The Abu Ghraib controversy created a tense mood at the Pentagon yesterday, as Rumsfeld cancelled a scheduled speech in Philadelphia, and stayed out of public view as he prepared to testify today in the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In Iraq, by contrast, senior U.S. officers made unprecedented wartime apologies. "I would like to apologize for our nation and for our military for the small number of soldiers who committed illegal or unauthorized acts here at Abu Ghraib," said Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, commander of U.S.-run prisons in Iraq. Speaking to Arab journalists, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmit, spokesman for the U.S. command in Iraq, said: "My army has been embarrassed by this. My army has been shamed by this. And on behalf of my army, I apologize for what those soldiers did to your citizens. This was reprehensible, and it was unacceptable."
