No plans to close Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison: U.S. commander

However, Maj.-Gen. Geoffrey Miller said the United States plans to reduce the prison population. He said 300 prisoners had been released last week and about 350 will be released next week.

"Currently, we will continue to operate at the Abu Ghraib facility," Miller said, adding interrogations at the prison will also continue.

He said if orders are received to close Abu Ghraib, the military would probably shift the mission to another facility, Camp Bucca, south of Basra.

Miller insisted Iraqis are now being held in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and the abuses recorded in photos distributed around the world were due to the acts of a few individuals.

"The alleged abuses and abuses we have discovered from the investigations appear to be due to leaders and soldiers not following the authorized policy and lack of leadership and supervision," Miller said.

"We will ensure that we follow our procedures," he added.

"It is a matter of honour. We were ashamed and embarrassed by the conduct of a very, very small number of our soldiers...On my honour I will ensure that it will not happen again."

Miller, former commander of the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said he led a 30-member team to Iraq in August and September to make recommendations on how to improve the efficiency of Abu Ghraib.

"As a part of those recommendation we made we used the models we had made at Guantanamo for the use of military police to assist in the success of interrogations," Miller said.

He said the team recommended military police who run the facility "should be involved in passive intelligence-collection" so interrogators "can better understand the mental state of the detainee."

He said that means observing the prisoners "on a 24-hour basis" to understand "what their mental attitude was."

He said the 215-page operating manual stated "the military police are never involved in active interrogation."

"We outlined our procedures specifically," he said.

"There was no doubt in my mind they fully understood those recommendations."

Miller said earlier this week he would reduce the number of prisoners at Abu Ghraib from 3,800 to fewer than 2,000. The U.S.-led coalition has a dozen prisons in Iraq holding about 8,000 prisoners.

He also said he would halt or restrict some interrogation methods, especially eight to 10 "very aggressive techniques," including using hoods on prisoners, putting them in stressful positions and depriving them of sleep. He said those methods are now banned without specific approval.

On Friday, Brig.-Gen. Marek Kimmitt acknowledged mending ties with Iraqis outraged by the scandal would be difficult but said the damage is "not irreparable."

Kimmitt was echoed by President George W. Bush, who told an Egyptian newspaper: "Times are tough for the United States and the Middle East" and again apologized for the conduct of U.S. soldiers in Iraq, using the word "sorry" six times.

Both Kimmitt and Bush, as well as several other U.S. officials, insist the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison was limited and did not reflect policy.

But they were confronted with charges by the Red Cross that it had been warning of prisoner abuse in Iraq since around the time of the U.S.-led invasion. The U.S. administrator in Iraqi, Paul Bremer, became aware of the allegations in January, a spokesman said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it warned U.S. officials of prisoner abuse in Iraq more than a year ago and the mistreatment was "not individual acts."

"There was a pattern and a system," Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the ICRC's director of operations, said in Geneva.

Some of the actions were "tantamount to torture," he said.

Dan Senor, spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said Bremer was made aware of the accusation concerning prisoner abuse in January.

That month, the U.S. command said it began investigating allegations of mistreatment of prisoners at a coalition detention centre, later identified as Abu Ghraib. The investigation started after a soldier at the lockup said he could not tolerate abuses he witnessed and presented pictures to his superiors.

Seven soldiers face criminal charges in the scandal. The most recent charge came Friday against Pfc. Lynndie England, shown in photographs smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners.

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