Corporal Donald Payne, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge at the start of a court martial involving seven British soldiers. But Cpl Payne denied manslaughter and intending to pervert the course of justice. Six others have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the death of Baha Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist being held in custody in Basra in 2003.

The historic court martial heard that the prisoners were forced to maintain a "stress position" - backs against a wall, arms stretched out in front - which has been banned by the British army for more than 30 years. If they dropped their arms they were beaten, it was alleged.

One prisoner alleged he was threatened with lighted petrol and another said he was forced to urinate into a bottle which was then tipped over him.

The violence culminated with the killing of Baha Mousa, who died after being so badly beaten that he suffered 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose, the hearing was told.

Opening the court martial, Julian Bevan QC, said: "We are not dealing with robust or rough handling, which is bound to happen in the theatre that existed in Iraq, but something far more serious.

"We are dealing with systematic abuse against prisoners involving unacceptable violence against persons who were detained in custody, hooded and handcuffed and wholly unable to protect themselves over a very long period of time."

Mr Bevan said what happened was "only made possible by the negligence of three people" - the commanding officer, Colonel Jorge Mendonca, Major Michael Peebles, the battle group internment review officer, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, in charge of tactical questioning.

The incident began at 6am on September 14 2003 when members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment raided hotels in Basra which they believed were being used by insurgents. In one they found ammunition, grenades, bayonets, a sniper scope, timers, forged identity documents and a large amount of money.

A number of people, including the receptionist, Baha Mousa, were arrested, handcuffed and driven to the battle group's headquarters.

Mr Bevan claimed that over 36 hours from the Sunday morning to Monday evening they were badly mistreated. "They were repeatedly beaten when handcuffed and hooded with hessian sacks, deprived of sleep, continually shouted at and generally abused."

Baha Mousa died on the Monday. Another suffered such serious kidney injuries that he had renal failure and almost died.

In immediate charge of the Iraqis was Cpl Payne. According to Mr Bevan, he was "largely responsible for meting out the inhuman treatment". But others also took part. "Some of them, it seems, just did it for fun or feelings of hostility."

In temperatures which soared to almost 60C, the detainees were kept in the stress position. "No one can maintain that position for long without suffering pain and stress," said Mr Bevan. If they dropped their arms they were punched and kicked and shouted at. They were kept awake by being shouted at or having an iron bar banged next to them, the court was told. Some were also struck with the iron bar.

Cpl Payne denies manslaughter and intending to pervert the course of justice by telling colleagues to say that Baha Mousa had died accidentally after banging his head. But he admitted inhumanly treating Iraqi civilians - a war crime under the International Criminal Court (ICC) Act 2001. Col Mendonca, Maj Peebles and WO Davies denied negligently performing a duty by not ensuring that the prisoners were not ill-treated.

But Mr Bevan said the detention centre was only 60 metres from the main operational and living quarters. "The close proximity is highly relevant when you come to consider how openly these Iraqis were abused and how the shouting, bawling, screaming from that facility must have been heard by numerous soldiers and officers in that camp and yet no one appears to have raised it as a concern."

Two others, Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, and Kingsman Darren Fallon, denied a joint charge under the ICC Act of inhumanly treating Iraqi civilians. Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, pleaded not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

The court martial, held at the military court centre at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, is expected to last for up to 16 weeks.

Legal history was also made when the judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, ruled that images of the soldiers' faces could not be shown for fear that they could become terrorist targets. Nor can their addresses be given in even the vaguest terms.

The charges

All soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (formerly the Queen's Lancashire Regiment) unless stated otherwise

Corporal Donald Payne, 35 Manslaughter of Baha Musa, inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians, a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, intending to pervert the course of justice

Colonel Jorge Mendonca MBE, 42 Negligently performing a duty by failing to take such steps ... to ensure Iraqi civilians being held ... under his command were not ill-treated

Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 22 Inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians under the ICC Act

Kingsman Darren Fallon, 23 Inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians under the ICC Act

Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29 Assault causing actual bodily harm, alternatively common assault

Major Michael Peebles, 35 Intelligence Corps Negligently performing a duty by failing to ensure that miliary personnel under his effective control did not ill-treat Iraqi civilians

Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, Miliary Intelligence Section

Neglecting to perform a duty by failing to take steps to ensure that Iraqi civilians were not ill-treated.

