I think a sincerely meant “I’m sorry” is a fairly potent statement. True remorse is, sometimes, all one can offer after for something wrong, by way of atonement. If, say, Bush was out of the loop until it was too late to stop some attrocity, and reacted out of sincere dismay by saying to the world “I’m sorry for what happened; it will never happen again,” I don’t think there’s much more that he could or do, except making sure he keeps his promise.
The problem with Bush and Rummy’s apologies is they were late, apparently carefully scripted, at least partially coerced, and tended to reveal more of a regret for failures in the chain of command and military protocol (which lead to uncontrolled leaks to the media) than that Iraqi POWs suffered at the hands of sadistic American MPs.
If the Bush administration had been more immediately forthcoming, responsive, and contrite when these revelations first surfaced internally (many months ago), I’d be willing to accept at face value that the apologies were sincere, and that whatever corrective actions would be taken for the proper motives. As it is, I have the sick feeling if the neocons are upset now, it’s because of all the bad PR in an election year. I’m sure those immediately responsible are going to catch holy hell for what they’ve done, but I suspect they will indeed be made scapegoats for unnamed Intelligence officers who will continue to go about this business in a more professional and covert manner. Rumsefeld himself has previously expressed open disdain for the restrictions of the Geneva Conventions, and dismay at how such restrictions hindered our campaign against al Qaeda. Rumsfeld really set the tone for the intelligence community, what with Guantanamo inmates not being subject to Geneva Conventions protections and all that. That the Guantanamo “terrorists” fell into a legal grey zone that Rummy could exploit seemed to suit Bush just fine up until now. There is no recognition, as far as I can tell, that the unethical and immoral imprisonment of some number of non-combattants, who are denied all due process and legal representation, is bad enough, and that it sends quite an insidious message to all other soldiers, covert and otherwise, in the War On Terror.
Hey, actions have consequences, guys. You’re reaping what ye hath sewn, Bushco. Are you folks sorry people were treated inhumanely, or sorry some jackass lackeys got caught red-handed doing a sloppy job at it, making you look bad by proxy? Given your cavalier attitude towards human rights and international law up to this point, I’m forced to suspect the latter.