NJ Senators Want Resignation

New Jersey's two senators and a congressman have called for the secretary of defense to resign over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Two other congressmen, who sit on the House Armed Services Committee, said they are reserving judgment on Donald Rumsfeld.

After listening to Rumsfeld testify on Friday before the House Armed Services Committee about the mistreatment, Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-Vineland, said he was "not prepared to ask for the secretary's resignation."

LoBiondo, who sits on the committee with New Jerseyan Jim Saxton, R-Mount Holly, said the nation must remember that only a few of the men and women serving in Iraq are responsible for the abuse.

"It is unfortunate that these few would tarnish our military and our nation with their irresponsible actions," LoBiondo said Tuesday.

Saxton said Tuesday that he expects "Secretary Rumsfeld and the Army will see the investigation through to the end."

"The secretary told me and the House Armed Services Committee that the allegations and abuses would be thoroughly investigated," Saxton said.

Democrats have been more willing to call for Rumsfeld to resign. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-Long Branch, was one of the first congressmen to do so, and called the military action in Iraq "an utter failure."

"It's time that someone is held accountable in this administration," Pallone said last Thursday in remarks he made on the House floor, a day before Rumsfeld testified before the Senate and House Armed Services committees. "It's time for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign."

After Rumsfeld testified Friday, Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine said that while he was pleased that the secretary had apologized, Rumsfeld had not taken responsibility for the abuse.

"Ultimately, the buck stops with the secretary himself," Corzine said.

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg also said Rumsfeld should resign, and was to call for other resignations Tuesday, his spokesman said.

Seven U.S. soldiers have been charged with mistreating prisoners, including Roselle, N.J., native Javal Davis. An Army report obtained by The New Yorker magazine quotes testimony from a witness who said he saw Davis hit prisoners in a pile. According to the same report, he told Army investigators he was "made to do various things that I would question morally."

Another New Jerseyan, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, is under administrative investigation.

The Rahway native was the former commander of American prisons in Iraq. In e-mails to her pastor in Rahway, Karpinski acknowledged that soldiers abused prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, but believed she was being unfairly blamed for their actions.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: NBC10/AP