Rumsfeld apologetic, combative

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld yesterday acknowledged “my failing” in handling the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal, as he apologized to the victims and held out the possibility he would resign if he could no longer effectively lead the war on terror.

“I failed to identify the catastrophic damage that the allegations of abuse could do to our operations in the theater, to the safety of our troops in the field, the cause to which we are committed,” a contrite Mr. Rumsfeld told the Senate and House Armed Services committees in separate hearings.

Asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, whether he would resign if he could no longer be effective, Mr. Rumsfeld said the possibility was something “I’ve given a lot of thought to.”

“Needless to say, if I felt I could not be effective, I’d resign in a minute.”

Mr. Rumsfeld said he would not resign “simply because people try to make a political issue out of it,” in an apparent reference to several liberal Democrats who have called on him to quit in this presidential election year.

No Republican has made such a request.

Mr. Rumsfeld turned to a more combative posture when attacked by Democrats during his six hours of testimony.

He clashed with Sen. Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia Democrat and a fierce war critic. After Mr. Byrd said the Pentagon was slow to disclose the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, Mr. Rumsfeld said:

“The idea that this is a story that was broken by the media is simply not the fact. This was presented by the Central Command [in March] to the world so that they would be aware of the fact that these had been filed. What was not known is that a classified report with photographs would be given to the press before it arrived in the Pentagon.”

That report, done by Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, recounted the abuse and harshly criticized Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who led the 800th Military Police Brigade in Iraq.

Mr. Rumsfeld said he plans to offer some type of compensation to the Iraqi victims of abuse and will have senior former government officials from the Pentagon Defense Policy Board advise him on whether an overall independent investigation is required.

The Pentagon is bracing for even more scandalous snapshots. Personnel overseeing prisoners took hundreds of pictures and may have made a video. Only a relatively few pictures have surfaced so far. One question is whether any new pictures will implicate additional personnel or whether they are additional photos of the same people committing the same offenses.

“You can be certain more are coming out,” the defense secretary said.

After the hearing, Mr. Graham told reporters, “The American public needs to understand we’re talking about rape and murder here. we’re not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience.” He did not elaborate.

House and Senate Republicans almost unanimously backed the embattled secretary, but he did face stinging questions from Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican.

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