Bush defends Rumsfeld; Democrats call for firing

By Seattle Times news services

President Bush

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One day after he stopped short of saying he was sorry in two interviews for Arab television, Bush said he was sorry for the abuses of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, Iraq. The gesture came during a White House Rose Garden ceremony with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

"I told him (Abdullah) I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families," Bush said. "I told him I was equally sorry that people who have been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America."

A variety of administration officials had advised Bush to apologize Wednesday during the Arab television interviews, and were puzzled when he did not, according to senior U.S. officials. Senior administration aides then made a push overnight for him to say he was sorry during his news conference with Abdullah, the officials said.

Photographs of prisoner abuse NOTE: These images are graphic and may be disturbing. They have been provided as part of a news service and have not been independently verified. · See images

Bush's decision to personally say he was sorry, and to do so next to an Arab leader and in language designed to resonate in Muslim culture, reflected growing concern among advisers.

White House officials are bracing for the release of more photos and planning long-term damage-control strategies. Bush continued those efforts yesterday by giving an interview of more than 30 minutes to a prominent Egyptian newspaper, and White House officials said they planned to release a videotape of the exchange to Egyptian television and the European Broadcast Union.

The president's words, however, were all but overshadowed by the mounting furor over Rumsfeld. It hit a fever pitch after Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, called for the defense secretary's ouster "for the good of our country, the safety of our troops and our image around the globe. If he doesn't resign, the president should fire him."

Many other Democrats on Capitol Hill soon echoed Harkin's call, but Republicans held their fire.

Bush defended Rumsfeld at his news conference with Abdullah.

"Secretary Rumsfeld is a really good secretary of defense," Bush said. "Secretary Rumsfeld has served our nation well. Secretary Rumsfeld has been the secretary during two wars. And he is an important part of my Cabinet, and he'll stay in my Cabinet."

	RON EDMONDS / AP Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday. Rumsfeld said he condemned the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers as 'totally unacceptable and un-American."

However, the president acknowledged that he had privately voiced displeasure to Rumsfeld in the Oval Office on Wednesday over the secretary's failure to inform him sooner about the investigation into abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, which Bush has said he gained full knowledge of only through recent media reports.

"I (told) him I should have known about the pictures and the report," Bush said.

Some Pentagon officials contend Bush was informed in January. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday on CBS' "Early Show" that beginning in mid-January, everyone "up the chain of command ... was kept apprised orally of the ongoing investigation."

Asked if Bush "was well aware of the situation," Pace replied, "Yes."

Rumsfeld's fate — as well as that of U.S. policy on Iraq, which he has directed since the war to topple Saddam Hussein — may hinge on the defense secretary's testimony today before the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

He canceled a planned speaking engagement in Philadelphia so he could huddle with top aides. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, returned early from a European trip to prepare.

Rumsfeld's future may rest with senior Republicans in the Senate and House. They haven't broken ranks publicly with the Bush administration, although many made clear yesterday that Rumsfeld's testimony today will determine whether to stand behind him or call for his resignation.

"The secretary of defense has the ultimate responsibility for everything that happens there (Iraq)," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a member of the Senate's Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees. "He knows that."

In what was perhaps a significantly hedged opening phrase, Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said: "At this point in time, I do not have any loss of confidence in Secretary Rumsfeld."

Behind the scenes, however, there's growing discontent with Rumsfeld among lawmakers of both parties. For now, it's focused most intensely on what they see as his lax oversight of Iraqi prisons where the abuses occurred, but it's rooted more deeply in frustrations over how Rumsfeld has managed the postwar occupation, the growing U.S. death toll, the rising cost, the lack of an exit strategy and his perceived arrogance in failing to work more closely with Congress.

Countering those concerns is a reluctance to disrupt Bush's national-security team in the midst of a war, and Republican reluctance to give a victory to Democrats, who are indicting not only Rumsfeld's oversight of Iraqi prisoners, but also the Bush policy on Iraq.

Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, took a shot yesterday at Bush's leadership regarding the handling of the prison abuses.

"As president, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command," Kerry said in Colton, Calif. "I will demand accountability for those who serve, and I will take responsibility for their actions."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi blamed the prison scandal and continuing violence in Iraq squarely on Rumsfeld.

"The war was planned and conducted by the Department of Defense," Pelosi said. "The DOD insisted on managing postwar Iraq and failed miserably thus far in bringing security and stability to that country because of its failure to plan adequately."

Some Republicans rallied around Rumsfeld and Bush.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called the Democrats' criticism nothing more than partisan politics.

"Democrats want to win the White House more than they want to win the war," DeLay said. "We can't let them think for one minute that their elected leaders aren't behind them 100 percent."

Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the Democratic broadsides a "blatant, overt political attempt to undermine the president by attacking the secretary of defense, even though these premature attacks may embolden the enemy and hurt morale."

But many Republicans are increasingly anxious.

A delegation of congressional Republicans last weekend called upon Karl Rove, Bush's political strategist, and urged action against defense officials responsible for missteps in Iraq. Rove assured them that Bush would be shaking up his defense-policy team before November.

Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said House Republicans remain concerned.

"I have been in a number of meetings with leadership and members who are concerned ... " he said. "I think anybody who is not concerned is not paying attention to it."

Compiled from Knight Ridder Newspapers, The Washington Post and The Associated Press.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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