The US Army general who first probed into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by the US soldiers deniedon Tuesday the abuse was "about policies and planning," as he did not find orders to soldiers to mistreat the detainees.

At the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the second hearing in a week on the abuse scandal, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd said the abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq was not just about guards and interrogators lacking in personal values, but "about policies and planning" from a higher level.

"I did not find any evidence of a policy or a direct order given to these soldiers to conduct what they did," Major General Antonio Taguba replied.

Taguba, who was appointed in January 2004 to investigate the allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, said he believed the soldiers collaborated with several military intelligence interrogators at the lower level and abused the Iraqiprisoners "on their own volition."

"A few soldiers and civilians conspired to abuse and conduct egregious acts of violence against detainees and other civilians outside the bounds of international laws and the Geneva Convention," he said.

But Senator Carl Levin, a ranking Democrat in the committee, also said the acts of abuse were not the spontaneous actions of lower enlisted personnel and were "clearly planned and suggested by others."

At one point, Taguba disagreed with Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, over which was in control of the Abu Ghraib prison. Taguba said that control had been turned over to military intelligence officials, while Cambonesaid the control was in the hands of the military police.

They also differed on whether it was against Army rules for intelligence personnel to involve military police in setting conditions for interrogations.

The witnesses, including Taguba and Cambone and others, however,agreed at the hearing that the US troops in Iraq were under ordersto abide by the Geneva Conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners.

US Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified before the committee last Friday over the abuse scandal, saying that he took "full responsibility" for the abuse and apologizing to "those Iraqis who were mistreated by members of the US armed forces."

Source: Xinhua