All men pleaded not guilty to all charges save that Cpl Payne admitted inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians

"If it's necessary to do that because the military situation on the ground requires that, we'll do it," he said. "If we have to call in more forces because it's our military judgment that we need more forces, we'll do it."

The news drew a strong reaction from Connecticut politicians who have pushed the Bush administration to develop a specific timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

"After more than three years of occupation, it is crystal-clear that military force alone will not bring peace and stability to Iraq," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "The American people have a right to know the game plan and timetable for Iraq's political leaders taking full responsibility for governing Iraq.

"Announcing the continued presence of U.S. troops at current force levels is neither."

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, also expressed frustration at the lack of progress in Iraq.

"With U.S. troops in Iraq longer than they were in World War II, it is long past time for the Bush administration to put forth a plan for success in Iraq that will allow us to begin to bring our troops home," she said.

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, said the Pentagon needs to make clear the level of security forces needed in Iraq so Americans will know when U.S. troops can begin to be withdrawn. There are about 464,000 troops in Iraq now - 150,000 coalition troops, 294,000 Iraq security and 20,000 private security contractors, Shays said.

"It is clear to me that we don't have the number of troops we need collectively," he said. "What I want to do is get that bottom-line number of troops needed. It is a number they should know."

Westport Democrat Diane Farrell, who is running against Shays, said the evidence on the ground in Iraq clearly calls for a change in military leadership and direction.

"Once again, I believe Defense Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld should resign and there should be a change in strategy," she said.

Farrell also said Congress should demand more intense diplomatic efforts to negotiate a cease-fire between the warring parties in Iraq.

"We should be looking for a third-party intermediary to help," she said.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said he continues to hope Iraq's military "will progress fast enough to allow significant reductions in American troops in the coming year."

However, he said the judgment of military commanders entrusted with stabilizing Iraq should be taken seriously when assessing when troops can begin to come home.

Lieberman's opponent, Democrat Ned Lamont, has made opposition to the war a centerpiece of his campaign. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Abizaid said the current number of troops "are prudent force levels" that are achieving the needed military effect.

His comments came as U.S. political leaders continue to face declining public support for the war in Iraq as they head into the coming congressional elections. Abizaid, Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace are expected to meet with members of Congress later this week.

Late last year, military leaders had said they hoped to reduce troop levels to about 100,000 by the year's end. But Abizaid said Tuesday that the rising sectarian violence and slow progress of the Iraqi government made that impossible.

"I think that this level probably will have to be sustained through the spring," he told military reporters. "I think that we'll do whatever we have to do to stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan and use the military power of the U.S. to do that."

Abizaid cautioned that the solution to much of Iraq's violence - both sectarian and insurgent - is not necessarily "throwing more American units at the problem."

Instead, he said it is vital that the Iraqi government improve the political and economic conditions in the embattled country as part of an effort to get the "angry young men" off the streets. And he said there would be more emphasis on U.S. military teams training the Iraqi army and police forces.

There are now 147,000 U.S. forces in Iraq - up more than 20,000 from late June. Rumsfeld extended the one-year deployment of an Alaska-based brigade in July as part of the effort to stem the escalating violence in Baghdad.

Abizaid said Tuesday there are no plans to further extend the deployment of the Alaska Stryker brigade.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

"I didn't want it to happen to me again," she said in an interview.

Now Swift is bracing for a possible court-martial. Arrested in June for going AWOL, she detailed three alleged sexual offenses to Army officials, who began an investigation. One incident had already been verified and the perpetrator disciplined. But last Friday, the Army ruled that the two other incidents could not be substantiated. It will soon decide whether to take disciplinary action against Swift for her five-month absence, spokesman Joe Hitt said.

