US: Reacting to worldwide criticism of the abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad by US troops, President Bush yesterday telephoned the Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, to urge that the perpetrators be punished for their "shameful and appalling acts".
Countries in the region have demanded action against those responsible for the humiliation and ill-treatment of Muslim prisoners by male and female American soldiers, which a Jordanian government spokesman called "war crimes".
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the US would conduct a comprehensive review of prisons in Iraq and that there was no excuse for the "appalling" pictures which have appeared in the media.
A claim by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Richard Myers, on Sunday that he had not seen a damning internal military report on the abuses has meanwhile been greeted with some scepticism.
Democratic Congressman Jeff Bingaman said "officials within the Department of Defence have known at least since January" about the internal report, which had found that Iraqi detainees were subjected to "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" and that the command structure at Abu Ghraib had collapsed.
It has also emerged that the CBS 60 Minutes programme told Gen Myers over two weeks ago that it had the pictures and delayed broadcasting them at his request until last Wednesday because of the upsurge of violence in Iraq.
The US military has reprimanded six US officers and a seventh received a lesser letter of criticism, Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad yesterday. Six other soldiers face criminal charges.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, yesterday said that the incidents were "despicable acts" and the Pentagon had a number of investigations under way.
"The acts of a few must not overwhelm" the goodness of the vast majority of servicemen and women, he said.
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden said "this is the single most significant undermining act that's occurred in a decade in that region of the world, in terms of our standing."
Reuters adds: US Marines besieging Falluja brought in a new Iraqi general with a history of standing up to Saddam Hussein yesterday to lead a force they have charged with putting down insurgency in the city.
Their initial choice, who outraged victims of the Baathist regime because of past service in Saddam's feared Republican Guard, said he was stepping aside, leaving command of the new Falluja Brigade to former intelligence officer Mohammed Latif.
In Najaf, another flashpoint city, US troops fired on suspected supporters of an anti-American Shia cleric who attacked their base with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
Two Iraqis, including a policeman, were killed and 15 were wounded outside the walls of the US base, local medics said.
As US commanders struggle to stamp out open rebellion in two cities and attacks that kill soldiers daily across Iraq, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said he expected the UN to approve some form of multinational force for Iraq once Washington hands back formal sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30th.
Yesterday, a US soldier was killed and two were wounded by gunfire south of Baghdad, the US military said.