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Iraq prison abuse a `failure of leadership`: Powell
London, May 14: The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US forces was caused by `a failure of leadership`, US secretary of state Colin Powell has said, while insisting this did not mean defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld should step down.
London, May 14: The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US forces was caused by "a failure of leadership", US secretary of state Colin Powell has said, while insisting this did not
mean defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld should step down.
"It was a failure of leadership, something like that should never have happened," Powell said in an interview from Washington yesterday.
Photographs showing violent and sexual abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have shocked the world and prompted calls for Rumsfeld to take responsibility by resigning.
But Powell said that this was not justified.
"Our justice system will work, and as secretary Rumsfeld has said, our justice system will not just stop at the privates in that prison but will go up to who should have accountability," he said.
"Secretary Rumsfeld has accepted responsibility, but what's more important to us to discover now is accountability, who should have known and who should have done something about it before anything like this could possibly have happened."
The main issue, Powell argued, was "who knew what was going on, who created conditions to allow that to take place and who might have known about it, should have done something and didn't so something about it."
He continued: "And that's what our investigations are going to find, and you will find that we will hold people accountable for their actions or for their failure to act."
Bureau Report
Photographs showing violent and sexual abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have shocked the world and prompted calls for Rumsfeld to take responsibility by resigning.
But Powell said that this was not justified.
"Our justice system will work, and as secretary Rumsfeld has said, our justice system will not just stop at the privates in that prison but will go up to who should have accountability," he said.
"Secretary Rumsfeld has accepted responsibility, but what's more important to us to discover now is accountability, who should have known and who should have done something about it before anything like this could possibly have happened."
The main issue, Powell argued, was "who knew what was going on, who created conditions to allow that to take place and who might have known about it, should have done something and didn't so something about it."
He continued: "And that's what our investigations are going to find, and you will find that we will hold people accountable for their actions or for their failure to act."
Bureau Report