Rumsfeld under fire in Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld came under fire from members of Congress irate at his handling of an image-tarnishing Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, prompting the White House to rush to his defense.

President George W. Bush "absolutely" still has confidence in Rumsfeld, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. The spokesman deflected questions about whether the defense secretary should resign with a curt "No."

Bush has sought to repair the damage caused by the scandal by going before Arab television news cameras a short time later to denounce the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison as as "abhorrent."

Rumsfeld also went on television talk shows to promise investigations and defend the Defense Department's performance amid an international uproar that shows no sign of subsiding a week after CBS television aired shocking photographs of naked Iraqi prisoners in humiliating poses.

Though the allegations of abuse were first ...