On FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace on May 16, panelist William Kristol, who is editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard, said during a panel discussion that the United States is “obsessing ... about a small prisoner abuse scandal.” During Kristol's exchange with his fellow panelist, National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams, Kristol added that President George W. Bush “will win the debate ... if the Democrats and the liberal media want to obsess about ... humiliation of Iraqi prisoners.”

From the May 16 edition of FOX Broadcasting Company's FOX News Sunday with Chris Wallace:

KRISTOL: We've got to win this war. And it is insane for this country to be obsessing ... about a small prisoner abuse scandal.

WILLIAMS: A small prisoner abuse scandal?

KRISTOL: Absolutely.

[crosstalk]

KRISTOL: ... and the president should make this point. The president will win the debate, will win the debate [sic] if the Democrats and the liberal media want to obsess about seven guys from Cumberland ... humiliation of Iraqi prisoners.

WILLIAMS: I see, I see. So you want to make this into liberals versus conservatives...

KRISTOL: Absolutely.

WILLIAMS: ...over the treatment of prisoners. Well, I think you should go talk to Senator Lindsey Graham and people who have been military prosecutors and they'll tell you that this is not what America should stand for.