Bush's appearance on Arab television was set for the day after the Army disclosed that it is conducting criminal investigations of 10 prisoner deaths in U.S. custody in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), plus another 10 abuse cases.
In addition, the deaths of two Iraqi prisoners already have been ruled homicides. In one case, a soldier was court-martialed, reduced in rank and discharged from the Army. In the other homicide, a CIA (news - web sites) contract interrogator's conduct has been referred to the Justice Department (news - web sites) for criminal prosecution.
McClellan said two 10-minute interviews with Bush were scheduled for Wednesday.
In an interview with Ohio reporters during a campaign swing through the state Tuesday, Bush sidestepped an opportunity to apologize for the abuses.
Asked if it would be appropriate for him to apologize to the Iraqi people on behalf of Americans, Bush said he would await a briefing Wednesday by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on the investigations "and then I'll take the appropriate response after that," according to an account in Wednesday's Columbus Dispatch.
Senior military officials braced for broader investigations. "I expect that as these investigations track down all the possible leads that there will be more things that will need to be looked at very, very carefully," Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Wednesday in an appearance on CBS' "The Early Show."
"As they chase the various elements, more people come forward with bits and pieces they think they might have and that leads you to look at other things," Pace said. "So there will be more investigations. Where that will lead I don't know."
Other administration officials tried to assure the American public and the world that the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad was an aberration, and that guilty parties would be dealt with swiftly and firmly. They listed a host of investigations under way, as members of Congress called for their own probe.
Rumsfeld did not directly apologize for the abuses in a Wednesday appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America," but said, "Any American who sees the photographs that we've seen has to be feel apologetic to the Iraqi people who have been abused and recognize that that is something that is unacceptable."
He said it is too early to say whether financial compensation might be provided to abused prisoners, but he noted that "from time to time various types of compensation and assistance have been provided to Iraqis whose circumstances were altered unfairly."
Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said Wednesday that if adequate answers to questions about the abuse of prisoners are not provided, then top officials, including Rumsfeld, should resign.
"If it goes all the way to Rumsfeld, then he should resign," Biden told "Today" on NBC. "Who is in charge? I mean, look, every single, solitary decision made almost since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) has been mistaken. Who's making these decisions?"
Sen. John McCain said on ABC "it's time the Defense Department turned over all documents relative to this" to Congress. He said the outrage over the abuse can put U.S. military people at greater risk. "I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai," Powell, a former Army general, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" program, referring to the notorious 1968 incident when U.S. soldiers gunned down hundreds of Vietnamese villagers in what was thought to be a Viet Cong stronghold. "I got there after My Lai happened. So in war these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they're still to be deplored."
In the face of worldwide condemnation, Rumsfeld called the images of physical and sexual abuses at Abu Ghraib "totally unacceptable and un-American," adding that no one should believe the behavior captured in the photographs was tolerated.
"The actions by U.S. military personnel in those photos do not in any way represent the values of our country or of the armed forces," Rumsfeld said.
Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), Bush's national security adviser, told the Arab television network Al Arabiya that Bush was "determined to find out if there is any wider problem than just what happened at Abu Ghraib. And so he has told Secretary Rumsfeld that he expects an investigation, a full accounting."
In a sign the probe of prisoner treatment was widening, U.S. military officials acknowledged Tuesday that a CIA contract interrogator was under investigation in connection with the death of an Iraqi prisoner. So far, six military police face charges that may lead to courts-martial; seven more have been disciplined administratively.
Rumsfeld offered few new details of what had taken place at Abu Ghraib, a notorious prison during Saddam Hussein's regime that was taken over by U.S. troops.
It was Maj. Gen. Donald Ryder, the Army provost marshal, who acknowledged the homicide finding. Other Army officials provided some details, including that it involved a CIA contractor. The circumstances of the death and the identity of both the interrogator and prisoner were uncertain.
The Justice Department and CIA declined comment on any specifics, although the CIA had said previously that its inspector general was looking into the circumstances of the death of an Iraqi prisoner at Abu Ghraib.
The Army also said one soldier had been court-martialed for using excessive force in shooting to death an Iraqi prisoner in September. The Iraqi prisoner, who was not at Abu Ghraib, was throwing rocks at the soldier. The soldier was reduced in rank and dismissed from the Army, an official said.
Since December 2002, the Army has investigated the deaths of 25 people in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the two determined to be homicides, Ryder said. Of those, 12 were found to have died of natural or undetermined causes. One killing was found to be the justifiable shooting of a prisoner attempting to escape. The remaining 10 cases remained under investigation.
Another 10 cases of abuse, assault and other crimes on prisoners also remained under investigation, Ryder said. Many of the allegations of abuse were contained in an internal Pentagon report completed in March.
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., demanded to know why Bush was not earlier informed of the report and why Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers had not yet read the two-month-old document.
Bush's spokesman, McClellan, said the president first became aware of the allegations of abuse some time after the Pentagon began looking into it, but did not see the pictures until they were made public last week. Bush did not learn of the classified Pentagon report until news organizations reported its existence, McClellan said.
This is way out of control. F-ing traitor.