Washington, May 05: The US swung into damage control with its top administration officials condemning the reported atrocities on Iraqi detainees by American troops as "awful" and "despicable", scrambling to persuade the world that the action was an aberration and pledging that the wrongdoers will be punished. The assurance was given through the media by Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "I want to assure people in the Arab world, Iraq, around the world, and the American people, that the President is determined to get to the bottom of it, to know who is responsible and to make sure that whoever is responsible is punished for it and held accountable," Rice said on Arab channel al-Jazeera. "Those pictures were awful because American men and women in uniform, active and reserve, are serving in Iraq at great sacrifice... It's simply unacceptable that anyone would engage in the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. And we will get to the bottom of it. And those who are responsible will be punished." Powell said he was "shocked" by the photographs showing the abuse of Iraqi detainees by us troops in Abu Ghraib prison and described such images as "totally despicable." "And what happened in this particular instance (in Iraq), as best I know from the pictures, was just totally despicable...I'm shocked. And it isn't just the fact that soldiers did it. But no Americans should do this to any other person," he said in an interview.
Bureau Report