"I wish I had been able to convey to them the gravity of this before we saw it in the media", said Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON, May 8 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld offered his "deepest apology" and took responsibility Friday, May 7, for the Iraq prison abuse scandal, admitting he saw more shocking images and videos that are being kept from the public.

"To those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of the U.S. armed forces, I offer my deepest apology. It was inconsistent with the values of our nation," Rumsfeld told a tense Congress hearing on the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Gharib prison, west of Baghdad, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

"It happened on my watch, and I take full responsibility," he added.

Flanked by his top defense aides, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Richard Myers, Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he felt "terrible" about what happened to these Iraqi detainees.

He acknowledged failure to bring details of the mistreatment to President George W. Bush.

"Let there be no doubt about that he was just as blindsided by the revelations as me, or the Congress and everyone else," Rumsfeld said of Bush.

Six protesters had interrupted the hearing, shouting "fire Rumsfeld" and waving paper placards until guards removed them.

Apologies by Bush and other top officials have so far failed to water international outrage over the graphic photos of abused prisoners, aired by U.S. network CBS news network on April 28.

More Photos, Videos

Demonstrators interrupt the hearing, calling for Rumsfeld’s resignation

Rumsfeld also warned that more "blatantly sadistic" photos and videos exist on top of those already published, which sparked the controversy.

He told lawmakers "there are other photos that depict incidents of physical violence toward prisoners, acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman."

"There are many more photographs, and indeed some videos. Congress and the American people and the rest of the world need to know this."

Rumsfeld said he reviewed them all for the first time Thursday, May 6, telling senators "it's not a pretty picture."

"If these are released to the public, obviously it's going to make matters worse. That's just a fact," he admitted.

"I mean, I looked at them last night, and they're hard to believe."

The defense secretary, however, admitted that his department paid no attention to allegations last January about prisoner abuse, hoping he would have taken an action before the photos had been released to journalists.

"I failed to recognize how important it was to elevate a matter of such gravity to the highest levels, including to the president and members of Congress," he told Senators.

"I wish I had been able to convey to them the gravity of this before we saw it in the media."

Myers, for his part, described the photos as a "sadistic activity".

"These were people who had gone off on some tangent on their own for whatever reason, and done what they've done. It certainly wasn't done on any direction from any headquarters that I know of," he told the committee.

Major General Antonio Taguba, who investigated Abu Ghraib, detailed the abuses and the fact that many were photographed in a damning report last February.

But neither Rumsfeld nor Myers had read the report before this week.

U.S. mass-circulation the Washington Post splashed Thursday, May 6, more abhorrent photos, saying it had obtained 1,000 digital pictures.

One of the photos showed a soldier holding a leash tied around the neck of a naked Iraqi detainee grimacing and lying on the floor.

Another showed a naked man handcuffed to a bunk bed, his arms splayed so wide that his back is arched.

Resignation

Rumsfeld had come under pressures from several Democratic lawmakers to resign over the scandal.

One Senator asked Rumsfeld whether his resignation would help undo the damage done by the scandal.

"That's possible," Rumsfeld responded, ruling out a possible resignation under any sort of political pressure.

"Needless to say, if I thought I could not be effective, I would resign in a minute. I would not resign simply because people try to make a political issue out of it," he said.

"Donald Rumsfeld needs to resign as Secretary of Defense, and if he does not do so, President Bush should fire him," said Massachusetts Representative James McGovern Thursday.

The defense secretary also faced mounting pressure from the U.S. press to step down.

"It is time now for Mr. Rumsfeld to go, and not only because he bears personal responsibility for the scandal of Abu Ghraib. That would certainly have been enough," wrote The New York Times on Friday.

It said that the United States has been humiliated to a point where government officials could not release this year's international human rights report this week.

"Mr. Bush should start showing the state of his own heart by demanding the resignation of his secretary of defense," it said.