Sen. John F. Kerry criticized the Bush administration Wednesday for responding to U.S. military abuse of Iraqi prisoners in a "slow and inappropriate" manner, and called on the president to "guarantee that the world is going to have an explanation."
In his first direct comments about the misconduct, Kerry called the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers "absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable."
During a news conference outside Woodrow Wilson High School in northeast Los Angeles, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee also charged that the furor could "increase acts of terror against America and Americans."
Kerry has been reproached for being too cautious in taking on the administration over a string of recent controversies: whether the White House should have responded more aggressively to warnings of a possible terrorist strike before the Sept. 11 attacks; the increasing violence in Iraq; the muddled reconstruction efforts there; and the prisoner abuse issue.
His remarks Wednesday apparently were prodded in part by concern among some allies in Washington about his relative silence since reports of the abuse surfaced last week. These allies urged him to speak out more forcefully, a Democratic source said.
Kerry's press secretary, David Wade, rejected the criticism of the candidate, saying the Massachusetts senator had addressed the misconduct "from the very beginning" in a statement released by the campaign on Friday. Kerry's comments Wednesday, he said, were prompted by a need to "respond to new information."
"We're only now learning just how slow this administration was to respond, and how much information they kept from senators and the American people" about the actions of U.S. soldiers, Wade said.
The Kerry statement was released after photographs were made public showing U.S. soldiers laughing and smiling at naked Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Since then, further allegations of humiliation and torture have been made.
The statement said Kerry was "disturbed and troubled" about the treatment of prisoners. But when pressed by reporters on his campaign plane for further comment Sunday, Kerry demurred, calling the incidents "disgraceful" and referring to the four-sentence statement.
Kerry's Wednesday news conference came after he joined students and Latino leaders at a Cinco de Mayo celebration.
