, May 30 (UPI) -- A U.S. general has predicted the people of Iraq will forgive the occupying forces for the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told the BBC's Talking Point program that the photos of abuse by O.S. soldiers represented a "failure of leadership" involving a maximum of 20 soldiers.
The abuses committed at Abu Ghraib outraged the world after a stream of photos apparently taken by guards were made public. Abu Ghraib is a feared Saddam Hussein-era prison now run by coalition forces.
One soldier has been convicted and six others are facing military charges stemming from the scandal.
"It's because the scale of this was so small that the people of Iraq will forgive us," said Gen. Kimmitt, the deputy director of coalition operations in Iraq. "Most of the people in Iraq recognize that was an isolated incident and our investigations continue to demonstrate that it is fairly isolated and not representative of the 135,000 soldiers who are doing the right thing under tough circumstances every day."
