Bush: Abuse repulsed pope

2004-06-05 14:34

Rome - US President George W Bush said on Saturday Pope John Paul II was as "repulsed" as he was by the pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

"Like his Holiness, I was repulsed by the pictures I saw about the treatment by some of our troops toward Iraqi prisoners," Bush told a press conference in Rome about his audience with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church the day before.

In his first reaction to his audience with his Iraq policy's fiercest critic, Bush told reporters the meeting "was a very constructive, positive, visit".

In an apparent allusion to Abu Ghraib, the pope said the "deplorable events" had troubled the civil and religious conscience of all "and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values".

"The treatment did not reflect the spirit of America. Those people stained our honour," said the president, who reaffirmed there would be a full, transparent investigation.

"And it's important for the people of the Middle East to see the rule of law, and to see somebody being held to account in a transparent way."

Bush's views were defended by his staunch ally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, at the joint press conference which came before the president left Rome for Paris.

"I must highlight the deep difference between a dictatorship, where torture is usually standard practice and continuous, and democracy, which has the ability to denounce it, to report the mistake and punish the culprits in a very clear way," said Berlusconi.

He said the United States did not bear collective responsibility for what occurred at Abu Ghraib.

"The crime of one or a few people cannot be blamed on a whole population," he said.

- AFP