WASHINGTON, May 5: President Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice has apologized for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners as the White House scrambled to stem growing Arabs' outrage.

"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people, and what the families must be feeling. It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened," Ms Rice told Al-Arabiya television in an interview on Tuesday.

"Obviously, people have to be incarcerated if they've done something wrong, but they should be treated with dignity," Ms Rice said. The new general brought in to run US military jails in Iraq offered his own and his nation's apologies for the abuse of prisoners on Wednesday to the people of Iraq.

"I would like to apologize for our nation and for our military for the small number of leaders and soldiers that have committed unauthorized and possibly illegal acts on the detained here at Abu Ghraib," Maj-Gen Geoffrey Miller said at the prison outside Baghdad where soldiers abused inmates last year.

Mr Miller told reporters: "I would like to personally apologize to the people of Iraq for the actions of a small number of leaders and soldiers who have violated our policies."

Mr Miller was brought in from Guantanamo Bay a month ago to take over the US detention and interrogation operation in Iraq after a report found serious abuses had occurred last year at Abu Ghraib.

"I will personally guarantee that this will not happen again in any of the operations we have for detention and intelligence gathering," Mr Miller said after showing reporters round the jail. He said we would ask the Red Cross if it would set up a permanent presence at Abu Ghraib to monitor activities there. -Reuters