US President George W. Bush's national security adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, has apologised for the US abuse of Iraqi prisoners as the White House scrambled to stem growing Arab outrage.
"We are deeply sorry for what has happened to these people, and what the families must be feeling. It's just not right. And we will get to the bottom of what happened," Ms Rice told Al-Arabiya television in an interview last night.
Condoleezza Rice
Images of Iraqi prisoners stripped of their clothes and being humiliated and abused have badly damaged US credibility, especially in the Arab world.
The new general brought in to run US military jails in Iraq, Major General Geoffrey Miller, also apologised today.
"I would like to apologise for our nation and for our military for the small number of leaders and soldiers that have committed unauthorised and possibly illegal acts on the detained here at Abu Ghraib," he said at the prison outside Baghdad.
"I would like to personally apologise to the people of Iraq for the actions of a small number of leaders and soldiers who have violated our policies."
Senior administration officials have sought to limit that damage but their promises of an investigation and punishment for those involved has failed to damp down the controversy.
Washington faces growing anger among Arabs over the mistreatment of the Iraqi prisoners, US military action against Iraqi insurgents and Mr Bush's endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to leave Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"Obviously, people have to be incarcerated if they've done something wrong, but they should be treated with dignity," Ms Rice said.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on morning television shows today that "any American" felt apologetic for abuses of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers but stopped short of offering a direct apology himself.