The top US officer in Iraq is being pulled out and replaced with the US army's second-ranking general, it was reported today.
Military officials denied that the move to replace Gen Ricardo Sanchez with Gen George Casey was in response to the prisoner-abuse scandal.
But it comes at a time when Gen Sanchez has faced growing questions and criticism about his leadership during the scandal, and amid a growing security crisis in the war-torn country.
Pentagon officials told several US newspapers that the decision to replace Gen Sanchez was part of a routine overhaul of command in Iraq. Gen Casey is a four-star general, the army vice-chief of staff and more senior than three-star Gen Sanchez.
Photographs emerged showing the abuse of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison, near Baghdad, by US soldiers ultimately under the command of Gen Sanchez. He came in for criticism from some in the US Congress for not giving them an early warning about the photographs.
Although defence officials have put the abuse down to a group of rogue soldiers, some of the prison guards implicated claimed they were acting on orders to "soften up" detainees for interrogation.
AP