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Nation & World News Photos fuel terrorist causes Photographs of soldiers degrading Iraqi prisoners have been a blessing to terrorists, observers say By Jim Landers The Dallas Morning News (KRT) WASHINGTON — American sol diers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners has set back the Bush administration's efforts to rally the Arab world to embrace democratic values and reject Islamic extremism, Arab commentators say. "This is basically a very good and useful piece of propaganda to be used by the extremist forces who are wag ing war right now in several countries, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia," said Mansoor al-Jamri, editor in chief of the Bahraini newspaper A1 Wasat. "Many people didn't believe the Americans were going to brutalize the Iraqi people. They thought they might be tough, that they might bomb a mosque where somebody was snip ing at them, but to brutalize prisoners was out of the minds of the majority of the people — even those with anti American feelings," he said Tuesday. Photos of U.S. soldiers engaging in abuse and humiliation of inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison have been widely published in the Arab press since first aired last week in the Unit ed States. Cable news outlets such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya have shown the images repeatedly. An Arab League spokesman described them as "beyond disgust." President Bush has said he was dis gusted by the abuse, and White House National Security Adviser Condoleez za Rice appeared Tuesday on Al-Ara biya to describe the detainees' treat ment as "unacceptable." "We will get to the bottom of it," she said. "And those who are respon sible will be punished." In a sign of the administration's concern over the controversy, Rice said President Bush would speak di rectly to the Arab world. The White House said the president would do interviews with Arab TV, but offered no timetable. John Zogby, president of the opin ion-polling firm Zogby International, said the photos would confirm nega tive views of the United States held by most Arabs. "I have heard it said this will hurt our image in the Arab world. But I don't think anything can hurt our im age in the Arab world anymore," he said. "The war in Iraq and the embrace of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon's plan for Gaza and the West Bank have done serious damage to our relations with the Arab world, not only our diplomatic relations but with the public," Zogby said. Pictures apparently showing British soldiers abusing Iraqis were pub lished in London on Saturday, further inflaming the situation. The Saudi cabinet Monday called the abuse por trayed by both American and British forces "inhuman and degrading." A-Jamri said the abuses would make it difficult for governments in the region to support the U.S. democ racy initiative. "For those seeking another vision for the Middle East, they find it very difficult to put Iraq forward and say, 'We are offering an alternative to Sad dam Hussein's way,"' he said. "This looks to the Arab people like their governments succumbing to the Is raelis and the Americans. "It's dominating the talk of the re gion," he said. Some military officers and journal ists suggested the British photos, in cluding a soldier apparently urinating on a hooded Iraqi prisoner, were fakes. If so, it will take considerable Turn to PHOTOS, page 5 U.S. chief of prisons decides to lessen prison population Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller has also decided to stop using hoods to cover the faces of detainees in Iraq By Evan Osnos Chicago Tribune (KRT) BAGHDAD, Iraq — Vowing to fix Iraq's troubled detention and interro ' gation system, the new U.S chief of prisons in Iraq said Tuesday that he has suspended the widespread prac * tice of placing hoods over detainees' heads and that he intends to signifi cantly reduce the population at the main prison. Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller headed the U.S. detention center at Guan tanamo Bay, Cuba, until he was trans ferred to Iraq a month ago to repair mistakes uncovered by a widening investigation into abuse at the U.S. run Abu Ghraib prison west of Bagh dad. With Iraq and the rest of the Arab world seething over photographs publicized last week showing naked prisoners with bags over their heads being humiliated by U.S. guards, Miller quietly ordered a ban Friday on placing hoods on Iraqi prisoners. On Arab television and in newspapers, the image of prisoners in dark hoods has become among the most potent and ubiquitous symbol of the U.S. led occupation, shorthand for the sys tem of raids and arrests that Iraqis deeply resent. "We just made the decision we did not want to use that technique," Miller said Tuesday in interviews with a group of reporters in Baghdad. "I believe (the hood) sends a message we do not want to send to the civilian population." Thursday, May 6 ETHICS IN JOURNALISM AT UO 11 a.m. 2004 Payne Awards for Ethics in Journalism NEWS CONFERENCE TO ANNOUNCE THE 2004 WINNERS. CHAMBERS ELECTRONIC MEDIA CENTER, ALLEN HALL, UO. 4 p.m. 2004 Ruhl Lecture John S. Carroll, Editor, Los Angeles Times “The Wolf in reporter’s Clothing: The rise of Pseudo-Journalism in America ” 2 0 0 4 Sponsored by the university of Oregon SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION FOR INFORMATION CALL (541) 346-3819 AT THE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND COMMUNICATION University of Oregon EO/AA/ADA institution committed to cultural diversity Miller said he plans to reduce the population at Abu Ghraib from 3,800 to less than 2,000 in coming months. Coalition officials have been increas ingly eager to slash Iraq's prison popu lation as a measure of goodwill to dampen rising antipathy toward the occupation. Once used by Saddam Hussein as a site of torture and executions, Abu Ghraib became the central U.S. deten tion facility for insurgents and foreign fighters. At times over the past year, it has been overcrowded, which has been cit ed by military investigators as a factor in failures of oversight that con tributed to abuse. 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