Pentagon says it undertakes probes of Iraqi prisoner abuse

The US Defense Department said Monday that it has conducted five investigations into charges that Iraqi prisoners were abused by US soldiers.

The abuse, which reportedly occurred at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad in fall last year, was reported to US military commanders in Iraq on Jan. 13, and a criminal investigation was launched the next day, Defense Department spokesman Larry Di Rita said.

The criminal investigation was completed on March 15, and charges were made against six military police on March 20, he said. Seven US military police have been reprimanded, reports said Monday.

A high-level review of practices and procedures, headed by Major General Antonio M. Taguba, at detention and interrogation centers in Iraq was started on Jan. 31 and completed on March 3, he said.

Di Rita added that in February, two reviews were also launched in Iraq, one by the Army inspector general on US detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the other, on the training of US military police and military intelligence personnel.

He said a fifth inquiry, headed by Major General George Fay, anassistant to the Army's deputy chief of staff for intelligence, began on April 23 on military intelligence practices and procedures in Iraq.

Asked whether Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had read the Taguba report, Di Rita said, "He had not been briefed on the detailed findings yet." General Richard Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged in an TV interview Sunday that he had not read the Taguba report either.

Also on Monday, a White House official who preferred to speak anonymously said President George W. Bush has ordered an investigation into any signs of "systemic" abuse in Iraq and wants a report "as soon as possible" on what happened at the Abu Ghraib prison.