What he is Really Sorry About Is that the nation was caught torturing people. Because it is clear he was informed (retaining the information with Bush is another question) of the allegations of abuse well before the photos came out. Bush's aides disclosed that he learned about the extent of the torture from news reports, even as they noted that he had been informed earlier about a Pentagon investigation into allegations of abuse. But the aides could not narrow down -- even to the month -- when he was first told. "I've gone and looked and I've checked to try to help you all have that information," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters. "The president doesn't recall the specific time period." The conditions at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, notorious for its killings and brutal torture during the rule of Saddam Hussein, came to light when CBS's "60 Minutes II" broadcast photographs last week of a prisoner attached to wires and of others who were forced to pose naked in embarrassing positions. Further evidence that the Administration (and therefore in most cases the President, if the President wasn't an empty vessel) was aware of the abuse is the fact it was told repeatedly by the Red Cross it needed to improve conditions at Abu Ghraib prison. And more of Bush's pathological inability to say the words "I apologize"; apologies are for those who were not annointed by God [so Ashcroft is out too]: National security adviser Condoleezza Rice apologized on Arab television Tuesday. Bush did not repeat her sentiment, which was echoed by generals in the region. McClellan, who was not asked about any other topic during a 38-minute briefing yesterday, said Bush is "sorry for what occurred and the pain that it has caused." When asked why Bush did not say so himself, McClellan replied: "I'm saying it for him right now." I suppose its the nature of press spokesman to have to do the dirty work for the President -- I mean didn't Bill Moyers have to hold "jumbo" for LBJ when it was time to take a leak? But it is not very hard to apologize for most men, and I say that as a man who has spent a lifetime apologizing, often insincerely, for one thing or another [It's what men do -- next up on my tired old standup comedy routine -- airline food!]