POWs of U.S. die Bush tries to curb furor over abuse

Under investigation are 35 cases of alleged abuse.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- Twenty-five Iraqi and Afghan war prisoners have died in U.S. custody in the past 2 1/2 years, including two Iraqi detainees who may have been murdered by Americans, senior defense officials said Tuesday as the Bush administration moved to contain international outrage over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.
Pentagon officials released few details of the deaths, which they said were among 35 cases of possible cases of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers.
President Bush will begin giving interviews to Arab media today to help mitigate Arab -- and international -- furor that followed graphic pictures of naked detainees being humiliated by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, Iraq. White House officials disclosed that Bush was made aware in late December or early January about allegations of abuse at the prison.
On Tuesday, national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald F. Rumsfeld made statements condemning the abuse, saying the president had demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
Investigation demanded
On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans called for a congressional investigation into the military's handling of Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad and bitterly criticized the Pentagon's failure to inform lawmakers.
There were also suggestions that similar problems existed at facilities used to house Afghan war prisoners as early as 2001.
In Baghdad, the new U.S. detention chief in Iraq said Tuesday that the military plans to reduce drastically the detainee population at the notorious jail and has embarked on a broad plan to eliminate abuse of prisoners throughout Iraq.
"There were errors made. We have corrected them," Maj. Gen. Geoffery Miller told a group of journalists in Baghdad.
Rice, in an interview on the Al Arabiya satellite television network, sought to counter the fallout from graphic photographs widely publicized throughout the Arab world.
"I want to assure people in the Arab world, Iraq, around the world, and the American people, that the president is determined to get to the bottom of it, to know who is responsible and to make sure that whoever is responsible is punished for it and held accountable," Rice said.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage also appeared in an interview Tuesday on U.S.-sponsored Al Hurra Arabic television, calling the mistreatment "despicable."
"What they did was illegal, against all regulations, against all standards. It was immoral," said Powell in an appearance Tuesday at the United Nations.
Rapid action
Powell, like other administration spokesmen, said U.S. officials acted rapidly and responsibly when they learned of the abuse. However, he acknowledged that he was worried about adverse effects on American standing abroad.
"Yes, I'm deeply concerned at the horrible image this has sent around the world," Powell said. "But at the same time, I want to remind the world that it's a small number of troops who acted in an illegal, improper manner."
At the Pentagon, Rumsfeld vowed to take "whatever steps are necessary" to punish any violations of military law in the treatment of detainees.
"The actions of the soldiers in those photographs are totally unacceptable and un-American," Rumsfeld said. "Any who engaged in such action let down their comrades who serve honorably each day, and they let down their country."
35 probes
Rumsfeld and Army officials detailed 35 probes of criminal misconduct by American personnel who handled detainees, all since December 2002. Ten of the 35 cases involved rape, assault and other injuries and are still under investigation, said Gen. George Casey, the Army's vice chief of staff.
Of the 25 deaths, 12 were labeled "undetermined or natural" causes. Ten more of the deaths remain under investigation.
Of the three remaining deaths, one was an Iraqi who was killed by an American guard while trying to escape. The shooting death was later ruled to be a "justifiable homicide," Casey said.
In the remaining two cases, Iraqi detainees were found to have been murdered, said another Army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. One soldier at a forward operating camp was convicted of using excessive force in September by shooting an Iraqi who was throwing rocks at him. That soldier, who was not named, was downgraded in rank from specialist to private and discharged from the Army but not jailed.
The second case, of a CIA contract worker who allegedly killed an Iraqi prisoner at Abu Ghraib in November, was referred to the Justice Department, the official said. The civilian could not be prosecuted under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, officials said.
All of the abuse allegations except one involved Army soldiers, Casey said. The exception involved an employee of "another government agency," a term often used to describe CIA operatives.
Other cases
In the Abu Ghraib abuse case, six soldiers, as yet unidentified, face criminal charges in court-martial proceedings, and six others have received letters of reprimand, Pentagon officials said.
More disciplinary actions are expected. An investigation is still pending of military intelligence officers, including Col. Thomas M. Pappas, who remains the military intelligence brigade commander though he was specifically named in a report by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba that detailed the misconduct at Abu Ghraib.