WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush gave a strong endorsement Monday to embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"Thank you for your leadership. You are courageously leading our nation in the war against terror. You are doing a superb job. You are a strong secretary of defense and our nation owes you a debt of gratitude," he said at the Pentagon.
Bush's comments came just three days after Rumsfeld testified for nearly eight hours to a critical Congress on the unfolding Iraqi prison abuse scandal and as Democratic members and others called for his resignation.
Bush did not answer questions from reporters after his statement
Bush was flanked by Rumsfeld, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, vice chairman Gen. Peter Pace, the new ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte; Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Cheney on Saturday issued a strong statement of support for Rumsfeld -- one of his oldest friends in Washington.
Bush declared about the abuse: "We are confronting problems squarely and we are making changes as needed. ... That conduct is an insult to the people and an affront to the most basic standards of morality and decency."
