Key US Republican members of Congress said Sunday the future of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was still in question as Congress continues to look into the damaging scandal of Iraq prisoner abuse.  

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, suggested that the fate of Rumsfeld and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was far from certain.

"I think it's still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General Myers can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military and the American people to lead this country," he told CBS' "Face the Nation" program.

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told "Fox News Sunday" that many questions were left unanswered after several hours of testimony by Rumsfeld and Myers in Congress Friday.

"We can make a much better judgment after we've gotten a lot of the answers," he said.

Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Pentagon had assured him that more unreleased photos, which Rumsfeld acknowledged Friday exist, would be given to lawmakers.

President George W. Bush has rejected calls from Democrats, including Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, for Rumsfeld to resign. Vice President Dick Cheney issued a statement late Saturday defending Rumsfeld and saying people should let him do his job.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2004)