Geoff Hoon has admitted that British troops were still hooding Iraqi prisoners six months after the war ended.
The defence secretary offered his "unreserved" apologies to cases involving British troops.
And he confirmed that the hooding of prisoners was in clear breach of 33-year-old rules.
But he also signalled that the government was almost certain that pictures published by the Mirror purporting to show more instances of abuse were fakes.
There were "strong indications" that the truck in which the photographs were taken was not in Iraq at the time, he said.
In his statement to MPs, Hoon insisted that the Red Cross was "generally satisfied" with the approach taken by British forces in Iraq.
For the opposition, Nicholas Soames said the government's response to the abuse claims had been lamentable.
