WASHINGTON, May 19: More prosecutions could be added to the seven soldiers facing courts martial over the Abu Ghraib prison abuse, a top US general said on Wednesday admitting that widespread problems existed at the jail.
But as new allegations over the scandal that has sparked international outrage came out, the top two generals in charge of the occupation of Iraq said there was no "pattern" of abuse of prisoners.
General John Abizaid, head of US Central Command, and Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of US forces in Iraq, both took responsibility for the abuses when they appeared before the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
"We have already initiated courts martial in seven cases, and there may very well be more prosecutions," Mr Sanchez said. "We may find that the evidence produced in these investigations not only leads to more courts martial." He added that the army might go back to some of the cases which have already been handled.
The hearing came just after a court martial in Baghdad sentenced Jeremy Sivits to a maximum one-year jail term for his role in the humiliation of inmates at Abu Ghraib.
Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the armed services committee, said more images of abuse had been found. Three discs of digital photographs and video clips of abuse have already been uncovered. Warner said the new images were on a fourth disc.
"We have suffered a setback," Abizaid told the panel. "I accept responsibility for that setback." "From evidence already gathered, we believe that systemic problems existed at the prison that may have contributed to events there," Abizaid went on.
"We will follow the trail of evidence wherever it leads, we will continue to correct systemic problems. We will hold people accountable." Sanchez also assured lawmakers that measures had been taken to ensure no repeat of abuse of naked prisoners.
Abizaid told senators some 75 detainee abuse cases have been investigated in Iraq and Afghanistan since late 2002. He also said some homicide cases still had to be completed. "Abuse has happened in Afghanistan, it's happened in Iraq, it's happened at various places," he said.
But Abizaid insisted no widespread pattern of abuse exists at US-run detention facilities in Iraq. "I don't believe a culture of abuse existed in my command. I believe that we had isolated incidents that have taken place."
Sanchez made similar reassurances. "This awful episode at Abu Ghraib must not allow us to get distracted," he said. "America's armed forces are performing magnificently," Sanchez said.
"There has been no catastrophic failure, and America's armed forces will never compromise their honour." The generals denied knowledge of reported attempts to hold up an Abu Ghraib investigation by the International Committee of the Red Cross. -AFP
