Bush missed his chance with Arab world

After years of abusing and slandering the reputation of the Arab world's media, the recent disclosures of Americans abusing Arab prisoners suddenly compelled United States President George W. Bush to be interviewed on the issue by the Arab media.

The decision is driven by an embarrassment that Bush and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld have fought hard to prevent from seeing the light of day: images of American soldiers and private Defence Department Contractors, such as CACI, brutalizing Arab prisoners in Iraq.

The images were first broadcast by Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera, the two top Arab satellite news stations, and they caused an uproar throughout the Arab world. Male and female soldiers and contractors are seen laughing while degrading Arab prisoners forced to pose naked. According to reports, a prisoner was "sodomized with a light stick" in a grotesque act of degradation and a violation of the Geneva Accords, which American foreign policy denies to the Arab world.

The abuses have focused on the Abu Gharib prison near Baghdad, but the disclosures suggest they are part of the problem that reflects fundamental American policy, practices and realities in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world.

The outrage in the Arab world is justified. The acts raise serious questions about Bush's vow to bring a new era of democracy to the Arab world by ending the brutality of such former dictators as Saddam Hussain.

The response of Bush defenders has been consistent: no matter how badly we treat the Arab people, it's nothing like what Saddam did in the same prison, which is where he had enemies of the state tortured.

The recent disclosures suggest otherwise and came despite the best efforts of the Bush administration to prevent the media from reporting on such embarrassing acts. That's why Rumsfeld assigns "embedded," i.e. controlled, American media personnel to sensitive military areas, and why Bush continually has attacked the credibility of the Arab world media.

The prison abuse scandal has put the issue of American misconduct centre stage and it opens the door to other acts of misconduct and allegations of criminal behaviour that the Bush administration and American invasion force have tried to squelch.

Even in this transparent and insulting public relations move, Bush worsens the situation and demonstrates further arrogance and disrespect in the selection of which two Arab world TV stations on which to make his plea.

Bush appeared on Al Arabiya, the Arab satellite news station based in Dubai. He did not appear on Al Jazeera, which has received the brunt of the Bush administration's unjustified attacks over the years.

The prison abuse scandal is one that Bush and Rumsfeld have tried to prevent – not the act of stopping the abuse, but stopping it from being reported. We don't know the true extent of American military abuses and possible war crimes because Bush and Rumsfeld don't want the media to cover those issues.

No wonder the prison guards engaged in the exposed atrocities were so gleeful in their abuses, smiling and posing as if they knew they would neither be punished nor exposed.

Most Arabs will recognise the prisoner abuses for what they are: just part of American military brutality. Dozens of allegations of civilian massacres by American soldiers remain unreported and addressed.

Rather than win the hearts and minds of the Arab world, American policies reinforce greater anti-American hatred because they fail to speak to the fundamental and legitimate complaints of the Arab world.

– Ray Hanania is a nationally syndicated columnist. He can be reached at www.hanania.com