Gen. John Abizaid, who is responsible for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Senate Armed Services Committee: "We will follow the trail of evidence wherever it leads. We will continue to correct systemic problems. We will hold people accountable and, in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, we will take appropriate action."

"From evidence already gathered, we believe that systemic problems existed at the prison and may have contributed to events there," he said.

Abizaid told the committee he took personal responsibility but said the abuse would not deflect US forces from their task in Iraq.

Also testifying were Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of ground forces in Iraq, and Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, deputy commander for detainee operations in Iraq.

Committee Chairman John Warner, a Virginia Republican, said it was time for US top military leaders to face American and world public opinion.

Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said he wanted to know about warnings from the International Committee of the Red Cross that Iraqi prisoners were being abused that surfaced as early as May 2003, months before the US military launched its first investigation.

In Iraq, a US special court-martial sentenced Spc. Jeremy Sivits to the maximum possible one year in prison and ordered him discharged from the army for bad conduct over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

But for anguished relatives who have heard nothing about loved ones jailed at this scandal-dogged Iraqi prison, yesterday's court martial of a junior soldier who abused detainees was meaningless.

Many Iraqi men and women outside the jail doubted that those chiefly responsible for the abuse will ever stand in the dock.

As the prison gates opened early yesterday and a handful of prisoners were allowed out, their detainment over, relatives surged forward to beg for news about their loved ones still inside.

That is all that matters. The fate of Sivits could not be less important.

"I couldn't care less. I've just been freed, that's all that matters," said Nessaief Jassim, heading towards a minibus due to take him to Baghdad.

Jailed from November 2003 to April 2004, Tawfiq al-Jabburi comes to the prison everyday, desperate for information about his brother, who is still a prisoner.

"I don't believe in this trial at all. I know the Americans, I know them very well, because I spent six months inside for no reason at all. What justice are you talking about?"

"This is too late," said another man who would give his name only as Hossam. "The torture dates back a long time. And if the photos hadn't been leaked, the soldiers would have had no worries," he added.

For him, true justice would have been to try the soldiers before Iraqi courts.

"I don't trust American justice".

"He should be executed!" insisted Hussein Saleh, sliding his forefinger across his throat in a mock beheading. Then he calmed down.

"I'm sorry, but I'm angry. We're all angry. My two sons have been jailed in here for three months and I have no idea why," he said, gesturing towards the prison.

"As for justice ... I think it's a play being acted out in Baghdad".

Questions about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of their US guards is not discussed here anymore. What matters are brothers, husbands and sons: to know why they were jailed and when they will be freed.