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Red Cross report listed U.S. prisoner abuses

WASHINGTON - Some unnamed coalition military intelligence officials estimated that 70 percent to 90 percent of prisoners detained in Iraq since the war began last year "had been arrested by mistake," according to a confidential Red Cross report given to the Bush administration this year.

The report described a wide range of prisoner mistreatment that it said U.S. officials had failed to halt, despite repeated complaints from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

ICRC monitors saw some improvements by early this year, but the abuses "went beyond exceptional cases and might be considered as a practice tolerated" by coalition forces, the report concluded.

The Swiss-based ICRC, which made 29 visits to coalition-run prisons and camps between late March and November last year, said it repeatedly presented its reports of mistreatment to prison commanders, U.S. military officials in Iraq and members of the administration in Washington.

LONDON - Britain's defense secretary said Monday that published photos purportedly showing British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners look "increasingly like a hoax."

The Daily Mirror newspaper, which published the pictures and has stood staunchly by them, said the government had not proved the pictures were fake.

The pictures showed soldiers threatening and urinating on prisoners.

Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons that investigators told him there were "strong indications" the vehicle in which one photo was taken was not in Iraq at the time.

At a news conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Tony Blair said that a Red Cross report given to British representatives in February criticized British troops in only two passages and that the authorities had taken corrective steps long before receiving the document.

COURT-MARTIAL: The military indicated that no TV cameras will be allowed in the Baghdad courtroom at the May 19 court-martial of Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, the first trial in the prison abuse scandal. It is expected to last a day or two.