Bush: Punish 'shameful' troops

2004-05-04 07:41

Washington - President George Bush on Monday urged Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to ensure that American soldiers found guilty of "shameful and appalling acts" be punished.

Bush's comments came as the Pentagon said it was pursuing five separate investigations into allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

One, launched in mid-April, delves into interrogation methods of US military intelligence officers in Iraq.

A Pentagon spokesperson said: "It's going to take some time to sort through exactly what the facts were."

Members of Congress also pushed for swift action. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Virginia Sen. John Warner, summoned Pentagon officials to face his panel on Tuesday.

"These allegations of mistreatment, if proven, represent an appalling and totally unacceptable breach of military conduct that could undermine much of the courageous work and sacrifice by our forces in the war on terror," Warner said.

Humiliated

Another Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, feared that photos depicting Iraqi prisoners in US custody apparently being sexually humiliated and physically abused, which have been widely broadcast on TV in recent days, could incite more violence against American troops in Iraq.

Faced with a growing public-relations headache, Bush aides were trying to convince their Arab counterparts that the abuses were the exception, not the rule.

The UN special investigator on torture, Theo van Boven, issued a statement late on Monday expressing serious concern about the reports of torture and "other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of Iraqis detained by US and British forces.

On Monday, officials said seven officers, all military police, have been reprimanded in a form of non-criminal punishment.

Rumsfeld has had no public comment on the controversy since it began with the broadcast, on the CBS News program "60 Minutes II", of photographs taken by US military guards inside the Abu Ghraib prison last year.

The CIA, which is involved in some aspects of Iraqi prisoner interrogations, also is investigating, agency officials said.

- AP