Bush scolds Rumsfeld

By Robin Wright and Bradley Graham
The Washington Post

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Bush is "not satisfied" and "not happy" with the way Rumsfeld informed him about the investigation into abuses by U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison or the quantity of information Rumsfeld provided, a senior White House official said.

The president was particularly disturbed at having had to learn from news reports about the scope of misconduct documented in an Army investigative report completed in March, according to the official, who refused to be identified.

Other officials sought to portray Rumsfeld and the Pentagon as resisting appeals in recent months from the State Department and the Coalition Provisional Authority to deal with problems relating to detainees. Secretary of State Colin Powell urged action in several White House meetings that included Rumsfeld, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It's something Powell has raised repeatedly — to release as many detainees as possible — and, second, to ensure that those in custody are properly cared for and treated," a senior State Department official said.

But the Pentagon repeatedly failed to act on both requests, said U.S. officials, who are privately furious over a human-relations disaster they believe might have been averted if military officials had acted.

Defense officials sharply disputed suggestions that Rumsfeld or other senior Pentagon authorities ignored the appeals and festering problems at U.S.-run detention centers.

Rumsfeld came in for fresh criticism yesterday on Capitol Hill, where Republicans joined Democrats in expressing anger about not having been informed about the details of the prison investigation. Rumsfeld is to appear at a hearing on Capitol Hill tomorrow, and some White House officials fear that a Republican lawmaker will ask him if he is considering resigning. Some Republican aides on Capitol Hill said he might not survive until Election Day.

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said Rumsfeld should resign if investigators conclude the chain of responsibility reaches his office.

The defense secretary has deplored the reported abuses at Abu Ghraib prison but defended the Pentagon's response, saying military commanders acted promptly to investigate after being alerted in January to the misconduct. He also has noted that the Pentagon announced the start of the investigation in January and, in March, reported the filing of charges against six enlisted military police soldiers who served as guards.

But the nature of their offenses was not revealed until CBS' "60 Minutes II" aired photographs last week showing nude inmates piled up beside smiling soldiers and The New Yorker days later detailed the findings of the Army's internal report.
 
Although Bush isn't considering asking Rumsfeld to resign, the senior White House official said, the president told Rumsfeld of his dissatisfaction in the Oval Office yesterday after the two left a National Security Council meeting.

Asked yesterday about Rumsfeld by Al Hurra, a U.S. government-financed television station seen widely in the Arab world, Bush said: "Oh, of course, I've got confidence in the secretary of defense, and I've got confidence in the commanders on the ground in Iraq."

Bush aides conceded that Rumsfeld had earlier given Bush a general sense of the investigation of Abu Ghraib during a meeting that included chief of staff Andrew Card. But White House press secretary Scott McClellan said officials have not been able to pin down the date, except that it was after Jan. 16, when the Pentagon issued a news release announcing the investigation.

Much of the debate within the administration over what to do about Iraqi prisoners has roots in a long-running struggle among the departments of State, Defense and Justice to sort through prisoners at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, officials said. The scandal involving Abu Ghraib prison has cast a fresh spotlight on the administration's general approach to the handling of war prisoners and terrorism suspects since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.