President Bush said Wednesday in an interview with Arab TV that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by some members of the U.S. military was “abhorrent” and does not represent “the America that I know.”
Bush’s appearance on Arab television was set for 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.
“There will be investigations, people will be brought to justice,” Bush said of the alleged humiliation and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, a notorious prison during Saddam Hussein’s regime that was taken over by U.S. troops.
He also said that the U.S. inquiry would look into whether such instances of abuse also took place in other prisons. “We want to know the truth,” Bush said.