Protesters disrupt a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners on May 7, 2004.
Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was heckled even as he offered a heartfelt apology for U.S. military atrocities committed on Iraqi prisoners. During a May 7, 2004 Senate committee hearing, Rumsfeld was responding to claims that the horrific abuse of Abu Ghraib prisoners had been sanctioned by the government. But he had barely uttered his opening statement when a barrage of shouts from protesters broke out. “Fire Rumsfeld!” they chanted, before security hustled them out. Later in the hearing, Rumsfeld offered his “deepest apologies” for the treatment of Iraqi prisoners.
