What an ungrateful lot.

We should not be persecuting this man, we should be getting down on our knees and thanking Rummy. So says G. W. Bush.

The mock formality with which Bush began his Pentagon press conference yesterday set the tone -- turning to Rumsfeld, he bowed and said, "I thank you for the hospitality you showed me during my visit." Rumsfeld responded with a smile and a bow of his own. It marked the proceedings as what both Bush and Rumsfeld regarded -- a sham of polite words. "You are doing a superb job. You are a strong secretary of defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude," Bush said of Rumsfeld.

This might have passed as a compliment a year ago, just after Bush announced major combat operations in Iraq to be over. Now, with a dozen images showing torture of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in the press, and the revelation that 1000s of more images exist; with the publication of a Red Cross Report detailing abuses at every American detention center, of repeated requests by the ICRC to the US to stop these abuses being ignored, Bush's demands for "gratitude" for Rummy are indeed a strong statement by the President, one of support indeed, but more like wishful thinking.