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(回答先: 米国防長官がイラク電撃訪問 【共同速報】 投稿者 木田貴常 日時 2004 年 5 月 13 日 18:37:11)
Rumsfeld Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq
Thu May 13, 2004 05:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=LFR100NG1SHAWCRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=5130535
By Charles Aldinger
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday as the United States struggled to quell criticism over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American military guards.
The embattled secretary, traveling under tight security to a country where more than 700 U.S. troops have died since last year's invasion, landed at Baghdad airport and later began meetings with senior U.S. military officers.
Rumsfeld denied on a 15-hour flight from Washington that the Pentagon was trying to cover up the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
"If anybody thinks that I'm (in Iraq) to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," he told reporters aboard his aircraft.
"We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We are about command systems working," he added.
Other U.S. defense officials said the sudden trip by Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, was triggered by the recent publication of photographs of U.S. military guards humiliating naked Iraqi prisoners.
"This is a terrible tragedy. We're not going to ever say it's not," Myers said. But "I think we absolutely have the high moral ground" in Iraq, he told reporters.
Rumsfeld and Myers have appeared numerous times in recent days before congressional panels to answer tough questions about whether humiliation, sexual assault and violence were part of methods used to "soften up" prisoners ahead of interrogation.
The abuse scandal has ignited international outrage and shaken U.S. global prestige as the United States seeks to stabilize Iraq.
It has further eroded support for the United States and its mission in Iraq among Arabs, and caused NATO to take a step back from a decision on whether to assume a greater role in Iraq after a June 30 transfer of power to a sovereign government.
Possibly, most importantly for Rumsfeld during his Iraq visit, the scandal has hit morale among American troops already demoralized by extended deployments and increased violence.
Rumsfeld has warned more damaging photographs, which members of Congress reviewed on Wednesday, have yet to be made public.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, whose committee had a closed-door hearing on the issue, said in addition to Abu Ghraib, two other U.S. prisons in Iraq were mentioned in the new material.
So far three courts martial for U.S. military personnel accused of abuse have been scheduled. Four other military police, including two women, have also been charged and may be sent for court martial later.
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