The former commander of seven disgraced military police soldiers at Abu Ghraib said the only officer charged in the prisoner-abuse scandal was well aware of shocking conditions inside the prison in Iraq.

BESIDE the prisoner-abuse scandal, there is another problem Iraqis say they suffer at the hands of US troops — theft of money and property during raids.

A video posted on an Islamic militant web site appears to show a group affiliated with al-Qaida beheading an American contractor in Iraq, saying the death was revenge for the prisoner-abuse scandal.

US president George Bush told a sceptical Arab world that the actions of soldiers who mistreated Iraqi prisoners “don’t represent America” and pledged that “justice will be served”.