[mburbank]

BUSH APOLOGIZES!!

A day after he stopped short of apologizing, Bush told Jordan's King Abdullah II: "I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families.

"I told him I was as equally sorry that people seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America," Bush said, standing in the Rose Garden alongside Abdullah.

The president's statement went beyond his comment Wednesday that the abuse of prisoners was "abhorrent" and "does not represent the America that I know."

His lack of an apology Wednesday was striking, and his spokesman said later that the president was sorry. Bush gave voice to that sentiment Thursday.




I smell a FOCUS GROUP!!! Naw, I bet he just plum forgot to apologize on A-rab TV. Or maybe he felt worse about things today. Or maybe he just felt more apologetically inclined standing next to a real, live King.