Judge rejects bid to question Rumsfeld

Lawyers at a pretrial hearing for Spc. Javal Davis asked the judge to enable them to interview Rumsfeld and Stephen Cambone, his undersecretary for intelligence, apparently to ask about the chain of command down to Davis and the six other soldiers charged with abuses at the prison outside Baghdad.

"I fail to see a connection between this group and any types of action taken in Washington," Judge Col. James Pohl said, adding that he remains open to a renewed request in the future.

But Pohl ordered the US government to give his court an explanation by Sept. 17 of why it has refused to grant immunity from prosecution to several officers the defense believes could exonerate Davis if they testified.

They include Col. Thomas M. Pappas, head of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade, the unit that was in control of interrogations at Abu Ghraib.