corrente

Well, not exactly. Bush apologizes. Sorta. Again, even though it makes my head hurt, I parse Bush's words, as a public service:

"I told [visiting King Abdullah of Jordan] 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've been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America. I assured him that Americans like me didn't appreciate what we saw and that it made us sick to our stomachs."
(via WaPo)

Well.

It just gets more sociopathic, doesn't it? I've been sick to my stomach for some time now.

First, Bush still can't say "I'm sorry." (Even the SCLM are beginning to notice.) Instead, we get this weird indirection: "I told him I was sorry." (Which we don't really know, not having seen their private meeting.)

Sheesh, why not just say it? Not that it would mean anything now, anyhow, since now it just looks like He was forced into it, which He was. The time for the apology was during the TV speeches He made in public to the Iraqis, not in private to a King.

And then it gets even more sociopathic. Bush is equally "sorry that people who've been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America."

Bush just doesn't understand the meaning of the word "sorry"!

Bush might be "sorry" for the prisoner's suffering—and if he is, that should involve penitence. The torture was perpetrated by soldiers under His command, as commander-in-chief. They did evil, and they, and their acts, were His responsibility, and so He ought to feel penitent.

But then Bush goes on to say, He's "sorry that the people ... didn't understand...." This "sorry" cannot involve penitence—the understanding of the people who saw the pictures are not His responsibility.

Bush seems to think that "sorry" means "feeling bad." He "feels bad" about the torture, and he "feels bad" that people think ill of America, and somehow that all evens things out. It doesn't. I don't care if Bush feels bad; I want him to accept responsibility and show penitence. That might mean something.

And what puts the sociopathy over the top is the loopy emphasis on seeing the photos. Bush is "sorry for the people seeing these pictures..." and "Americans like me didn't appreciate what we saw..." So, if the photos had not been taken, and the torture had not been seen, there would be nothing to be sorry about. And indeed this is entirely consistent with the Bush penchant for secrecy. In Gitmo, for example, nothing is seen, so all is well. Stalin said: "No man, no problem." In today's media saturated world, Bush says "no image, no problem" (see back). Oh, and I love the little twist of "Americans like me"—as if there were some unnamed, doubtless evil, Americans, not like Bush, who were not sickened. What a piece of work!

Last month, we had a huge controversy over another series of brutal images: Hours of beating, whipping, scourging, torture, culminating in murder.

And what did The Mighty tell us? The wingers, the theocrats, the Jeebofascists, the MWs, and, through winks and nods, Bush Himself, all of them told us that these images of human suffering were of immense, indeed redemptive significance.

I'm referring, of course, to The Passion of the Christ. And that was just a movie!

Now, not in a movie, but in real life, we get beating, whipping, sexual abuse, rape, and murder—our own soldiers, acting just like the Roman soldiers of 2000 years ago. And what do the The Mighty have to say of this human suffering? Most are silent. Some make jokes. All of them minimize it. Hypocrites. Pharisees.

And Bush is using a lot of words where two would do:

"I'm sorry."

Haven't heard those two words yet.

I'd call it a total failure of leadership.