U.S., Britain, Seek to Contain Iraq Abuse Scandal

[Dalamar Stormcrow]

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) - The United States and its main Iraq war ally, Britain, sought on Monday to limit fallout from the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal as a leaked report said the Red Cross alerted them months ago to such mistreatment.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, facing calls he resign over the scandal that has outraged the Arab world and shaken U.S. prestige, got a resounding vote of support from President Bush, after a one-hour meeting at the Pentagon.

Bush also viewed more graphic photographs of prisoner abuse, which the Pentagon was considering making public

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, already under pressure at home for backing the Iraq war, followed Bush in apologizing for the mistreatment.

"We express our total condemnation and disgust at any abuses that have been carried out," he said, while his government said some soldiers implicated in the mistreatment could soon face prosecution.

A Feb. 4 Red Cross report that appeared on the Wall Street Journal Web site on Monday said delegates of the international relief agency saw U.S. troops keeping Iraqi prisoners naked for days in darkness at the Abu Ghraib jail in October, and were told by the intelligence officer in charge it was "part of the process."

The report also described British troops forcing Iraqi detainees to kneel and stomping on their necks in an incident in which one prisoner died.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had repeatedly alerted U.S.-led occupation authorities to practices it described as "serious violations of international humanitarian law" and "in some cases tantamount to torture."

PRESSURE BUILDS

The Red Cross visit took place two months before pictures were taken of U.S. troops abusing prisoners, which later led to criminal charges against seven soldiers.

Pictures of Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by Americans at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad were broadcast by CBS television two weeks ago, triggering the scandal.

U.S. officials have described the abuse as isolated. Bush on Saturday called the acts the "wrongdoing of a few."

Bush told reporters after his meeting with Rumsfeld he continued to stand firmly behind Rumsfeld despite calls by some Democrats for the secretary to resign. Rumsfeld said last week he would not quit "simply because people try to make a political issue out of it."

"You're doing a superb job. You're a strong secretary of defense and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude," Bush told Rumsfeld.

But pressure on top officials showed no signs of abating.

The independent Army Times newspaper, widely read in the U.S. military, rebuked Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday for "a failure of leadership," and added that accountability might mean "relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war."

A member of U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council said senior U.S. officials should be held accountable for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners, while the U.S. ambassador to NATO said the scandal had plunged the Bush administration into crisis.

The U.S. Congress awaited arrival of new images of mistreatment of Iraqi detainees and prepared to pass a resolution meant to assure the world such abuses would not happen again.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told reporters that officials hadn't ruled in or out release of the unpublished photos seen by Bush.

Di Rita said the pictures included "inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature," but provided no details. He also did not specify the content of the pictures Bush viewed.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had seen more than a dozen photographs and his reaction "was one of deep disgust and disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appalling acts. It does not represent our United States military and it does not represent the United States of America."

[john]

More and more reports of abuse as a regular treatment are turning up.Most of which are comming from the red cross!It seems this is business as usual in Iraq!When is this administration going to come clean and face the music!?I'm sick of people backing Bush Chaney and Rumsfield.These jerks should be held accountable!! No more cheap excuses!!!The American people are being help up to the world because of the Village Idiot and friends!If this kind of crap doesn't call for impeachment what the hell does!

[Dalamar Stormcrow]

I wholeheartedly agree. The bastard is just backing his ass up and trying to make the Idiot feel more comfortable about his plan, which is as solid as a shoe string. I say impeachment if not an immediate mandatory resignation. He needs to go Nixon style.

[Dalamar Stormcrow]

And these reports are from December! From what could be, these abuses could still have been going on until late March! What really sickens me is not what the people do(thought it does seriously sicken me) but that Bush wants to keep this under the carpet and let it go on! People do not deserve to be treated this way!

[Azred]

Unfortunately, the Iraqi Prisoner Abuse scandal (why hasn't the media called it AbuseGate yet?) is insufficient to warrant impeaching Bush. Were we to have impeached or forcibly resigned every President who either allowed or failed to stop any act of wrongdoing, then every President (at least since FDR) would have had to step down. The level of accepting responsibility does not go all the way up to Bush.
On the other hand, Rumsfeld should resign. He withheld this kind of information from both his boss and the Congress since December? [img]graemlins/nono.gif[/img]

[Dalamar Stormcrow]

Correct.

[Larry_OHF]

Rumsfeld should resign. He withheld this kind of information from both his boss and the Congress since December?

I am with you on that point.

[Khazadman Risen]

Congress has known about what went on at Abu Ghraib since January. They only got worked up about it when the pictures that idiot took surfaced. And it turns out that she did not take them to show us what was going on at the prison like she claims. She took those pics because she has had a facination with pictures of torture and death. Her cop father would bring them home to her! How sick is that?

[Timber Loftis]

You have got to show Rummie made the decision if you want him to resign over it. As pointed out, Rummie ain't the only one who has known about this for months. But, let's not miss the point here -- so long as there is someone to chant "fire him, fire him," and so long as they can keep the administration wrapped up in investigations, meetings, meetings about meetings, and investigations about meetings, the liberals are happy to do so. A great strategy, actually.

Anyway, I sure hope they release more pictures -- the world needs more grotesque sensationalism in the media. Helps sell products, too.

[Dalamar Stormcrow]

Sorry. When I said Bush needs to resign, I screwed up and meant to put our "buddie" Rumsfeld