ABU GHRAIB, Iraq (AFP) - The US commander of the prison system in Iraq, Major General Geoffrey Miller, apologised to the Iraqi people for the abuse of detainees by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

"I would like to personally apologise to the people of Iraq for a small number of leaders and soldiers who have violated our policies and possibly committed criminal acts," Miller told reporters touring the Abu Ghraib detention facility outside Baghdad.

"I personally guarantee that this will not happen again."

In the wake of worldwide outrage over the scandal, Miller, who took up his post last month, vowed major changes at the prison which was notorious during the rule of Saddam Hussein.

The general said interrogation procedures were now under review and he had already taken the step of banning the use of sleep deprivation as a tactic in questioning sessions.

Miller also said detainees could no longer be put in "stress positions" without authorisation from commanders.

That was a reference to methods such as cuffing a person's hands above his head or forcing him to stand still for hours in hopes of breaking their will ahead of an interrogation.

Already in damage control mode, Miller announced on Tuesday that detainees would no longer wear hoods, a tactic employed to intimidate and disorient them.

The US military has suspended 10 prison guards, indicting six of them on criminal charges, and handed serious reprimands to seven officers and non-commissioned officers.

The disciplinary moves came after a probe that found guards had allegedly beaten detainees, stripped them and made them perform mock sexual acts.
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American soldiers stand behind a pyramid of naked Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, Iraq in this undated photo. Many Americans are disgusted at the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. military in Baghdad but even as the scandal dominates the news, some question if such abuses are just part and parcel of the horror of war.

they oughta be kicked out the military pronto.