Say Anything Blog

Donald Rumsfeld isn't offering any apologies for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. And he shouldn't.

From Reuters:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday "any American" felt apologetic for abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers but stopped short of offering a direct apology himself.

Asked on ABC's morning television show whether he would like to apologize to the Iraqi people, he replied: "Oh my goodness, any American who sees the photographs that we have seen has to feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who were abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable and un-American."

Rumsfeld was asked at a news conference on Tuesday whether he would offer an apology to the Iraqi people over abuses by U.S. soldiers at an Iraqi prison. He declined to give one then.

Rumsfeld wasn't the one abusing the prisoners. He isn't even their commanding officer, or their commanding officer's commanding officer. Donald Rumsfeld had nothing to do with what happened. If anyone should be apologizing it should be the soldiers who abused the prisoners and the people in charge of those soldiers.

This practice of asking leaders if they're going to apologize every time something bad happens seems like a new tactic of the media. By asking the question they leave the person in a tough place. If he or she refuses to apologize (because they didn't do anything wrong) then the press can trumpet that fact in their headlines. If the leader does apologize, the press can later point to that apology as an admission of guilt.

Its all just a ploy...

Update:

See? This is who should be apologizing, among other people:

The commander of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq (news - web sites) 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, and invited the Red Cross to open an office at the facility.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller also said some interrogation techniques would be halted because of the scandals while the use of others would be limited.

"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 Arab and Western reporters taken on a military tour of the prison.

"These are violations not only of our national policy but of how we conduct ourselves as members of the international community.

"It has brought a cloud over all the efforts of all of our soldiers and we will work our hardest to re-establish the trust that Iraqis feel for the coalition and the confidence people in American have in their military."