White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse

Source: AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Sunday insisted that President George W. Bush first learned about abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison from media reports, contrary to assertions by a former top general 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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