UNITED STATES: The US general who investigated prisoner abuse in an Iraqi prison told a US Senate hearing yesterday he did not find any evidence of "any order whatsoever, written or otherwise", that directed the military police to mistreat or torture Iraqi detainees.
However, Maj Gen Antonio Taguba said the soldiers identified in photographs of abuse may have been "influenced' by senior officers in what they did.
Asked who gave the order, Gen Taguba said: "I did not find any evidence of a policy or a direct order to those soldiers to do what they did," and while they were probably "influenced" by others they were not necessarily directed.
The doubt over the future of Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld continued yesterday despite Mr Bush's strong backing on Monday.
There were reports of a consensus emerging among Republicans that Mr Rumsfeld must go as more questions are raised about Pentagon failures in Iraq and further revelations about abuse.
The abuse scandal has now widened to focus on the way the US military prison system has been extended and operated since the 9/11 attacks on the US.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Iraqi prison Abu Ghrail was only the most notorious in a worldwide constellation of detention centres, many secret and subject to no public scrutiny. These included detention centres at US bases in Qatar and at Baghdad airport.
The Post claimed that every aspect of the system, which included transferring or "rendering" foreign prisoners on covert airlines to regimes that practised torture, was approved by the White House.
The Senate and the Defence Department were yesterday still negotiating how to display additional photographs and videos in the possession of the Pentagon. A military official said 400 of 1,200 pictures showed abuse, including one that depicted soldiers sodomising prisoners with chemical lights, and another showing sex between two US soldiers.
Washington Post executive editor Mr Leonard Downie said yesterday the newspaper had acquired more than 1,000 photos taken by US soldiers of life in and around Abu Ghraib prison. They had published no more than 10, partly to protect the dignity of prisoners who were naked.
Gen Taguba was called to testify to the Senate Armed Services Committee about his 6,000-page report which found numerous "sadistic, flagrant and wanton criminal abuses" at Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad.
A native Filipino with a reputation for integrity, Gen Taguba blamed the scandal on a failure of leadership "from brigade command all the way down", including a lack of discipline and training and a "rampant" lack of supervision.
He was referring to Brigadier Gen Janis Karpinski, commander of the 800th Military Policy Brigade in charge of Iraqi prisons who and has been suspended over the abuse.
Gen Karpinski claimed on CNN on Monday evening that she did not think the abuse in the pictures was "improperly done" as the MPs were following a "completely new procedure".
The Taguba report only covered the behaviour of MPs under her control, and a separate investigation is under way into the actions of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade at Abu Ghraib under the control of Col Thomas Pappas.
Sitting beside Gen Taguba at the hearing, Mr Stephen Cambone, the Defence Department's chief intelligence officer, disputed his conclusion that control in Abu Ghrail had been turned over to military intelligence, saying that it resided only with the military police.
In a further disagreement, Gen Taguba said it was against army rules for military intelligence to involve MPs in preparing detainees for interrogations, while Mr Cambone said he believed it was appropriate for the two groups to collaborate.
Several senators suggested that the abuse resulted from a decision inspired by Mr Cambone to send the army's Gen Geoffrey Miller to Iraq in late 2003 to review interrogation techniques.
Gen Miller had been based in Guantanamo, where Mr Rumsfeld had authorised harsh interrogation techniques for al-Qaeda suspects, including sensory deprivation, isolation and keeping prisoners naked. It was suggested the general transferred the harsher methods to Iraq.
Gen Taguba testified that Gen Miller set up a unit in Abu Ghrail that allowed military intelligence to use military police guards to condition detainees for interrogation.
He also left open the possibility the CIA and civilian contractors were also to blame for the ill-treatment, saying "a few soldiers and civilians conspired to abuse and conduct egregious acts of violence against detainees and other civilians outside the bounds of international laws and the Geneva Convention".
Sen Edward Kennedy asked if it was true that detainees were sent to other foreign countries for interrogation, like Saudi Arabia or Jordan. Mr Cambone replied: "Not that I'm aware."
Mr Cambone also insisted he had not known the "scope or scale" of the abuse until he read the Taguba report in the last two weeks.
The committee heard, however, that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had raised the issue of abuse and torture in US-run Iraqi prisons with the US authorities throughout 2003, "including at the highest level" in August.
Mr Cambone, undersecretary of defence for intelligence, denied seeing the Red Cross reports.
It also emerged yesterday that Mr Jakob Kellenberger, president of the ICRC on January 15th, met the Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, in Washington and raised concerns about "systematic and excessive" abuses in Iraq.
State Department officials have said that Mr Powell conveyed the concerns to Mr Rumsfeld shortly afterwards. Mr Rumsfeld testified on Friday that he did not recall this happening.
Mr Kellenberger also spoke to other senior officials that day, including Ms Condoleezza Rice and Mr Paul Wolfowitz, but only about Guantanamo.
In reply to Sen John McCain, Gen Taguba acknowledged that prisoners were moved around to avoid Red Cross inspections.