White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse (AFP)

White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse

Sun Jun 17, 5:08 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Sunday insisted
that President George W. Bush learned about abuse at Iraq's
Abu Ghraib prison from media reports, refuting a former top
general's assertion that Bush likely knew about the scandal
before it broke.

"The President said over three years ago that he first saw
the pictures of the abuse on television," said White House
spokesman Scott Stanzel in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is
spending the weekend at his ranch.

Stanzel was responding to questions about a New Yorker
magazine report quoting the top military investigator of
the Abu Ghraib scandal, retired Army Major General Antonio
Taguba, as saying "the president had to be aware" of the
abuse of prisoners by US military guards at the facility.

In the magazine interview, Taguba also said former defense
secretary Donald Rumsfeld had initially denied knowledge of
the lurid photographs of prisoner abuse, when he met him on
May 6, 2004, two months after the scandal broke.

At best, Taguba said, "Rumsfeld was in denial ... The
photographs were available to him -- if he wanted to see them."

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