Washington: President George W Bush told a skeptical Arab world today (May 5, 2004) that the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by some members of the US military was "abhorrent" and does not represent "the America that I know". He stopped short of apologising.

"There will be investigations. People will be brought to justice," Bush said in a television interview that was aired in the Middle East late this afternoon.

In the first of two planned interviews, the President did not specifically apologise for the mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

But, he said, "The actions of these few people do not reflect the hearts of the American people."

"The American people are just as appalled" as Iraqis, Bush said, over images broadcast around the world of naked detainees and gloating US soldiers at Abu Ghraib, a notorious prison during Saddam Hussein's regime that was taken over by US troops.