Senator suggests Iraq prisoner abuse more widespread

WASHINGTON — Stunned by the U.S. military's abuse of Iraqi prisoners, lawmakers demanded answers Tuesday to how it happened. One senator said he feared the abuses may be more widespread than first reported.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., emerged from a closed-door briefing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and said he feared that the allegations made public so far are "the beginning rather than the end" of the abuse allegations.

"This does not appear to be an isolated incident," Kennedy said. There might be other abuses at facilities in Iraq and possibly Afghanistan, he said.

But Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told reporters outside the hearing he was "extremely hopeful that ... this was not a widespread pattern of abuse and that the conduct of the overwhelming majority of Americans is honorable and decent."

The Senate's top Democrat, meanwhile, demanded to know why President Bush was not earlier informed of a report that American soldiers had subjected detainees to blatant and sadistic abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison and why Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers have not yet read the two-month old report.

The Army sent several officials to Capitol Hill after being summoned by the Senate panel. Gen. George Casey, the vice chief of the Army, told reporters after the session that those who are found guilty will be punished appropriately.

"We're extremely disappointed that anyone would mistreat detainees in the manner that they have in Iraq," Casey said. "What you see on those pictures is not indicative of our training or our values. It is a complete breakdown of discipline."

Members of the Senate committee promised a full investigation of the abuses and said they were outraged that they had not been informed of the incidents earlier.

"We must be open about this," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We must assure the world thereby that in this open society, actions of this kind are going to be dealt with both criminally and within the military code as appropriate."

As the committee met, Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said on the Senate floor that he wanted to know why Bush hadn't been informed of the report, "Why, in other words, has there been this extraordinary disconnect, this unbelievable failure of communication, of oversight."