New photo, more worry about abuse

WASHINGTON -- A stark snapshot of guard dogs menacing a naked Iraqi prisoner was added yesterday to the growing catalog of abuse by US occupying forces, giving new urgency to the scandal as Pentagon and Bush administration officials steeled themselves for the likely release of hundreds of more explosive images now in government possession.

Senator John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he and other members have been assured private access to the photographs and videotapes -- described as even more graphic and disturbing than the ones already made public -- once Pentagon lawyers finish their review.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was given a classified briefing on the matter, has said new photos and videotapes provide evidence of the rape and murder of prisoners. But even without the next wave of evidence, there were fresh questions over the weekend about how widespread the abuse was. Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter who uncovered the guard dog picture published in this week's issue of The New Yorker, said on CNN's "Late Edition" an accompanying sequence of about 20 photographs that he saw shows the Iraqi man with a gaping wound on his legs, apparently after having been attacked by the animal.

A Pentagon spokeswoman would not comment yesterday regarding the photograph.

In a sign that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld may have failed to reverse his fortunes with his apology on Friday, several prominent members of Congress refused to give Rumsfeld the full backing that other members of the Bush administration have. On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney issued a statement declaring Rumsfeld the best defense secretary in history, and scolded Rumsfeld's critics for demanding his resignation.

"I think it's still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General [Richard B.] Myers can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military and the American people to lead this country," Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation." Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, said Bush is "going to have to make some hard choices," clearly suggesting that top officials should be punished for the incidents. "This is deeper and wider than I think most in this administration understand. Aside from the fact we're losing the Iraqi people, we're losing the Muslim, Arab world, and we're losing the support of our allies," Hagel said.

Warner, Republican of Virginia, also remained critical of top Pentagon brass -- and, without calling for Rumsfeld's removal, offered mostly bureaucratic reasons for keeping him in office. "Those who are calling for the resignation, we're in two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq," Warner said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "To pull out the top man at this time, and try and go through the complicated procedures of clearances, finding a new individual, bringing him in, bringing in that new individual's staff, in the few months before the election, someone better weigh that carefully against these calls for his resignation."

Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is also a decorated Vietnam veteran and a former prisoner of war, said the Pentagon's excuse for silence -- that investigations and court cases are being developed -- was insufficient in explaining the breakdown of authority at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

"Were these instructions to these guards?" McCain asked. "Were they told to, quote, soften up, unquote, these people? What were the interrogators saying? Who was in charge of them? The answer I got in the hearing was the authority was, quote, shifting. I'm not sure what that means. That way we can determine . . . [if] this was either not countenanced or were individual acts of just lawlessness?"

At the same time, a Pentagon official said yesterday that the US units that detained and monitored prisoners had been expected to keep to the Geneva Conventions, which sets strict controls on the treatment of prisoners and forbids torture, abuse, and certain forms of humiliation, but had not been given specific instructions about what was permissible.

Several Republicans expressed concern -- even outright annoyance -- that the continued discussion about the scandal would only worsen its effects. Former Secretary of Defense Lawrence Eagleburger, a sometime critic of the war in Iraq, said the abuse is a "miserable, awful thing."

"But for the United States to go into paroxysms of guilt over this forgets what we are," Eagleburger said on CNN's "Late Edition." "And also we ought to remember that there's few countries in this world who would try to deal with this thing in public as we are. And I am sorry. I think we have overdone this. We are panicking when we shouldn't."

Although more muted, Graham said the decision on whether Rumsfeld should stay or go should be his own. "I think Secretary Rumsfeld should stay if he believes he can be effective," Graham said on "Meet the Press." "I think he can be effective. . . . The Taguba report is an excellent start." He was referring to the internal report, written by Army Major General Antonio Taguba, that outlines the abuse in detail.

The political fallout from the scandal continued to consume the administration, all but eclipsing the presidential campaign that until last week dominated most of Washington.

Senator John F. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, issued, through an aide, a demand for greater administration control over events. Kerry had previously called on Bush to fire Rumsfeld, but yesterday shifted focus to question Bush's leadership in handling the public relations disaster that followed the immediate release of the photos.

"The administration needs a plan to address the now almost-daily and disturbing developments which horrify Americans, impede our efforts in Iraq, and damage America's standing with allies whose help we are seeking," a Kerry spokesman said in an e-mail. "Why are these images being revealed through the media rather than by an administration that should be rushing to respond to a crisis with dangerous consequences for the United States?"

In response to a mailing to prospective fund-raisers sent by the Kerry campaign, the Republican National Committee issued a statement yesterday condemning Kerry for making use of the images. President Bush has used images of ground zero wreckage from Sept. 11, 2001, and generic war footage in his campaign advertisements. "The prison images from Baghdad are clearly disgusting, but it's harder to find words to describe those whose first instinct upon seeing them is to raise campaign cash with them," RNC chairman Ed Gillespie said in the statement. "The words and actions of the Kerry campaign over the past 48 hours show that in times that call for positive answers, they can only offer political attacks. In a situation that requires firm leadership, they put forward fund-raising appeals."

A Kerry spokeswoman, Stephanie Cutter, responded in an e-mail: "The Bush campaign must not have read the e-mail very well, as it discussed Secretary Rumsfeld's overall failure in Iraq. Under his leadership, not only were we misled to war with faulty intelligence, but we still can't find the weapons of mass destruction, still don't have a plan to stabilize the country, and now have a prison abuse scandal that undermines the United States' credibility globally and puts our troops at risk. Several months ago, Senator Kerry called for Rumsfeld to resign so that we could set a new course in Iraq. Clearly, with more than 250,000 people signing our petition this weekend, many Americans agree with him."

Bush returned from Camp David and prepared for his previously scheduled meeting today at the Pentagon, after which he intends to make public remarks. His Cabinet and top aides remained conspicuously muted, mostly avoiding the talk-show circuit yesterday as members of Congress and political strategists had their turn.

Anne E. Kornblut can be reached at akornblut@globe.com. Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.