Rumsfeld, Myers visit Baghdad

BAGHDAD – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and armed forces chief General Richard Myers visited Baghdad yesterday, insisting they were concerned about abuse of prisoners at US-run jails in Iraq.

Rumsfeld and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff flew into Baghdad international airport amid world anger at the images of US military police humiliating detainees. The pictures have deeply embarrassed the US administration and the defense secretary in particular.”I want to hear from those responsible for the day to day work of detainee operations,” Rumsfeld told reporters on his plane.”We care about detainees being treated right, we care about soldiers behaving right, we care about command systems working.”But Rumsfeld insisted he was not on a damping down mission after coming under serious criticism in the United States for his handling of the scandal.”If anyone thinks I am there to throw water on a fire they are wrong,” he said, adding he was going to Iraq “to thank US troops for the fine job they are doing and meet their commanders.”Rumsfeld and Myers went on to meet senior US officials, including Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, head of coalition ground forces in Iraq, at a former presidential palace now known as Camp Victory.The International Committee of the Red Cross, which last year warned of abuses at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail, has presented Washington with a new report that is critical of detainee conditions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior official travelling with Rumsfeld said.Rumsfeld arrived just hours after the military reported that a US soldier had been killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in Baghdad.And during his visit the coalition said a US marine had died Wednesday of wounds he suffered during security operations in Iraq’s western Al-Anbar province.The latest deaths took to 777 the number of American troops killed since the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March last year.A private coalition poll showed that more than 80 per cent of Iraq’s population disapproved of US-led forces in the country, the Washington Post reported yesterday.- Nampa-AFPThe pictures have deeply embarrassed the US administration and the defense secretary in particular.”I want to hear from those responsible for the day to day work of detainee operations,” Rumsfeld told reporters on his plane.”We care about detainees being treated right, we care about soldiers behaving right, we care about command systems working.”But Rumsfeld insisted he was not on a damping down mission after coming under serious criticism in the United States for his handling of the scandal.”If anyone thinks I am there to throw water on a fire they are wrong,” he said, adding he was going to Iraq “to thank US troops for the fine job they are doing and meet their commanders.”Rumsfeld and Myers went on to meet senior US officials, including Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, head of coalition ground forces in Iraq, at a former presidential palace now known as Camp Victory.The International Committee of the Red Cross, which last year warned of abuses at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib jail, has presented Washington with a new report that is critical of detainee conditions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a senior official travelling with Rumsfeld said.Rumsfeld arrived just hours after the military reported that a US soldier had been killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy in Baghdad.And during his visit the coalition said a US marine had died Wednesday of wounds he suffered during security operations in Iraq’s western Al-Anbar province.The latest deaths took to 777 the number of American troops killed since the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March last year.A private coalition poll showed that more than 80 per cent of Iraq’s population disapproved of US-led forces in the country, the Washington Post reported yesterday.- Nampa-AFP