Pentagon chiefs blamed over torture

Pentagon chiefs were today blamed for failures which led to the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

An official investigation found individual guards on night duty were the worst culprits in fuelling an atmosphere of "sadism" which turned the jail into an "animal house".

But it also blamed the outrages on a lack of leadership by civilian and military chiefs, including US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez, the American commander in Iraq at the time.

"There was chaos at Abu Ghraib, " said James Schlesinger, head of the fourman inquiry team.

"The abuses were not just the failure of some individuals to

follow known standards, and they are more than the failure of a few leaders to enforce proper discipline."

The report revealed that the civilian prisoners, who were pictured naked, forced into mock sexual positions or heaped into a human pyramid, were not abused because they were thought to know valuable information. Their humiliation and torture were "freelance activities" by guards.

However, the panel concluded that the military leadership set the climate in which the abuses took place and missed repeated warning signs. Failures reached back to US Central Command and the Pentagon.

The report did not suggest Mr Rumsfeld had ordered or encouraged abuses.

Asked if he should quit, Mr Schlesinger said: "His resignation would be a boon to all America's enemies."

More damning details of the use of torture against Iraqi prisoners are expected to surface today, with the results of a separate army investigation into the role of military intelligence at Abu Ghraib.

US forces say buildings in the city are being used by fighters linked to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.