The Abu Ghraib prison, west of Baghdad.

A senior Pentagon official said the U.S. military units responsible for prisoners in Iraq were not given specifics on permissible techniques for questioning.

Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said the soldiers were expected to follow long-standing limitations that are in the Geneva Conventions. Whitman said in an interview that the Defense Department does not allow questioning procedures that are torturous or cruel.

Seven U.S. soldiers are facing criminal charges for alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib facility west of Baghdad. Photos of smiling U.S. soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners have sparked outrage around the world.

It is yet to be determined whether the soldiers were encouraged to use aggressive techniques to soften prisoners for questioning.

The scandal has tarnished a military police brigade so much that some of its soldiers won't be receiving the Bronze Star medal, which denotes heroism, outstanding achievement or meritorious service.

The commander of the Army's 800th Military Police Brigade said “many'' soldiers who had been slated to receive the medal have been dropped from the list.

Brigadier General Janis Karpinski told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the “vast'' majority of the brigade's well-behaved soldiers are paying the price for the scandal.

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	Prisoner abuse CNN's Elaine Quijano reports on the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal.

The 3,400 member brigade has operated 12 prisons and detention centers across Iraq, including the Abu Ghraib facility.

A 24-year-old Army specialist could face a year in prison if he's convicted of abusing prisoners in Iraq. The military said Jeremy Sivits is the first soldier to face a court-martial in connection with the mistreatment of prisoners.

He will stand trial in Baghdad on May 19.

Military officials say Sivits could face a year in prison or other punishment such as a reduction in rank or a bad conduct discharge if he's convicted of three charges against him. Sivits is believed to have taken some of the photos.

Sivits’ father said his son grew up in a military family and “knows how to follow instructions.''

Daniel Sivits said his son Jeremy was trained as a truck mechanic, not as a prison guard.

He said his son would have been in trouble had he not followed orders to photograph the abused prisoners.

Daniel Sivits spoke to The Associated Press on April 30. The family declined comment after the military announced Sunday that Jeremy Sivits' court-martial will take place in 10 days.

Daniel Sivits said he believes the abuse scandal stemmed from a lack of leadership.

Another soldier facing charges said she and her fellow military police were carrying out orders.

Spec. Sabrina Harman told The Washington Post in an e-mail interview that the instructions came from Army military intelligence officers, CIA operatives and civilian contractors who conducted interrogations.

Harman said it was made clear that her mission was to break down the prisoners. She said the job of the military police was to keep them awake and "make it hell'' so they would talk.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the conduct of those few shouldn't lead to public indictment of the rest of the U.S. troops in Iraq.

Former prisoner of war and Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said people are missing the point if they compare U.S. abuse of Iraqi prisoners to other mistreatment of prisoners.

It's a message aimed at people who say that Middle East governments treat prisoners far worse than the sexual humiliation and physical intimidation in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

McCain said “America's greatness is defined by the treatment'' of its enemies. He said it's not worth the sacrifice of over 700 U.S. lives to replace one form of brutality with another.

McCain spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Congress will be seeing unreleased photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq.

The news comes as another leading Republican is suggesting that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may not keep their jobs as the scandal unfolds.

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska told CBS that President Bush will have some “hard choices'' to make in the coming weeks. Hagel said the damage from the prisoner abuse scandal is “deeper and wider'' than most in the Bush administration understand.

Bush said last week that Rumsfeld will keep his job.

Republican Sen. John Warner said the Pentagon will give Congress unreleased photos showing prisoners being abused by U.S. soldiers.

Warner told NBC that he can't say when they will get out into the public.