Rumsfeld apologises

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took responsibility yesterday for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops and offered his "deepest apology" to the victims, but said he would not resign just to satisfy his political enemies.

"These events occurred on my watch as secretary of defense. I am accountable for them. I take full responsibility," Mr Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Warning that he had seen new photographs and a videotape not yet made public that were hard to believe, Mr Rumsfeld said: "I feel terrible about what happened to these detainees. They are human beings, they were in US custody, our country had an obligation to treat them right. We didn't. That was wrong.

"To those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of the US armed forces, I offer my deepest apology."

The tense hearing, broadcast live in the Arab world as well as the United States, carried major implications for Mr Rumsfeld's future but also for US support for President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

Mr Rumsfeld, lacking his trademark bravado, said he had created a special commission to investigate the actions. But Arizona Senator John McCain said Americans needed all the available information at once, adding he was concerned that images of abuse would erode domestic support for the war.

Several Democrats, including presidential candidate John Kerry, have called for Mr Rumsfeld's resignation because of the physical and sexual abuse of Iraqis held at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, which had previously served as a torture center under deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

However, Mr Bush has said he retains confidence in his defence secretary.

Asked by South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham whether he could still perform his duties effectively, Mr Rumsfeld said: "Needless to say, if I felt I could not be effective, I would resign in a minute. I would not resign simply because people are trying to make a political issue out of it."

He also said it would be "not a bad idea" to tear down the Abu Ghraib prison.

Warning that the worst in the scandal was yet to come, Mr Graham said: "I'd be very disappointed if the only people prosecuted are sergeants and privates. That would be very bad and sad."

Mr Rumsfeld said he erred by failing to grasp the significance of the scandal and informing the president.

"I failed to recognise how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including the president and the members of Congress," he said.

The committee chairman, Virginia Republican Senator John Warner, said the abuse, vividly depicted in photographs of naked Iraqi detainees being mocked, humiliated and sexually abused by US personnel, represented as serious a case of military misconduct as he had ever seen in his long career.

Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin called the abuse "depraved and despicable." He said Congress needed to know how far up the chain of command the abuse went, whether it was part of a conscious policy, condoned by top officials, of softening up detainees before interrogation.

So far, six people have been criminally charged and six military personnel have been reprimanded.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday there had been widespread abuse and human rights violations in US-controlled Iraqi detention centres, which appeared to go beyond the revelations that have emerged from Abu Ghraib.

Mr Rumsfeld repeatedly said he had not realised the extent of the abuse until he saw the photographs. He said he had seen more horrific images on Thursday evening that he hoped would never be leaked to the media because they would do much more damage to the United States.

The scandal exploded last week with the release of photographs showing grinning uniformed personnel posing in front of naked detainees. One photograph that appeared on Thursday depicted a naked Iraqi on his knees with a leash around his neck that was held by an American servicewoman.

Mr Bush apologised for the abuse on Thursday. He has rebuked Mr Rumsfeld but said he wanted the defence secretary to remain in his job.

The New York Times, St Louis Post-Dispatch, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, New York Newsday, Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Detroit Free Press all called for Mr Rumsfeld to step down in editorials on Thursday or yesterday.

The US military also said yesterday it had punished two Army Reserve soldiers who assaulted prisoners while working as guards at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects.