Iraqis not mollified by Bush

2004-05-07 11:35

Baghdad - Anger and resentment lingered on the streets of Baghdad on Friday over the prisoner-abuse scandal, but some Iraqis gave US President George W Bush credit for his unprecedented apology over the matter.

"I expected worse than this," said Abbas Fadel, 54, selling fruit from his shop. but added that the Iraqi people were far more concerned about getting jobs.

"The only thing he can do is build a national government, have free elections and then we don't want them any more."

In Baghdad's Salhia neighbourhood, Sunni and Shiite Arabs and Kurds mingled after the shops opened on Friday and were united in their condemnation of the pictures.

However, there was disagreement over the extent that the Bush apology had allayed Iraqi anger following the publication of pictures of naked prisoners in an array of humiliating sexual and demeaning poses.

Lots of promises

"His apologies are of no use to us because when the Americans arrived a year ago they gave us a lot of promises and they haven't delivered on them," said Shiite coffee stall owner Kadam Kasal, 37. He cited long power cuts and unemployment.

One of his customers, Shaker Mohammed Ali, 57, said he did not accept Bush's apology, condemning the president as a "liar".

"At the start I welcomed the invasion but then Bush did not carry out any of his promises to the Iraqi people.

"He said he would make Iraq one of the more prosperous of Arab countries but now we see all these horrible things, no security and no jobs. He hasn't kept his promises to us so it's impossible to trust him this time."

Tailor Hussein Abdul Zahara, 48, who has been kept busy making former Iraqi flags that have been replaced by the US-appointed governing council, also dismissed Bush's remarks. "I don't accept what Bush says and I don't accept his apology."

However, others gave him credit and believe Bush's words had defused growing tensions among young people, who many feared would turn to violence against US troops because of the humiliating pictures.

"It's a good thing what he did because he feels what happened was wrong," said Shaker Nasar, 23, a restaurant worker. "People don't feel the anger they did before."

Khalid Isa, who has a leatherware shop and was a staunch defender of the US-led invasion in March, claimed the row showed there was a commitment to stamp out such abuse.

"What happened under the Saddam regime has also happened now but the difference is that in a democracy the president himself apologised and they confessed that such a horrible thing happened.

"Under Saddam Hussein's regime, we wouldn't see such pictures on the television. We're very proud of the apology and that means they have great politics."

He said that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, under fire over the incident, should keep his job -- "because the President says so."

- AFP