US officials ‘ignored warnings of abuse’

THE US Government is facing fresh claims that Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials ignored warnings about the abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

However, the US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice denied assertions that she and other officials ignored such warnings about the Cuban naval base.

At the launch of his book Chain of Command: The Road From 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, New Yorker writer Seymour Hersh yesterday said senior military and national security officials received warnings from subordinates in 2002 and 2003 about mistreatment.