Red Cross says it asked U.S. to act

Angry lawmakers summoned the secretary of defense to question him.
GENEVA (AP) -- The international Red Cross said today that it had repeatedly asked U.S. authorities to take action over alleged prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison before recent revelations about the way detainees were treated.
"We were aware of what was going on, and based on our findings we have repeatedly requested the U.S. authorities to take corrective action," said Nada Doumani, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaking from Amman, Jordan.
Doumani said the United States "took very seriously all our recommendations," though she didn't specify what the recommendations were or when they were made. It also wasn't clear if the Red Cross findings specifically related to the latest allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib.
The ICRC, which visits prisoners held by coalition authorities in Iraq, had previously declined to comment publicly on conditions at the prison.
"We've been visiting Abu Ghraib prison since already from last year," Doumani told The Associated Press. "We are of course aware of the situation since we talk with the detainees privately.
"We get testimony from them. We visit all the premises in this place. We crosscheck information we receive from different detainees. Definitely we were aware of what was going on in Abu Ghraib.
Doumani said the visits have been taking place every five or six weeks since last year. The most recent visit was March 20, she said.
The scandal over treatment of prisoners became widely known after CBS television broadcast pictures of smiling American guards with Iraqi prisoners in humiliating positions last week. That unleashed a huge international outcry.
The ICRC is designated by the Geneva Conventions on warfare to visit prisoners of war and other people detained by an occupying power. It traditionally discusses its observations only with the detaining authority, but has been under pressure to say whether it had specifically warned the United States about prisoner abuse before the photographs came to light.
Doumani didn't say specifically when it gave its first warnings, but that it was over a period of months.
Rumsfeld summoned
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was summoned by angry lawmakers to testify on Capitol Hill on Friday, while senators -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- discussed a resolution to condemn the abuses.
President Bush went on Arab TV on Wednesday and said Americans were appalled by the abuse and deaths of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers. He promised that "justice will be delivered."
Bush said that what happened at Abu Ghraib prison was "more than an allegation, in this case, actual abuse -- we saw the pictures. There will be a full investigation." He said he retained confidence in Rumsfeld.
However, White House aides said Bush let Rumsfeld know in recent days he was "not satisfied" with the way he was informed about the unfolding scandal. In particular, Bush was unhappy about learning of the pictures only when they were broadcast, and not before, said the aides, who spoke only on condition they not be identified by name.
Rumsfeld himself did not know about the images of naked prisoners and gloating U.S. soldiers until CBS-TV broadcast them, a senior White House official said.
The Washington Post, in its editions today, said it had obtained a new batch of more than 1,000 digital photos from Iraq. The newspaper said the photos ranged from snapshots depicting everyday military life to graphic images of various kinds of abuse. One posted on the paper's Web site showed a female soldier holding a leash that goes around a naked man's neck at Abu Ghraib prison. Friends and relatives of the soldier with the leash said the photo must have been staged, the Post said.
Six months before he stands for re-election, the prisoner-abuse controversy poses a major problem for Bush, already on the defensive about rising U.S. casualties and persistent violence in Iraq a year after he declared major combat operations completed.
Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic rival, said the president's remarks Wednesday were not enough.
"The president of the United States needs to offer the world an explanation and needs to take appropriate responsibility," Kerry said. "And if that includes apologizing for the behavior of those soldiers and what happened, they ought to do that."
Tough task
The difficulty of Bush's task Wednesday became clear in the first question from an Arab TV interviewer who said there was evidence of torture that made many Arabs believe the United States was no better than Saddam Hussein's government, notorious for torture and murder. The president murmured under his breath at the comparison.
Bush said the abuses were "terrible" for America's image abroad. "I think people in the Middle East who want to dislike America will use this as an excuse to remind people about their dislike," he told Al-Arabiya television, a satellite channel based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that is popular around the Arab world.
Reaction in the region to Bush's remarks was generally skeptical.
"Bush's statements today will not restore the dignity which the tortured detainees lost," said Sari Mouwaffaq, a Baghdad mechanic. "Bush's apology, or his attempt to find excuses, has no value to us."