BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: Well, I think the responses have been twofold. First, absolute horror at what we are seeing for this senseless murder, and also firm determination that we are going to hunt down those responsible.

MARK DAVIS: Sir, the killers are saying this was in response to the treatment of Iraqi prisoners inside US facilities. Is this a flow-on from the accusations that had been made in recent weeks?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: You know, it's our strong suspicion that this guy was being held for some period of time, some short period of time, and whatever particular policy we were enacting at the time, they probably would have used this as an excuse to kill the guy.

MARK DAVIS: What's been your personal response to the accusations of torture and mistreatment that have become very public in the last week or two?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: Well, first of all, I am not sure that there have been any, to my knowledge, accusations of torture. There certainly are accusations of mistreatment, and the first time I saw those photos I was absolutely disgusted. What we've got there are soldiers that should have been upholding our army values. They let us down, they disappointed us, in fact, they shamed us. We're absolutely embarrassed by what we saw and we are personally upset, I'm personally upset, because I know that's not reflective of the 135,000 soldiers and Marines that are operating proudly and honourably every day here in Iraq.

MARK DAVIS: You say you are disgusted, sir, but when did you become disgusted? When was this type of behaviour broadly known within officers in Baghdad?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: I will tell you that within 24 hours of General Sanchez being informed of these photographs, and seeing these photographs, he launched a full investigation. We announced it to the public, and nobody who has a sense and a shred of human decency can look at these photos and have any other emotion but than disgust.

MARK DAVIS: I agree with you, sir, but the point is did we need to see the photographs? The US Army is a disciplined outfit, and it also has very good information and hierarchy structures. Is it plausible that officers didn't know of this behaviour? Did you need to wait to see the photographs?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: No, you are absolutely right - the leadership should have known, the leadership had a responsibility to know, the leadership had a responsibility to be conducting oversight of their soldiers' activities on a daily basis.

MARK DAVIS: I suppose the most disturbing summation here is that these events were not isolated, the army's own initial inquiries have suggested that, and the Red Cross inquiry has strongly suggested that it was, in fact, rather more broad than just a couple of ill-informed guards?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: I am not sure that's the case. I mean, as we heard from the testimony given by Major-General Teguba yesterday in front of a congressional hearing, he did not believe, in his investigation, that this was widespread, that this was systemic. In fact, that this was isolated to one cell block inside of Abu Ghraib - a cell block that had a small number of prisoners, probably no more than 20 were affected by this, by our current understanding, and no more than six or seven soldiers were involved in this.

MARK DAVIS: The Red Cross report was rather emphatic that the abuse of prisoners was "widespread", and went beyond exceptional cases and might be a practice considered tolerated by coalition forces.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: Abuse of prisoners is not tolerated by coalition forces, plain and simple. Our soldiers are required to treat prisoners with dignity and respect and are required to observe the conventions such as the Geneva Conventions. And in the vast majority of cases, that's exactly what they do.

MARK DAVIS: Let's hope that the most gross forms of abuse are, indeed, very isolated, but we've been hearing pretty consistent complaints from Iraqis about the treatment of prisoners, about overly aggressive interrogation, overly harsh imprisonment methods. Would you agree that American interrogation techniques had become more aggressive since September 11?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: No, I wouldn't agree, nor would I have any knowledge of that. I am not in the interrogation business, but it is clear that every interrogation technique that was used by the US military is very carefully analysed, very carefully determined and it is approved at very high levels.

MARK DAVIS: Some of the behaviour that has been approved at high levels, and, of course, Guantanamo Bay has been very widely criticised, same with the facilities in Afghanistan and indeed in Iraq, excluding the torture claims. Is it acceptable, in your view, to keep prisoners hooded and naked?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: There are circumstances under which, to prevent people seeing, you've got to actually obscure their vision. We have stopped the hooded technique and in terms of soldiers being - prisoners being walked around naked, no, that's abuse, that's shameful, and that is clearly inconsistent with the regulations and the requirements that we place on the prison guards.

MARK DAVIS: Well, the situation where prisoners were forced to wear wrist bands with the word 'terrorist' written on them, what impact do you think that might have on perhaps an ill-informed guard?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: In a vast majority of cases, these prisoners and detainees are treated with dignity and respect, and in accordance with international conventions and international law.

MARK DAVIS: Under one of those conventions or under one of those agreements, Australia, Britain and the US signed an accord where any prisoners captured by Australian forces would be handed over to your authority. Are there records of who those prisoners were, and where they are now?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: I am not aware of that. I'm sure somewhere in the bureaucracy that information is known, but I personally don't have any information on that.

MARK DAVIS: But it would be obtainable, in your opinion? It's quite an issue in Australia at the moment, as to what's happened to those prisoners, and whether we have any responsibility to them, and if any of them have been subjected to the behaviour that's now subject to an inquiry.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: If that's the case, I am sure that there are diplomatic channels by which those requests can be forwarded over to us and, as those requests come down, we can certainly take care of them on a case-by-case basis.

MARK DAVIS: Have these recent revelations made it more dangerous for US troops? Indeed, has it made it more dangerous for Australian troops and all coalition forces there?

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: Again, that is one of our major concerns, and that's a very good question. At this point we don't see that there has been a major amount of reaction on the part of the Iraqi citizens as a whole. We haven't seen a rise in violence since these Abu Ghraib revelations, but at the same time, nor have we seen a decrease in violence. I think that we'll just have to wait and see in the days and weeks ahead, and most of it, much of it, probably is how well we conduct ourselves in words and in deed over the next few weeks, particularly with regards to the upcoming courts martial of those personnel involved. It's my personal judgment that if we show the people of Iraq that we have investigated thoroughly and that we are prosecuting those accused, that's possibly our best chance of convincing the people in Iraq of the free, fair and transparent justice system that we have, and that may go a long way to mitigate some of the concerns on the part of the people of Iraq.

MARK DAVIS: General Kimmitt thanks again for your time.

BRIGADIER-GENERAL MARK KIMMITT: Thank you for having me.