Abuse probe reaches top

The Pentagon plans to widen a probe into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners to include actions of the top US commander in Iraq and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will require autopsies after the death of detainees, officials said on Thursday.

Rumsfeld wrote in a memo released by the Pentagon that he must be notified personally of the death of an enemy prisoner of war, civilian internee or anyone else in military custody.

In a move apparently aimed at preserving evidence, he also directed that remains not be washed before being placed in a clean body bag, and that any objects with the body other than weapons or ammunition be "left undisturbed".

Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, who commands US-led forces in Iraq, asked to be removed as the officer who reviews the ongoing investigation by Maj Gen George Fay to allow his own conduct to be scrutinised, defence officials said.

The Fay investigation was one of several launched by the Pentagon in the wake of the physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail outside Baghdad.

Lawrence Di Rita, chief Pentagon spokesman, said a four-star officer is likely to be named to join the investigation, whose completion had been expected in June but now will be delayed. Under Army regulations, Fay, a two-star general, was barred from questioning officers above his rank such as Sanchez, a three-star general.

Di Rita said the probe was being "augmented" to allow a more senior officer to "pick up those portions of the Fay investigation that would involve Sanchez and his staff activities."

"It's Sanchez saying, 'I want to be investigated. I want to make sure that I'm not missed,"' Di Rita said, but stopped short of saying Sanchez wanted to clear his own name. "To clear his own name suggests that he's concerned his name needs to be cleared."

Fay, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence, opened an examination in April of interrogation practices by intelligence officers at US-run prisons in Iraq.

Sanchez last year ordered military intelligence to take control of Abu Ghraib, but has denied knowledge of the abuse before the chain of command was notified in January.

The Pentagon said Rumsfeld instituted new rules for investigations of deaths of prisoners in US military custody. The new rules require the commander of a military unit with custody of a prisoner to immediately report any death to the investigative agencies of the service involved, which will then inform the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, which conducts autopsies and will be responsible for finding the cause of death.

Under past practice, some prisoner deaths were never reported to the medical examiner's office.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq