Alterman - president on Arab television to not-quite-apologize

HARD FOR ME TO SAY, THE HARDEST WORD, WHAT WERE WE TALKING ABOUT AGAIN?

The president appeared on Arab television Wednesday to not-quite-apologize to Arab viewers for the actions of American troops and (as we now say) "contractors" in Saddam Hussein's old torture rooms.  "It's also important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy, everything is not perfect, that mistakes are made."  Well:  I take it all back, he really does seem Reaganesque.

Asked why the President wouldn't explicitly apologize, Scott McClellan stepped up:  "I'm saying it now for him."

Anonymous Pentagon official on Abu Ghraib: "You mean the six morons who lost the war?"

Anonymous senior Bush administration official:  Arabs and Muslims "are certain to seize upon the images as proof that the American occupiers are as brutal as ousted President Saddam Hussein's government."

Hearts and minds:  Not won.

And there may be more than six morons, come to that:  Seymour Hersh mentions a commander who "was recommending exactly doing the kind of things that happened in that prison."  As Kevin Drum writes, "it just keeps getting worse and worse."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/