If she is convicted of desertion, Swift faces prison time and a dishonorable discharge.

Swift's case has galvanized antiwar activists and women's organizations, who have started a petition drive and demonstrated near her base at Fort Lewis, outside Tacoma, Wash. With more than 130,000 women deployed since 2001, her case raises uncomfortable questions about how matters between the sexes play out in the military.

It is complicated by the wartime setting and the fact that Swift did not file formal complaints about the first two incidents while she said they took place. (The Army investigation established that she had complained about them privately.) Many female veterans say her case may be an example of a raw fact of military life: that sexual offenses often go unreported, that young, lower-ranking women are especially vulnerable and that those harmed fear hostile treatment if they speak up.

"It's more common than, unfortunately, people realize," said Colleen Mussolino, a founder of Women Veterans of America. "There are literally thousands of women who have gone through similar circumstances."

The Pentagon says that more than 500 sexual assaults involving U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have been reported. But officials acknowledge that the problem is larger than that and is made more complex by a war deployment.

"Sexual assault is the most underreported violent crime in America, and that's going to be true in the military as well," Pentagon spokesman Roger Kaplan said.

Lory Manning, director of the Women in the Military Project, of the Women's Research and Education Institute, pointed out that in the military, sexual liaisons within a chain of command are not viewed as consensual even if a subordinate goes along.

"The presumption is the subordinate might take it as an order and might fear retribution if they say no," said Manning, a retired Navy captain. "The more junior they are, the more unlikely it is that they can say no without fearing the consequences."

19 and Just Out of Boot Camp

Suzanne Swift was 19 years old, one of the least-experienced members of her unit, when she was deployed to Kuwait in February 2004. She had completed boot camp and military-police training six weeks earlier and now was part of the 66th Military Police Company. She gave her version of her military experience during interviews over two days at her mother's home in Eugene.

She said she had signed up with the military police because she thought it would keep her out of Iraq. But when her unit received orders for a year-long deployment, she went.

In Kuwait, she said, a platoon sergeant who had been friendly toward her -- and who had assured her mother, "Don't worry, ma'am, we'll take care of your daughter" -- stopped her as she was headed to the shower and asked her bluntly: "Swift, why do you look like you want to" have sex with me?

Stunned, she said she replied: "You have lost your mind."

A day later, on a convoy, he persisted, she said.

"Dude, no," she told him several times, she said.

Swift said she was unprepared for the come-ons, which had never happened during training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. "I was like, this actually happens? This goes on and it's okay?"

She said she reported the incidents to a soldier designated to handle equal-opportunity complaints. He seemed receptive, saying he would tell a captain, she said. But nothing happened.

Her unit soon moved on to Iraq, where her 30-member platoon, with three other women, was based at Camp Lima in Karbala, southwest of Baghdad. Their mission was to support Iraqi police.

Earlier, she said, she had noticed unusual behavior by her squad leader, who warned her away from fellow soldiers with such advice as: "Watch out for that guy. He's going to hit on you." At times, she said, he pulled aside other soldiers and asked them: "What's going on with you and Swift?"

She said other soldiers seemed leery of her friendship.

Privately, she said, the sergeant had asked hours of questions about her life and previous relationships. Swift had grown up in a single-parent family, attended an alternative high school and been married briefly.

One night, as they stood near a Humvee at Camp Lima, he grabbed her and kissed her. "I didn't want to have sex with him," she said. "I didn't like him." But she said she feared retaliation if she refused. "I had a choice," she acknowledges, "but it wasn't much of a choice." She said that some nights, he would pound on her door, drunk and pressing her for sex.

When she ended the relationship after several months, she said, the sergeant was vindictive. She contends that he ordered her to do 4 a.m. workouts and to wear a wall clock around her neck and report every hour in full gear. In all, she said, she was written up at least a dozen times by the sergeant and by others whom she felt he encouraged.

