Top level probe into 'torture'
2004-05-04 21:42
Maumee - The White House confirmed on Tuesday the Pentagon had launched an investigation to ensure that abuse of Iraqi detainees by United States troops was not widespread and never happened again.
The US defence department is "taking a comprehensive look at the entire prison system to make sure there's no systematic problem," said spokesperson Scott McClellan.
US President George W Bush "very much wants the Pentagon to take a broad look at this and take action against those who were responsible for these appalling acts", said McClellan as Bush barnstormed vote-rich Ohio.
On Monday, a senior US administration official said the Pentagon had sent Major-General Geoffrey Miller, a former chief of the detention centre at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Iraq after graphic photos of abuse left Washington with a global public relations crisis.
"What the president wants to know is: is there any broader, systemic issue that needs to be looked at," the official told a small group of reporters. "He wants to know, obviously, the whole story."
McClellan said Bush had told Rumsfeld "to make sure that the military was taking strong steps to address the matter and prevent prisoner abuse from happening again".
- AFP