  It has been apparant to many right-thinking people for some time that George W. Bush is utterly incapable of admitting fault, having never faced owning up to anything. This flaw is exacerbated by (and feeds off) his pathalogical lack of curiousity, which means that, so long as his subordinates are enthusiastic about an idea, his approval is a cake walk. Otherwise, he might have to actually read a proposal, or ask probing questions. I am stunned at Bush's response to the prisoner torture/killing under American auspices in Iraq: "The actions of these few people do not reflect the hearts of the American people. " ( urlLink Link ). While these actions may not reflect the amorphous, intangible "hearts" of Americans, they DO serve to define the general view of the USA in the eyes of the Muslim world. They also shine a light on our very American prediliction for marginalizing what the Bush men like to refer to as "brown" people.
So, instead of dancing around the subject, what Herr Bush should be doing is admitting that mistakes were made on his watch, and promptly moving to set an example in the prosecution of those responsible, while moving on a parallel track to review policies and procedures for military and intelligence operations and making substantive changes to prevent such abuse in the future. Of course, that would entail admitting a mistake and owning up to the whole mess. And as we have seen, W is incapable of even the smallest sliver of self-criticism. 
