I have sworn to uphold the Constitution ... and a free press is absolutely vital to the freedom of this country.

I can tell you categorically that any mal- treatment of any detainees by U.S. forces or coalition forces is totally unacceptable - that our orders have and will continue to be that we will treat everyone in our charge with - humanely and with respect.

I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way.

There has not yet been a major ground offensive battle... There are, we know, negotiations going on between the opposition forces and the Taliban leadership for surrender.

The bottom line is that after we defeat the armed forces of Iraq, that we will want to and need to provide stability throughout that country.

Intelligence we gathered at the time indicated that this was in fact leadership and we struck the leadership.

We prefer that the leaders of the Iraqi armed forces do the honorable thing; stop fighting for a regime that does not deserve your loyalty.