Iraq prison abuse a 'failure of leadership': Powell

"It was a failure of leadership, something like that should never have happened," Powell said in an interview from Washington with BBC television.

Photographs showing violent and sexual abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad have shocked the world and prompted calls for Rumsfeld to take responsibility by resigning. But Powell said that this was not justified.

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"Our justice system will work, and as Secretary Rumsfeld has said, our justice system will not just stop at the privates in that prison but will go up to who should have accountability," he said.

"Secretary Rumsfeld has accepted responsibility, but what's more important to us to discover now is accountability, who should have known and who should have done something about it before anything like this could possibly have happened."