Official: Joint chiefs chairman 'infuriated' about detainee abuse

From Mike Mount
CNN Senior Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Images of detainee abuse at the hands of U.S. troops, which President Obama has barred from public view, so "infuriated" the nation's highest-ranking military officer he demanded leaders ensure continued training of troops to prevent abuse, according to a senior Pentagon official.

In a July 10 memo, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote the service chiefs and the U.S. combatant commanders around the world that mistreatment of detainees would have a continued and lasting negative effect on the image of U.S. forces.

"Despite our best efforts, a misguided and misled few have managed to tarnish that reputation and breach the very trust we have worked so hard to earn. I am appalled by even the suggestion that someone in an American uniform would behave in such a way," he wrote in the memo. CNN obtained the memo, which was classified as "sensitive."

In May, President Obama ordered that the photos not be publicly released after commanders said the release could put deployed U.S. troops into harm's way by elements seeking retribution.

(Continued here.)