ABU GHRAIB, Iraq – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, making a surprise visit to Iraq, went to the Abu Ghraib prison Thursday and told U.S. troops “we’ll get through” the international uproar over abuse of inmates there.
Arriving here with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers by helicopter in a dust storm, the embattled Rumsfeld called the abuse scandal a “body blow for all of us” but said he was determined that those in the wrong be punished.
“The people who engaged in abuses will be brought to justice,” the defense secretary said. “The world will see how a free and democratic society functions.”
Rumsfeld and Myers were accompanied here by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of the prison system in Iraq, who told Rumsfeld a new complex of outdoor camps is going to open soon on the grounds outside the main prison.
It will be called “Camp Redemption,” he said, at the suggestion of the Iraqi Governing Council, and will provide better living conditions for the detainees. Rumsfeld has heard many calls for his resignation in the wake of publicly released photos showing abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. forces. President Bush has given him a vote of confidence.
“I’ve stopped reading newspapers,” Rumsfeld quipped to the troops here. “You’ve got to keep your sanity somehow. I’m a survivor.”
In a talk with reporters earlier, Rumsfeld said, “As far as I’m concerned, I’d be happy to release them all (photos) to the public and to get it behind us. 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.
“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.”
Associated Press
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addresses soldiers Thursday at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq.
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