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Thursday, May 13, 2004

"As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy to release them all to the public and to get it behind us," Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him from Washington. "But at the present time I don't know anyone in the legal shop in any element of the government that is recommending that."

The government lawyers argue that releasing such materials would violate a Geneva Convention stricture against presenting images of prisoners that could be construed as degrading, Rumsfeld said en route to the Iraqi capital on a trip that was not announced in advance due to security concerns.

Rumsfeld was accompanied by Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and several lawyers on a trip designed to reassure U.S. troops that the prisoner abuse scandal has not weakened public support for their mission and to get firsthand reports from the most senior commanders.

The Pentagon officials arranged meetings with the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, and other senior commanders.

Sanchez told reporters accompanying Rumsfeld that it appeared Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an associate of Osama bin Laden believed to be behind a wave of suicide bombings in Iraq, was responsible for killing Nicholas Berg, a young American beheaded by hooded men in an execution shown in a video posted on the Internet.

"All indications are that is the case," said Sanchez. Asked whether he meant Zarqawi personally carried out the execution, Sanchez said, "All indications are he did it."

Later, however, Sanchez said it wasn't clear that Zarqawi was present at the killing. "I don't know whether he was personally holding the knife or in the room," Sanchez said. "I do not know that."

Asked about Zarqawi's whereabouts, the general said, "We believe he's movng around the country."

Rumsfeld's trip followed President Bush's visit Monday to the Pentagon, where he got an update from commanders in Iraq and declared his unwavering support for Rumsfeld, who has taken a lot of criticism from members of Congress for his handling of the scandal. Some Democrats have called for his resignation, but Rumsfeld gave no indication Wednesday that he was considering quitting.

The 71-year-old defense chief did appear weary, however. He has weathered three lengthy rounds of questioning from congressional committees over the past several days. After taking questions aboard his plane for nearly an hour he called a sudden halt, saying his voice was giving out.

'The Garbage You Keep Reading'

He fiercely defended the Pentagon's response to the revelations of U.S. guards at the Abu Ghraib prison having subjected Iraqi prisoners to sexually humiliating treatment and photographing it.

"The garbage that you keep reading, about cover-up and the Pentagon doing something to keep some information from people, is unfair, inaccurate and wrong," he said. "And if I find any evidence that it's true, I'll stop it."

Rumsfeld predicted that the abuse scandal would get worse in the days ahead.

"More bad things will come out, unquestionably," he said without being specific. "And time will settle over this, and we'll be able to make an assessment of what the effect has been" on the effort to stabilize Iraq. "It clearly has not been helpful. It has been unhelpful."

Arab Media Even Worse Than U.S. Media

He went on to complain bitterly about the Arab media's coverage of U.S. operations in Iraq.

"We have been lied about, day after day, week after week, month after month for the last 12 months in the Arab press." He specifically mentioned the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya satellite TV networks.

In a separate interview, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, who runs the prison system in Iraq, defended his role in advising U.S. authorities last fall on how to set up a detention and interrogation system that would produce useful intelligence on people involved in the insurgency.

"I'm absolutely convinced we laid down the fo undations for how you detain people humanely ," he said. Miller said he plans to reduce the prisoner population at Abu Ghraid from the 3,800 who are there now to as few as 1,500 by June 15. In January, there were about 7,000 prisoners there, he said.

Among his first responses to the international outcry over the abuse photos, Rumsfeld sent Vice Adm. Albert T. Church, the Navy's top investigative officer, to the U.S.-run prison camp for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last week. Church, who accompanied Rumsfeld on his trip to Iraq, told reporters en route from Washington that he found no major problems at that prison in Cuba.

"The directions of the secretary of defense with respect to the humane treatment of detainees and the interrogation techniques were being carried out, as best we could determine," Church said. "We found minor infractions involving contact with detainees, and we documented eight of those."

Bad Haircut vs. Beheading

Of the eight, four were violations by military police soldiers who guard the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, three were violations by interrogators, and one was a barber who gave a detainee an "unauthorized haircut," a Mohawk-style cut that Church said amounted to humiliating the prisoner.

One of the violators, who punched a detainee in handcuffs, was punished by having his rank reduced, Church said.

Church said he felt confident in saying there currently were no major lapses in the humane treatment of Guantanamo prisoners, but he added that he could not be 100 percent sure because he took sworn testimony from only 43 people there, in addition to reviewing medical records of 100 detainees.

"We found no evidence of current abuse. Again I underline `current,'" he said.

Church was at Guantanamo Bay for two days last week. An assistant took a one-day look at the situation at the brig at Charleston Naval Station, S.C. Church did not mention what was found there.

© 2004 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Editor's note: