Posted on 05/07/2004 1:30:48 PM PDT by Hal1950
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has offered his "deepest apologies" to Iraqi inmates mistreated by US troops.
Mr Rumsfeld told Congress he bore responsibility for the issue.
But he strongly denied the Pentagon had not taken "swift, corrective" action - and ordered an inquiry on the handling of the abuse by his department.
Mr Rumsfeld said only when he saw the abuse photos on Thursday - and there were many more than those aired - did he realise how grave the situation was.
Faced by calls to step down he said: "Needless to say, if I thought I could not be effective, I would resign in a minute."
He added that he would not resign "simply because people try to make a political issue out of it".
However, when asked if he might step down as an example to remedy the damage done, rather than as any admission of direct involvement in what occurred, Mr Rumsfeld replied: "It's possible."
I failed to recognise how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including to the president and members of Congress.
Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, opened the session saying the issue had done irreparable damage to US foreign policy. >[?
He said the purpose of the committee hearing was to find out why Congress was not kept informed when senators and congressmen were receiving endless calls to find out what was going on.
Mr Rumsfeld began his testimony flanked by senior defence officials, including the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Richard Myers.
He said "there are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence towards prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman".
There were also "many more photographs and indeed some videos".
The pictures I've seen depict conduct - behaviour that is so brutal and so cruel and so inhumane that anyone engaged in it or involved in it would have to be brought to justice.
"The pictures I've seen depict conduct, behaviour that is so brutal and so cruel and so inhumane that anyone engaged in it or involved in it would have to be brought to justice," Mr Rumsfeld said.
"Congress and the American people and the rest of the world need to know this."
"Be on notice, that is a fact."
Without apologising directly to the politicians, Mr Rumsfeld told the committee: "Let me be clear, I failed to recognise how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including to the president and members of Congress."
"I wish I had been able to convey to them the gravity of this before we saw it in the media."
The inquiry, he said, would examine "the pace, the breadth, the thoroughness of the existing investigations and to determine whether additional investigations or studies need to be initiated".
It had to report within 45 days from being set up.
Shouting members of the public interrupted Mr Rumsfeld's opening statement, urging the US to investigate a broad range of alleged human rights abuses of the Iraqis and for Mr Rumsfeld to be sacked.
'Doing our best'
The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Rumsfeld's abrasive style has won him many enemies on Capitol Hill.
The apology was the easy bit and Mr Rumsfeld remains on the defensive, our correspondent says.
Three main prisons - Abu Ghraib and Camp Cropper in west Baghdad; Camp Bucca, near Umm Qasr - hold inmates for extended periods.
Almost all inmates are "security internees"- suspected of posing a threat to the coalition
But true to form, he adds, the apology was laced with a steely note of defiance - let the world see how America, an open, democratic society dealt with the evil in its midst.
"Judge us by our actions," Mr Rumsfeld said in conclusion.
"We say to the world we will strive to do our best, as imperfect as it may be."
Senator John McCain - himself a former prisoner of war - asked insistently who had been in charge of the questioning of the Abu Ghraib inmates, wanting to know if civilian contractors had played a part in the interrogation of Iraqi prisoners or controlled the guards.
Hesitatingly, Mr Rumsfeld told the fractious hearing that two companies had been involved.
Other members of the committee wanted to know at what stage the defence secretary became aware of the abuse - to which Mr Rumsfeld replied "about 13, 14 January" with an investigation launched one or two days later.
He insisted it was not the media who had broken the story - but the Pentagon with its investigations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it passed a report on conditions at Abu Ghraib prison to US authorities in February - and on Iraqi prisoner abuse claims throughout 2003.
The ICRC's report, leaked to the Wall Street Journal, says the ill-treatment of Iraqi inmates went beyond exceptional cases - it was a practice widely tolerated.
There have been calls for Mr Rumsfeld's resignation from senior Democrat figures.
President George W Bush has said his defence secretary is an important part of the Cabinet and will remain in his post.
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