WASHINGTON — President Bush reviewed images of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners Monday during a classified briefing at the Pentagon, after which he reaffirmed his support for embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and defended his administration's actions in Iraq.

Despite the presidential backing, pressure on Rumsfeld intensified, as the Senate unanimously passed a resolution noting that "Congress was not informed about the extent of the alleged abuses until reports about the abuses became public through the media" and condemning "in the strongest possible terms the despicable acts at Abu Ghraib prison."

Standing with Rumsfeld earlier in the day inside the Pentagon, Bush continued to praise the defense secretary.

"You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror," Bush said as Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell looked on. "You're doing a superb job. You are a strong secretary of defense, and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude."

So far, no Republican member of Congress has directly called for Rumsfeld's resignation. But many Democrats, including the 37-member Congressional Black Caucus, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and both senators from Massachusetts, Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, his party's presumptive presidential nominee, have said the defense secretary should quit.

Newspapers around the nation have called for Rumsfeld's resignation. Kerry's campaign said more than 320,000 people signed a petition on Kerry's Web site calling for Rumsfeld's resignation.

Even the Military Times, a military weekly, has written an editorial blaming Rumsfeld for setting a tone that led to the abuses.

Bush has seen images of the abuse on television and in newspapers, but for the first time Monday, he personally reviewed about a dozen images of abuse during a meeting with Rumsfeld in the secretary's office, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina has said photos and videotapes provide evidence of rape and murder.

McClellan, citing concerns about the ongoing investigations, would not describe the images Bush saw.

"The president's reaction was one of deep disgust and disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appalling acts," McClellan said. "It does not represent our United States military, and it does not represent the United States of America."

White House and Pentagon officials are wrestling with the questions of whether and to whom to release the abuse images, which have sparked international outrage.

The mushrooming abuse scandal is scheduled to be the topic of another set of hearings on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who documented the widespread abuse at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, is scheduled to be the lead witness during hearings by the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Pentagon officials provided key members of Congress with the remaining photos and video images and are considering making the additional material public. One Pentagon official said there are believed to be about 1,000 photos — many of them innocuous, others more gruesome — as well as at least one video.

"We haven't ruled it in or out," Larry Di Rita, the top Pentagon spokesman and key adviser to Rumsfeld, said when asked if the images would be released to the public.

Administration officials, who spoke on the condition they not be named, said they are worried that if the photos and video — some of them described as showing more violent abuse — continue to trickle to the media, the public relations problem will grow.

Some expressed the belief that releasing all the material at once could help the administration put the scandal behind it and renew its focus on winning the conflict.

But one defense official warned: "The government may not have all the photographs, so the ability to get it all out at one time may not be feasible" right now.

The president's ringing endorsement of his defense secretary was the second in less than a week.

Administration officials and analysts said the move underscored the extent to which senior administration officials not only believe Rumsfeld is not guilty of such dereliction of duty to warrant removal, but that giving in to the demands would in effect place the entire Iraq policy on trial.

Rumsfeld has been the prime member of the president's Cabinet to support the president's decision to invade Iraq. Without him, they said, the administration's election-year message that the president has been an astute manager of national security affairs might appear dubious to some.

Rumsfeld's deputy, Paul D. Wolfowitz, would be in line to take over, at least until another secretary was named. And he is much more divisive figure than his boss, having been blamed by some for pushing the invasion of Iraq and symbolizing what critics assert was a lack of prewar planning. Even if the president named someone else to fill the post, the debate over a new secretary of defense would offer fresh opportunities to question the administration's policies in Iraq.

"If we remove Rumsfeld, what is essentially a public relations setback would raise questions about the overall stability of the administration," said one Pentagon consultant, a Rumsfeld confidant who asked not to be identified. "As long as Rumsfeld is there, he is taking (what) might otherwise be directed at the White House. He is one of the most dynamic members of a mostly uninteresting Cabinet."

The consultant noted that Rumsfeld was appointed to his position in part to strengthen the president's flank on national security issues, not considered Bush's strongest suit before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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"Powell and Rumsfeld were supposed to be the insurance," he said. "State already seems to be ambivalent about the presence, and the secretary of defense may have one foot out the door from the scandal. That has electoral consequences, and they are not good."

Calls for Rumsfeld to be held accountable continued Monday. The Military Times, a leading military newspaper read by active troops around the world, took a particularly strong stand. Though it stopped short of calling for Rumsfeld to leave office, it said senior civilian and military officials should be held accountable — not just the perpetrators of the alleged crimes.

"There is no excuse for the behavior displayed by soldiers . . . but while responsibility begins with the six soldiers facing criminal charges, it extends all the way up the chain of command to the highest reaches of the military hierarchy and its civilian leadership," the editorial said. "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld set the tone early in this war by steadfastly refusing captives the rights accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. The message to the troops: Anything goes. Accountability here is essential — even if that means relieving top leaders from duty in a time of war."


Contributing: Farah Stockman

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