BAGHDAD, Iraq - A military judge today declared the Abu Ghraib prison a crime scene and said it cannot be demolished as President Bush had offered, while defense lawyers in the prisoner abuse case indicated they want to question Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

During a hearing in Baghdad, the judge, Col. James Pohl, also refused to move the trials of three soldiers - Spc. Charles A. Graner Jr., Sgt. Javal S. Davis and Staff Sgt. Ivan L. "Chip" Frederick II - to somewhere outside Iraq.

The three are among seven soldiers accused of abusing prisoners. One of them, Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits, pleaded guilty last month and was sentenced to a year in prison.

After the pre-trial hearing in Baghdad, lawyers for the three defendants said their clients were following orders by senior officers and military intelligence.

"We can't have American soldiers in a war zone questioning the legality of orders," Guy Womack, the civilian lawyer for Graner, told reporters.

Womack said there was "a good chance" he would seek to question Rumsfeld. He said he doubted he would try to depose Bush, although "certainly we will be considering it."

Bush had offered to dismantle Abu Ghraib to help remove the stain of torture and abuse from the new Iraq - an offer Iraqi officials had already dismissed, saying it would be a waste of the building. Saddam Hussein used Abu Ghraib to torture and murder his opponents.

Pohl declared the prison a crime scene and said it could not be destroyed prior to a verdict.

Civil lawyers for Davis and Graner won permission to seek testimony from the top U.S. general in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez and from the chief of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid.

But the judge turned down a request to seek testimony from higher-ranking witnesses, including Rumsfeld, at this time. Pohl left open the possibility of calling other senior figures if the defense could show their testimony was relevant - which Womack said the lawyers intended to do.

Bergrin has also said he wants to question Bush and Rumsfeld about the prisoner abuse, though he did not formally present a request in court.

"We would like to interview Bush because we know as a matter of fact that President Bush changed the rules of engagement for intelligence acquisition," Bergrin said today.

He did not elaborate, and it was not immediately clear what changes he referred to.

Lawyers for Davis and Graner also sought unsuccessfully to have the trial moved to the United States or Germany. However, Pohl said he might reconsider his ruling if future events in Iraq precluded a fair trial.

Pohl postponed a pretrial hearing for one of the defendants in the Abu Ghraib abuse case until July 23 after his civilian lawyer failed to appear and the defendant refused to waive his right to co-counsel.

No date for a trial has been set, but Womack said he did not believe it would begin before October.

Davis' civil lawyer, Paul Bergrin, told reporters during a recess that lower-echelon troops at the prison had worked under intense pressure from their commanders and the CIA and were using "Israeli methods" - including nudity - known to work against Arab prisoners.