Abuse in Iraq not military policy

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Iraqi prisoner abuses were the actions of a handful of guards and their superiors who thought they were helping military interrogators, not the result of an official policy or order, according to the Army general who investigated the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.

Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba said the military police unit at Abu Ghraib was undisciplined, undermanned, poorly led and probably confused as to whether military intelligence officers or military police were in control at the building.

"We did not gain any evidence where it was an overall military intelligence policy of this sort," Gen. Taguba told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.

"I think it was a matter of soldiers with their interaction with military intelligence personnel, who they perceived or thought to be competent authority, that were giving them or influencing their action to set the conditions for successful interrogations operations," he said.

Some Republicans and Democrats, though, said they thought command decisions at higher levels set the stage for the abuses.

"I cannot help but suspect that others were involved -- that military intelligence personnel were involved, or people further up the chain of command, in suggesting to the guards specific types of abuse designed to break these prisoners," said Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican.

The Senate held its second set of hearings yesterday on the burgeoning issue of abuse of Iraqi prisoners, which became a subject of public debate two weeks ago when photos of the abuse were first aired.

On Friday, the committee heard from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who testified even as some members called for him to resign or be fired by President Bush.

Mr. Rumsfeld yesterday received a long ovation from military employees and contractors at a Defense Department town hall meeting at the Pentagon, where he said the military shouldn't be defined by the abuses and said military justice was already handling the cases.

"They acted responsibly and told the world that there were charges -- allegations of abuses. The military, not the media, discovered these abuses. The military reported the abuses, not the media," Mr. Rumsfeld said.