NEW YORK, April 24, 2005 (AP) -- A human rights watchdog group wants a criminal investigation of senior U.S. intelligence and military officials who it says may have condoned or ignored the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Guantanamo Bay and other locations.

The report, being issued Sunday by Human Rights Watch, criticizes Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA Director George Tenet for allegedly trying to pass blame for the abuse to military subordinates and individual soldiers.

Human Rights Watch took no stance on the ultimate culpability of the officials, but said an investigation was warranted.

"This pattern of abuse across several countries did not result from the acts of individual soldiers who broke the rules," Reed Brody, special counsel for the group, said in a statement. "It resulted from decisions made by senior U.S


The report also calls for investigations of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former senior U.S. commander in Iraq, and Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, former commander of the Guantanamo Camp.

The Army announced this past week that it had cleared Sanchez of all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with Abu Ghraib and said he would not be punished.

Three officers who were among Sanchez's top deputies during the period of the prisoner abuse in 2003 also have been cleared. An Army Reserve one-star general has been reprimanded, and the outcome of cases involving seven other senior Army officers was not immediately known.

None of the 10 investigations done so far has concluded that Rumsfeld was directly at fault.

The report says coercive questioning techniques authorized by Rumsfeld for use at Guantanamo Bay spread not only to Abu Ghraib but to sites throughout Iraq, Afghanistan and other "secret locations." The techniques included using guard dogs to frighten prisoners, putting prisoners in stressful positions and removing their clothes, the report said.

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