WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (AFP) - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should not be held accountable for the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner said Wednesday, despite two new reports which lay some responsibility at the door of the Pentagon.
"I do not find any evidence that Secretary Rumsfeld had actual knowledge of these horrific incidents in the prison system that were the direct result of lack of training, lack of supervision by the immediate command," Warner, a Virginia Republican, told a press briefing.
"I've worked with him very closely throughout his term as Secretary of Defense. I found him to be a man of integrity, a man who understands accountability," Warner said.
"He has done his very best professionally to advise the president and carry out the orders of the president. And this most tragic chapter in our military history took place," the chairman said.
His remarks were in response to the release of an internal Pentagon probe led by General George Fay into prisoner abuse during military interrogations.
That investigation followed by one day the findings of an independent probe headed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger, concluding that leadership failures at the top levels of the Pentagon contributed to the chaotic environment in which detainees were abused.
Warner, a former secretary of the Navy, said Rumsfeld likely will have more to say soon on the subject of abuses at Abu Ghraib.
"He was a naval officer and he understands the concept of the command," he said. "The commanding officer ultimately has to take responsibility for those actions in his subordinates that are proven to be unprofessional or downright wrong.
"I think Secretary Rumsfeld will address these open-ended questions, particularly those in the Schlesinger report, when he has the opportunity to have thoroughly studied this and make his own statement," Warner said.