INDEPTH: IRAQ
What they said
CBC News Online | May 11, 2004
"It's going to get a good deal more terrible, I'm afraid."
U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, May 7, 2004
"You are a strong secretary of defence and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude."
U.S. President George W. Bush on Rumsfeld, May 10, 2004
"These events occurred on my watch. As secretary of defence, I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility."
Rumsfeld before the Senate armed forces committee, during six hours of testimony, May 7, 2004
"I believe this has taken on such a powerful implication for our policies, not only in the Mideast but around the world, that it's not enough just for Secretary Rumsfeld to say that people at the lower ranks are responsible for this. This goes all the way up."
Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, May 6, 2004
"We live by our values. Some of our soldiers every day die by our values and these acts that you see in these pictures may reflect the actions of individuals, but by God, it doesn't reflect my army."
Brig.-Gen. Mark Kimmitt, April 30, 2004
"Supervisory omission was rampant."
"A few soldiers and civilians conspired to abuse and conduct egregious acts of violence against detainees and other civilians outside the bounds of international laws and the Geneva Convention.''
Maj.-Gen. Antonio Taguba, the army general who first investigated allegations of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, testifying before the Senate armed services committee, May 11, 2004
"These acts of abuse were not the spontaneous actions of lower enlisted personnel.''
Senator Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the armed services panel, May 11, 2004
"I told him [King Abdullah of Jordan] I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families. 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, that it made us sick to our stomachs."
Bush's apology, May 6, 2004
"We apologize deeply to anyone who's been mistreated by any of our soldiers. That is absolutely and totally unacceptable."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, May 9, 2004
"We as American soldiers have the highest regard for maintaining the dignity of the Iraqi people."
Maj.-Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who commands U.S. detention facilities in Iraq, while visiting the Baghdad prison, May 8, 2004
"As far as I'm aware, not merely myself but all other government ministers did not know these specific allegations until they arose in the newspapers recently."
Tony Blair, May 10, 2004
"As president, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command. I will demand accountability from those who serve and I will take responsibility for their actions."
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, May 6, 2004
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