President Bush made a forthright an unapologetic statement in defense of America and our values when he gave his interview to the Arab-language television network, Alhurra, yesterday. “Evidence of torture of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. personnel has left many Iraqis and people in the Middle East and the Arab world with the impression that the United States is no better than the Saddam Hussein regime, especially when this alleged torture took place in the Abu Ghraib Prison, a symbol of torture,” is the way his interlocutor began, according to the transcript posted by the White House. “What can the U.S. do, or what can you do to get out of this?”The president expressed his abhorrence of the mistreatment and stated it does not represent the “America that I know.” He stressed that America has sent troops into Iraq to promote freedom — “good, honorable citizens that are helping the Iraqis every day.”

Meanwhile the wires were reporting last night that the president upbraided Defense Secretary Rumsfeld for being tardy in warning the president of the misdeeds of the GIs at Abu Ghraib, which the president first learned about when it was broadcast on television. Mr. Bush was asked point-blank in his Middle East television interview whether he still had confidence in the secretary of defense and he said that he did. As well as in the commanders on the ground in Iraq. He declared “people will be held to account. …That’s what we do in America. We fully investigate; we let everybody see the results of the investigation; and then people will be held to account.” He marked that this stands “in stark contrast to life under Saddam Hussein” whose “trained torturers were never brought to justice under his regime.”

Aside from the perpetrators of the crimes at Abu Ghraib, Alhurra’s interviewer was able to find no one whom Mr. Bush would back away from. He reiterated his faith in the mission in Iraq, in the GIs in Iraq, and in the Iraqi people. At the end, his interviewer sought to find light between Mr. Bush and Prime Minister Sharon.

His interviewer noted that Mr. Bush “supported Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and you sent senior officials to Israel, and Israeli officials came to Washington and negotiated that plan” and then asked: “Do you think it was a mistake to support a plan before the Prime Minister secured the support of his own party?” Mr. Bush responded: “When you see a step toward peace, it’s important for a peaceful nation like America to embrace it. And I felt that a withdrawal from the Gaza by the Israeli Prime Minister, as well as the withdrawal from four settlements from the West Bank by the Israeli Prime Minister, was a step toward peace.…” He called it a “historic moment for the world. I think this is a good opportunity to step forth” and expressed confidence that “a peaceful Palestinian state” could emerge. No hemming, hawing, flipping or flopping for this president.