Abu Ghraib prison to remain open

Miller says the abuse has now been stamped out

The new head of Iraq prisons, Gen Geoffrey Miller, has said the US will continue to use Abu Ghraib jail, despite the abuse scandal there.

Some US lawmakers are calling for its closure following the emergence of photographs of Iraq detainees being humiliated by US soldiers.

Gen Miller said the Geneva Conventions were now being fully adhered to.

Seven Iraqi detainees scheduled for release were injured on Saturday when a convoy was hit by a roadside bomb.

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 Gen Miller

The prisoners suffered shrapnel wounds in the blast, which occurred near Habbaniya, west of Baghdad, as they were being transferred between detention centres, military officials said.

Soldiers from the US army's Germany-based 1st Infantry Division pursued the attackers, killing one and capturing another, US marines said.

Differing reports

In his weekly radio address US President George Bush again described the images of alleged abuse in Abu Ghraib as "a stain on our country's honour".

He insisted these were isolated incidents carried out by a few and should not reflect on the vast majority of US troops "who are serving and sacrificing in Iraq".

Bush says a review of all Iraqi prisons is now underway (AP Photo/ Courtesy of The New Yorker)

But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday that the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners in US custody was not limited to isolated cases but formed part of a systematic pattern.

An ICRC spokesman said the committee had been warning the US about such cases for more than a year.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday Gen Miller, the former commander of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said that the problems at Abu Ghraib had now been resolved.

He said all of the Iraqis in US custody were now being held in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and US army operating procedures.

"The alleged abuses and abuses we have discovered from the investigations appear to be due to leaders and soldiers not following the authorised policy and lack of leadership and supervision," Gen Miller said. "We will ensure that we follow our procedures."

Policy ignored

Gen Miller led a 30-member team to Abu Ghraib in August and September to study the facility and suggest ways to improve operating procedures, based on his experiences in running Guantanamo Bay.

COALITION-RUN JAILS 8,000 prisoners held in 14 separate jails Three main prisons - Abu Ghraib and Camp Cropper in west Baghdad; Camp Bucca, near Umm Qasr - hold inmates for extended periods Almost all inmates are "security internees"- suspected of posing a threat to the coalition Chaos at Abu Ghraib prison Inmate: 'Treated like dogs' In pictures: Prisoner abuse

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

However, he insisted that his team recommended that the military police were only allowed to escort the detainees to and from interrogation sessions and to watch and monitor the mood of the prisoners.

He flatly denied that military police had been told to actively participate in interrogations.

"We outlined our procedures specifically," he said. "There was no doubt in my mind they fully understood those recommendations."

Seven members of the US army reserve's 372nd Military Police Company have already been charged in connection with the alleged abuse and sexual humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

In his radio address Mr Bush said all prison operations in Iraq were now being reviewed "to make certain that similar disgraceful incidents are never repeated".