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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (131408)	5/4/2004 2:50:53 PM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 281500

for people with a lot of time on their hands Not me, I'm a J6P with a 50 plus hour work week for my main job. I am running up another business in my spare time. busy. /edit have to go now. See ya all tomorrow.

To: Ilaine who wrote (131408)	5/5/2004 7:07:18 PM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Arab interviews were classic Bush news.bbc.co.uk some earlier links btw, just in case you missed them. Message 20083964 Message 20083959 By Jon Leyne BBC correspondent in Washington This was classic George W Bush. In interviews with Arab TV channels about the abuse of Iraqis at the hands of American soldiers, he did exactly what he does when he faces troubles domestically. Mr Bush used his credibility and his plain-speaking to communicate a clear, simple message. President Bush made his points and did not stumble He denounced the abuse of Iraqi prisoners as "abhorrent" and said the soldiers responsible do not represent America. Unlike Saddam Hussein's regime, President Bush said the US would investigate the allegations and bring to justice those responsible. He tried to put out a really simple, clear message. But the interview left many questions unanswered, and it is unclear whether his speaking style, so effective with his supporters at home, will play well abroad. Unanswered questions He made some interesting concessions over the course of the two interviews. In the al-Arabiya interview, he said the US had to find out whether this is a systemic problem. It was a concession that it might not have been just a few bad eggs and might be a much broader problem. In a democracy, everything is not perfect - mistakes are made, but those mistakes are investigated... President Bush He did give his confidence to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and commanders in the region, but he also said that people would be brought to book. But he left unanswered a whole file of questions. How widespread is the abuse? That is the key issue and the one that could come back and bite them several times. By all accounts, there are more allegations out there. The interviews also left unanswered questions about how the US government and military dealt with the reports of abuse. How come there was a report in January by Major General Antonio Taguba listing almost all of the abuses and the top general in America, Richard Myers, had not read it as of an interview last Sunday? When did President Bush know about this? When did it filter up the chain of command? That is a question that is going to keep coming around, which they are dodging so far. What happened after the Taguba report in January? Were these desperately damaging allegations simply left at the lower levels of command? And there will be questions about the disciplinary actions. Part of the trouble will be the military language. Some of the soldiers have been reprimanded, but to people outside of the military that sounds like a slap on the wrist. And what will happen to the private contractors named in General Taguba's report? It is not clear that they have any way of bringing them to book whatsoever. American officials haven't, according to the contractors, even talked to them about this yet. Damage control And while Mr Bush is very good at speaking to an American audience, he is not so good speaking to a foreign one. His plain speaking style is seen as simplistic and unintelligent by Europeans. The big question is how Mr Bush's style will play in the Arab world These interviews will show how well his style and message plays in the Arab world. Mr Bush made the points he wanted to make and didn't stumble over any questions. He didn't apologise, which might annoy the Arab world. Mr Bush, and more broadly the United States, has a difficult job to win over public opinion in the Middle East, and clearly two interviews aren't going to do the trick. The coming days will show whether this scandal continues to expand, as there is a great danger of it doing. If additional allegations come to light in the coming days and failings at higher levels in the US government or military are revealed, that could easily wipe out any good these interviews might have done.