I think Bush's refusal to apologize is quite problematic, as are his proclamations that he would do nothing different if he could re-live the months before 9/11. Quite clearly, Bush owes no one a personal apology. However, there were systemic failures at multiple levels of the executive branch of the United States Federal Government. Admitting that something went wrong (an undeniable fact in the face of so many dead) is comforting, not disturbing. It means the administration knows where the problems are, and how to fix them. I think the administration has a very firm grasp of how to fix things, but the refusal to apologize makes for a difficult message: “Nothing went wrong, hence we won’t apologize, yet we are changing to correct for what went wrong.” This position is self-evidently incongruous.