The Iraqi Mess Worsens.

The US television channel on April 28 broadcast graphic images of American mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail near Baghdad. On May 2 Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, denied new reports that cases involving six US soldiers at Abu Ghraib were part of a wider, systematic pattern of abuse of detainees and insisted that those responsible would be brought to justice, saying: "There is no evidence of systematic abuse". But Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, attacked the Bush administration for failing to understand the urgency of what he called the "single most undermining act in a decade in the region" that had caused "phenomenal damage" to the US.

Despite international uproar, senior Bush administration officials have kept a low profile, stressing the importance of their own internal investigation. But Gen Myers fuelled allegations that political and military commanders in Washington were out of touch with events on the ground and their ramifications in the Arab world. He admitted he had not read a report completed more than two months ago by an officer investigating alleged abuses. The New Yorker magazine, which obtained the 53-page report by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, said it found numerous instances of "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses" at Abu Ghraib between October and December 2003. The report blamed military police and members of the intelligence community. Gen Taguba said he had obtained detailed witness statements, photographs and videos. Among the photographs, The New Yorker said, were two bloodied, beaten corpses. The report listed some of the abuses, including burning detainees with phosphoric liquid, beatings and the sodomising of one detainee with a chemical light or a broom stick. Amnesty International is among human rights and Iraqi groups calling for an independent investigation into what it believes is a "pattern of torture".

Plans to turn at least partial control of Falluja over to a former Iraqi general encountered a new setback on May 2, as questions arose about his role under Saddam Hussein. Gen. Myers said the Iraqi general and another Iraqi being vetted "have not been put in charge", contradicting earlier news reports. He said options remained that an all-Iraqi force would take over, that a joint force would move in or that the Marines would remain the key force there. He said the backgrounds of Gen. Jasim Mohamed Saleh and of Gen. Mohamed Latif were being examined to see what role they might play in an Iraqi-led, or joint, force for Falluja. But Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, was sharply critical of the military's resort to Baathist officers in Falluja and said: "The perception right now is that we are not acting in a decisive fashion, and there's no greater mistake you can make in the conduct of warfare".

US attempts to resolve the month-long siege of Falluja through Iraqi intervention have exposed strains with the CPA and aroused anger among Kurds and Shiites. Ali Allawi, named defence minister last month, issued a statement condemning the return to service of senior former Baathists. The Iraqi National Congress (INC) of IGC member Ahmad Chalabi quoted him as saying the Falluja force initiated by the Marines had no place in the new national Iraqi army he was seeking to establish. The INC accused Gen. Saleh of having commanded a brigade that brutally suppressed a Shiite uprising in 1991. Conservatives in Washington also oppose what appears to be a reversal of Bremer's de-Baathification policy. Kurdish leader and IGC member Jalal Talabani said Saleh was chosen by the people of Falluja and was acceptable to the IGC.