Arabs sceptical

Arabic news channels showed live coverage of a US congressional hearing on the handling of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal yesterday, but few watchers thought Washington was determined to stop abuses.

Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and US-funded Alhurra had simultaneous translation of the hearings, in which Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld apologised to the abuse victims but said he would not resign.

The Arab reaction was similar to that which greeted US President George W. Bush's televised pledge on Wednesday to punish Americans who abused and killed Iraqi prisoners.

Many said the gesture was too little, too late. Al Arabiya showed pictures of the alleged abuse next to shots of the Rumsfeld hearing, including one showing a female American soldier holding a leash around the neck of a naked Iraqi lying on the floor.