House Dems repeat Abu Ghraib hearing calls

WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- Democratic leaders in the U.S. House continued their calls Monday for hearings into the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

In a letter to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Minority Nancy Pelosi of California, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and Democratic Caucus Chairman Robert Menendez of New Jersey, repeated calls for the House to follow the Senate's lead in holding hearings to investigate the scandal.

But the request from the top three Democrats in the body are likely to continue going unheeded by the GOP leadership as Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, have dismissed such requests, instead backing the ongoing Pentagon investigations into the matter and stressing the need to support U.S. troops.