Top Pentagon officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, bear responsibility for the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and other military facilities, according to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Releasing an unclassified version of the committee’s investigation of the abuse, Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the problem “cannot be chalked up to the actions of a few bad apples. Attempts by senior officials to pass the buck to low-ranking soldiers while avoiding any responsibility for abuses are unconscionable.”

The report blamed Bush administration policies for the physical and mental abuse of prisoners of the war on terrorism, contrary to what Rumsfeld and other officials have said.

The report found Pentagon officials wanted tough interrogation techniques and looked to a military program that trains American soldiers and pilots to withstand capture. That program, designed in the Cold War, puts participants through detention and difficult interrogations in a mock prisoner of war camp.

Levin noted the interrogation techniques, including putting bags over prisoners’ heads and waterboarding, were “never intended to be used against detainees in U.S. custody,” yet the use of those techniques was well documented at Abu Ghraib and other facilities.

A spokesman for Rumsfeld dismissed the report, saying it is nothing more than “unfounded allegations.” Lawrence Di Rita, a senior aide to Rumsfeld at the time of the Abu Ghraib scandal, parroted the Bush administration’s talking points, blaming the problem on a “relatively small number of people.”

Di Rita is correct that the blame can be assigned to a small number of people, but he points to the wrong people. The blame is clear: Rumsfeld and his top aides are responsible for creating an environment that made abusive practices acceptable.