The Bush administration has drafted changes to the War Crimes Act that would protect US policymakers from possible retrospective criminal charges for authorising humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.

The court martial of a US Army dog handler charged with abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq could help clarify who approved the harsh treatment that human rights advocates say amounted to torture.

The US Army has dropped a cowardice charge against an Army interrogator who sought counselling after he saw the body of an Iraqi man cut in half by American fire.

MILITARY officials have charged a US Air Force translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp with espionage and aiding the enemy for allegedly trying to send information about detainees to Syria.