One of her closest confidants was former Sgt. Zach Thompson, her team leader, who had heard about the clock punishment from other soldiers. He described Swift in an interview yesterday as positive and reliable.

"I couldn't have asked for a better soldier," he said. Unlike some new privates, Swift did not founder, he said. She was "really intelligent and would catch on really easily."

"She never told me she was being harassed or abused in any way while we were in Iraq," he said. Had he known, Thompson said, "I would have told her to make a formal complaint." He added: "She's never lied to me, so if she said something, I would have to believe it was true."

Another woman who was in Swift's unit, who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution, said that the same sergeant also propositioned her during her tour in Iraq. She said she had no doubt it had happened to Swift.

Although Swift did not file a complaint, she confided in her mother during phone calls. Her mother, Sara Rich, said she grew so concerned that she finally phoned her congressman, Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D).

A spokesman for DeFazio said the office's records reflect that Rich phoned in November 2004 to report sexual harassment of her daughter in Iraq and to request help. The office told Rich that it could not help unless Swift signed a privacy waiver.

Swift declined to sign, reminding her mother that she was still under the sergeant's command in Iraq.

Handling Situations Privately

Although Army officials said Swift's allegations "could not be substantiated" after a probe that included interviews with 23 soldiers, they said the investigation found that she had reported incidents about two individuals to a noncommissioned officer who said he would support her if she went forward.

When she declined to make formal charges, he "advised her on how to deal with the situation personally," which, the Army said, "ended what she believed to be inappropriate behavior by two individuals."

The accused sergeant she had sex with is now out of the Army.

Swift's allegations also concern an incident after she returned home from Iraq.

While at Fort Lewis, Swift said, another sergeant in her chain of command made a number of lewd comments to her. One day, when she asked him where to report for duty, he told her: "In my bed, naked."

She said that later, in front of her fellow soldiers, he asked her for sex and she told him to shut up, using an expletive. He ordered her to do push-ups. She reported him to the equal opportunity officer.

The sergeant was given a letter of admonishment and reassigned to another unit. In the Army's news release about her case, officials noted how well the complaint process worked in the incident at Fort Lewis.

The way Swift described it, sexual remarks are part of military life--and she heard many of them. But she said there is a distinct difference when it comes from a superior. "The other soldiers don't have power over you," she said.

Since 2005, the Pentagon has stepped up efforts to aid in reporting such incidents -- posting victims' advocates in many units, for example -- but even so, said Kaplan, the Pentagon spokesman, "when you're in Iraq, you're quite spread out," and soldiers in small units may have difficulties.

Swift had been home from Iraq for eight months when word came about a second deployment in January. After she made her decision to not go, her mother took her to a therapist, who diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder related to the alleged sexual offenses. (Swift said that the Army later told her that based on its evaluation, she showed stress disorder symptoms but did not have the full-blown disorder.)

Her mother also hired a lawyer, who contacted Fort Lewis to try to arrange a discharge. But the Army said it would not negotiate with deserters, according to Swift's mother. In June, Eugene's police department came knocking at her mother's door.

Swift was arrested in the living room of her mother's home.

Today, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee held its tenth hearing on contracting abuses in Iraq. An earlier hearing found that Halliburton had been unable to substantiate $1.4 billion in charges to the government. Today's hearing focused on how Halliburton billed taxpayers for a Super Bowl Party, among other luxuries--and also knowingly sent truck drivers into hotspots without warning or protection.

Yet the Bush Administration has done nothing to curtail such conduct, refusing to investigate these abuses under the False Claims Act. "The last thing the Administration wants, it appears, is more bad news out of Iraq, and it is willing to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of justice to prevent that," testified attorney Alan Grayson, who Taxpayers Against Fraud recently named lawyer of the year.

