"The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape and
murder here."

                        Sen. Graham (R-S.C.)

From The Boston Herald, 5/8/04:
http://news.bostonherald.com/national/view.bg?articleid=22093

Rueful Rumsfeld: `Cruel' truth hurts:

Rape and murder feared in Iraq abuse

By Noelle Straub

Saturday, May 8, 2004

WASHINGTON -

The Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal took an explosive turn yesterday with
the revelation that photos and graphic videotapes not yet made public
show abuses more horrific than those already seen.

Signaling the worst revelations are yet to come, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld said the additional photos show ``acts that can only
be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.''

``There are a lot more photographs and videos that exist,'' Rumsfeld
testified before Congress.

``If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make
matters worse. That's just a fact.''

The unreleased images show American soldiers beating one prisoner
almost to death, apparently raping a female prisoner, acting
inappropriately with a dead body, and taping Iraqi guards raping young
boys, according to NBC News.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the scandal is
``going to get worse'' and warned that the most ``disturbing''
revelations haven't yet been made public.

``The American public needs to understand, we're talking about rape
and murder here,'' he said.

``We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience;
we're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges.''

In daylong sworn testimony before the House and Senate Armed Services
committees, Rumsfeld offered his ``deepest apologies'' for the
prisoner abuses.

``These events occurred on my watch,'' Rumsfeld said.

``I take full responsibility.''

Under questioning, Rumsfeld admitted that ``it's possible'' his
resignation would undo some of the damage inflicted by the scandal.

Some Democrats, including both Bay State senators, have called for
Rumsfeld to step down.

``If I felt I could not be effective I would resign in a minute,''
Rumsfeld said.

``I would not resign simply because people try to make a political
issue out of it.''

President Bush is so far standing by Rumsfeld.

In comments made public yesterday, Bush gave an interview to a third
Arab television station in which he said six times that he was
``sorry'' about the prisoner abuse.

Testifying alongside Rumsfeld, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the military response to the abuses.

He said officials acted quickly to investigate the incidents after a
soldier reported them.

``Our commanders did exactly the right thing in a timely manner,''
Myers said.

Sen. Carl Levin, (D-Mich.), the top-ranking committee Democrat, said
the incidents were not isolated but rather ``part of an organized and
conscious process to extract information.''

Levin said military intelligence officers told the soldiers guarding
Iraqis to treat them harshly to soften them up for interrogations.

But Rumsfeld denied that, insisted they were individual instances of
misconduct.

Army Secretary Les Brownlee said military probes of 25 prisoner deaths
found that a dozen were due to natural causes, one was justifiable
homicide, two were homicides and the others were still under
investigation.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) warned that the scandal, if not dealt with
quickly, could turn Iraq into another Vietnam.

``We risk losing public support for this conflict,'' McCain said.

``As Americans turned away from the Vietnam War, they may turn away
from this one.''

After the hearing, McCain said Rumsfeld's testimony failed to answer
basic questions, such as how high up the chain of command the fault
reaches.

Lawmakers promised to pursue a series of hearings into the matter.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy [related, bio] (D-Mass.) called the scandal a
``catastrophic crisis of credibility for our nation.''

``In the Middle East and too often today, the symbol of America is not
the Statue of Liberty. It's the prisoner standing on a box wearing a
dark cape and a dark hood on his head, wires attached to his body,
afraid that he's going to be electrocuted,'' he said.

__________________________________________________________

George W. Bush has turned our nation into a pile of shit.

Harry