Blair under fire on Iraq abuse
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under fire in parliament over a report from the International Red Cross about abuses against detainees in Iraq.
He denied being slow to act on the report by the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). But he admitted that the past few days had been "immensely damaging."
Blair admitted Wednesday he had not seen the ICRC report -- drawn up in February -- until Monday and did not know of the allegations contained in it before then.
The report was not passed to ministers in February because all of the allegations relating to British troops were already being dealt with, Blair said at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions.
Opposition Conservative leader Michael Howard said the report's allegations had led to the "greatest crisis in Iraq since the war ended and added immeasurably to the dangers and difficulties" faced by coalition forces.
To shouts of "shame" from Labour backbenchers, he asked how people in the country could have confidence in Blair and his government when they had failed to give any explanation for not having seen or acted on the ICRC report.
Blair insisted that despite the report there was "no evidence of systematic abuse" of Iraqi detainees by British troops.
Blair did not comment on allegations of abuse by U.S. forces, though said: "I agree that the events of the past few days have been immensely damaging."
As fallout from the treatment of Iraqi detainees by coalition forces dominated the 30-minute session, Blair said any abuse by British or American forces was "completely unacceptable."
Accusing Howard of trying to extract "maximum political mischief" from the situation, he added: "What is not true is that allegations were made and nothing happened in respect of them."
The prime minister said the deaths of 33 civilians had been investigated, and that there was no case to answer in 15 of them. The military police would shortly announce action on six others.
An Amnesty International released Tuesday listed only one case of a civilian death which was not already known to the government, Blair said.
He also referred to photographs of alleged abuse in the Daily Mirror tabloid which were "almost certainly faked," he said.
On Monday, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons that neither he nor fellow ministers saw the ICRC report detailing alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by some British soldiers.
Opposition defense spokesman Nicholas Soames told MPs in reply that the government had "lost its grip" on policy in Iraq.
Soames said ministers had been "unacceptably complacent and negligent" if they did not keep themselves informed of the Red Cross' concerns.
Hoon told lawmakers the three main allegations in the report were already being dealt with when it had been sent to U.S. Iraq envoy Paul Bremer.
The report "was not seen by ministers until very recently ... because it was an interim report to Ambassador Bremer passed to the UK in strict confidence."
