Bush failed to consult with Iraqi Council re prison zapping

I continue to be amazed and disappointed at Bush's continued lack of common sense. You would think that he would have consulted with the Iraqi Governing Council to learn their opinion before he publicly put his foot in his mouth once again. When will this man ever begin to learn from his mistakes. Does he think he is infallible? ---BBB

Iraq Council Slams Plan to Destroy Prison
Wed May 26, 4:22 PM ET
By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - President Bush's offer to demolish Abu Ghraib prison found little support among Iraqis, with the head of the Governing Council on Wednesday calling the idea "a waste of resources."

"We must not be sentimental," Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer told reporters. "Torture has taken place in every vault in Iraq. As the Governing Council, we do not agree with demolishing it and the matter will be left for the transitional government" which takes office June 30.

He called the idea of destroying the prison "a waste of resources."

Bush told an audience Monday night at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., that Abu Ghraib, scene of prisoner abuse by U.S. troops and notorious for torture under Saddam Hussein, will be destroyed "as a fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning."

But the offer has found no takers.

Some Iraqi leaders and human rights activists criticized Bush's proposal, arguing the country needs prisons ?- albeit well-run ones ?- and cannot afford the luxury of tearing down usable structures ?- even if it means stamping out symbols of past repression.

Interior Minister Samir Shaker Mahmoud al-Sumeidi said he understood Bush's desire to "remove the memory and the stain" of the prisoner abuse scandal. Still, he argued it would be better to change the way the prison is managed rather than construct a new building.

Oqail Sawar, a columnist for the Al-Ayam daily, declared that the only way to remove the injustice from Iraq is not to tear down Abu Ghraib but for the United States to make a genuine apology and for "the torturer murderers to be handed over to an objective, international, just judiciary."

On Tuesday, Ahmed Hassan al-Uqaili, deputy chief of the Human Rights Organization in Iraq, dismissed Bush's promise as a Republican ploy "to win the (presidential) election in the United States."

Amnesty International has also criticized Bush's pledge, arguing that leaving the prison standing could help in prosecuting crimes committed there during the regime.

Last week, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits became the first American soldier convicted in the prisoner abuse scandal and received the maximum penalty of a year in prison, a bad conduct discharge and reduction in rank to private. Six other members of the 372nd Military Police Company, a Reserve unit from Maryland, also face a court-martial.

Three of them ?- Sgt. Javal Davis, Staff Sgt. Ivan L. Frederick and Spc. Charles Graner Jr. ?- will appear at a hearing in Baghdad on June 21.