Rumsfeld in Bagdad

U.S Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday made a surprise trip to Iraq, where he visited Abu Ghraib prison, the scene of Iraqi prisoner abuse and gave a rousing speech to hundreds of troops and military police.

Rumsfeld referred to the prisoner abuse scandal as a "body blow, but not a fatal one."

Later, Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers delivered a pep talk to soldiers in Baghdad.

"You folks have helped to liberate 25 million human beings," Rumsfeld said."You've also performed any number of acts of kindness, generosity and compassion to the Iraqi people that you've worked with."

Rumsfeld and Myers were met with enthusiastic shouts and applause from the soldiers.

Rumsfeld referred to the abuse scandal during his speech.

"In recent days, there's been a focus on a few who have betrayed our values and sullied the reputation of our country," he said.

"And we've spent the day talking to people and seeing the steps that have been taken to see that those types of abuses to people for whom we have a responsibility and custody will not happen again," Rumsfeld said.

During his flight to the region, Rumsfeld denied his agenda was to calm the storm over prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib.

"If anybody thinks that I'm [in Iraq] to throw water on a fire, they're wrong," Rumsfeld told reporters on board his flight to Iraq.

"We care about the detainees being treated right. We care about soldiers behaving right. We are about command systems working."

It is Rumsfeld's fifth visit to Iraq -- his last trip coming on February 23.

Seven soldiers face criminal charges in the abuse case, and three of them have been formally referred for court-martial.