President George W. Bush on Monday strongly backed Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld against calls for his resignation and viewed more graphic photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse that has infuriated the Arab world and damaged US credibility.The White House and Pentagon said, after Bush met Rumsfeld and military leaders for more than an hour at the Pentagon, that the Defence Department was considering making public videos and photos of the abuse.Bush told reporters after the meeting, at which he was shown the photographs, that he continued to stand firmly behind Rumsfeld despite calls by some Democrats for the Secretary to resign over the humiliation of naked Iraqi prisoners. Rumsfeld said last week that he would not quit ‘‘simply because people try to make a political issue out of it’’.The independent Army Times, widely read in the US military, on Monday rebuked Rumsfeld and Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for ‘‘a failure of leadership’’, adding that accountability might mean ‘‘relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war’’.Appearing before the cameras with Rumsfeld, Bush said: ‘‘Thank you for your leadership. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror.’’ ‘‘You’re doing a superb job. You’re a strong Secretary of Defence and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude,’’ he added.Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said after the meeting that officials ‘‘hadn’t ruled’’ in or out release of the photos. Di Rita said the pictures included ‘‘inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature’’, but provided no details. He also did not specify the content of the pictures Bush viewed.White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush had seen more than a dozen photographs and that careful consideration was being given to ‘‘privacy concerns’’ and ‘‘ongoing criminal investigations’’ in deciding whether to release the material. ‘‘The President’s reaction was one of deep disgust and disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appaling acts. It does not represent our US military and it does not represent the United States of America,’’ McClellan said.McClellan added that ‘‘the Pentagon recognises the importance of Congressional oversight’’, suggesting that members of the US Congress will be allowed to see them.During a campaign stop in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said he was concerned about the ‘‘lack of accountability up the chain of command’’. ‘‘Those young people did wrong, but they didn’t do it all by themselves,’’ he said.A senior defence official said Bush was shown ‘‘a sample’’ of new abuse photographs not yet released to the public. — (Reuters)