Many of the revelations from today's hearing--and more--are featured in Robert Greenwald's new film, "Iraq For Sale." The film opens tonight. Go see it.

Hussein, an Iraqi photographer employed by the AP, was captured in Ramadi on April 12 of this year. AP executives, who worked on his case behind the scenes for five months, on Sunday made a public call for the military to transfer him to Iraq's criminal justice system or release him.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Monday that the military has not changed its position.

"All indications that I have received are that Hussein's detainment indicates that he has strong ties with known insurgents and that he was doing things, involved in activities, that were well outside the scope of what you would expect a journalist to be doing," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. He refused to provide any details.

But AP Associate General Counsel Dave Tomlin said Whitman failed to address the main argument made by the AP, that Hussein get his day in court.

"Mr. Whitman says it would be 'up to the central criminal court of Iraq' to charge Bilal with any wrongdoing. But the Iraqi court can't do that until the U.S. military hands over Bilal and whatever evidence they have against him to Iraqi authorities," Tomlin said.

"This is exactly what AP and Bilal are asking for," he said. "If the evidence isn't strong enough to support charges, however, Bilal should be released."

Hussein is one of an estimated 14,000 people detained as suspected security threats by the U.S. military worldwide - 13,000 of them in Iraq. Few are charged with a specific crime or given a chance before any court or tribunal to argue for their freedom.

Whitman said that Hussein's case has been reviewed three times by U.S. and Iraqi detention authorities. But the AP had only been told of one review, and that had taken place without any representation from Hussein or his representatives, Tomlin said.

Whether it was one hearing or three, none of them provide "due process" because Hussein never got to hear the accusations made against him, see the evidence or argue against any of it, Tomlin said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was "alarmed" by Hussein's lengthy detention, because U.S. officials had promised journalist detentions would be promptly reviewed.

Reporters Without Borders, an international association, called for the U.S. military to charge Hussein or release him, as the AP has.

On Tuesday, the group released a formal statement: "We call on the U.S. authorities to put an immediate end to this violation of the rule of law."

"If they think this journalist was not a journalist but an insurgent, then they have to prove it," said Lucie Morillon, the group's Washington representative. "We don't want as a consequence that journalists should be worried about covering insurgents because they'll be arrested by U.S. forces. We need to know (the story) from both sides."

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said photographing insurgents should not be cause for imprisonment.

"There's no way to cover an insurgency without having contact with insurgents," Simon said. "If we're in an environment where any contact or documentation of activities of insurgents is cause for indefinite detention, that really puts a damper on the work of the press."

The AP's decision to reveal the details of Hussein's detention and its efforts to assist him spurred a new round of debate among bloggers. Conservative critics on the Internet raised questions about Hussein's images months before the military detained him.

Conservative bloggers, such as John Hinderaker at Powerlineblog.com, said news of Hussein's detention confirmed their suspicions that the photographer was working with the insurgents, who wanted their photos to reach the Western media for propaganda purposes.

But Will Bunch, a blogger for the Philadelphia Daily News, said such critics "have no respect for the American principle of a free and unfettered press, no understanding of what a photojournalist does or the importance that uncensored photos can play in the political debate half a world away."

The military has said that Hussein was captured with two insurgents. A native of Fallujah, he worked as a photographer in Fallujah and Ramadi, two centers of the Iraq insurgency.

One of Hussein's photos was part of a package of 20 photographs that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography last year. His contribution was an image of four insurgents in Fallujah firing a mortar and small arms during the U.S.-led offensive in the city in November 2004.

In its own effort to determine whether Hussein had gotten too close to the insurgency, the AP reviewed his work record, interviewed senior photo editors who worked on his images and examined all 420 photographs in the news cooperative's archives that were taken by Hussein.

Of those, AP executives said, only 37 photos show insurgents or people who could be insurgents, and only four show the wreckage of still-burning U.S. military vehicles. The military in Iraq has often detained journalists who arrive quickly at scenes of violence, accusing them of getting advance notice from insurgents.