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My Fellow Iraqanians

by | 6th, May 2004

”MY fellow Iraqanians,’ said George Bush yesterday as he spoke directly to two Arabic language TV channels. ‘I come in pieces.’

The English subtitles are at the bottom of the screen

The Telegraph looked on as Bush furrowed his brow in that way that makes his forehead look barely big enough to hold all but the most rudimentary brain and issued a humble and at times grovelling apology for his countrymen’s appalling behaviour in Iraq.

Only he didn’t. What he said was that people in Iraq ‘must understand that I view these practices as abhorrent’. Iraqis ‘must understand that what took place does not represent the America I know’.

And, as Donald Rusmfeld might have added, they must understand that if they don’t understand what they must understand, they will be against us and so not with us and, in so doing, place themselves in considerable danger of having electrodes tied to their genitals.

And there was more for the two people left in Iraq who actually have electricity and a working TV set to mull over, as Bush explained all.

‘It is important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy everything is not perfect; mistakes are made [see Bush].

‘But in a democracy these mistakes will be investigated and people will be brought to justice.’

Or, as in the case with those dodgy votes, the people concerned will be given the presidency of the United States. But we take Bush’s point, whatever it may be.

However, not everyone is as enthusiastic about the American way as the US President.

The Independent hears from Hayder Sabbar Abd, the man pictured hooded and naked while a dwarfish female American soldier points at his bared genitals.

He gives a bald account of the abuse he withstood, which seems to reveal his tormentors’ obsession with his and the other victims’ genitalia.

‘They [Americans] told us about democracy and freedom. We are happy about that. Then they [the soldiers] did this to the seven of us. I am asking ‘Is this democracy, is that freedom?”

The answer to the question should be a simple ‘No’. Just as Bush’s broadcast should have contained another simple word. That word is ‘sorry’.’



Posted: 6th, May 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink