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New prison abuse images outrage lawmakers
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-13 15:07 Fresh photos showing American soldiers brutalizing
Iraqi prisoners with snarling dogs or forced sex left members of Congress angry
and disgusted, but apparently with few new clues about how widespread the abuse
was and who ultimately should be held accountable.
U.S. Senate
Majority leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., left, and Sen. John Warner, R-Va,
speak with reporters after viewing new images of Iraqi prisoner abuse in
the Capitol, May 12, 2004, in Washington.
[AP]
| In separate private screenings on
Capitol Hill, House and Senate members saw photos and video Wednesday of Iraqi
corpses, military dogs menacing cowering Iraqi prisoners, Iraqi women forced to
expose themselves and other sexual abuses.
Some lawmakers said the pictures included forced homosexual sex; others said
the quality of the photos were too poor to discern what was happening.
The 1,600-plus photos, which included scenes of abuse mixed in with
travelogue-type snapshots, were in addition to the those that already surfaced
publicly depicting abuse and sexual humiliation at Abu Ghraib prison near
Baghdad. The photos have created international condemnation and threatened to
undermine U.S. military and rebuilding efforts in Iraq.
Lawmakers differed over whether the new batch of photos should be released —
a decision likely will be left up to the Bush administration. Some said they
feared releasing photos would only further inflame international passions;
others argued it would demonstrate the openness of American society and limit
the damage caused by the gradual leaking of photos to media outlets.
They also disagreed about whether the photos they saw were much worse than
the ones already made public.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, "It was significantly worse than anything that
I had anticipated. Take the worst case and multiply it several times over."
But Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., said, "Anything like this is shocking ... but
it's generally the same as what's in the public domain — no huge surprises."
A female U.S. soldier points
alongside hooded and naked Iraqi prisoners, at the Abu Ghraib prison near
Baghdad in Iraq, in this undated photo.
[Reuters] | The viewing came a day after
Islamic militants, in a video, showed the beheading of an American in Iraq to
avenge the prison abuse. U.S. President Bush said "there's no
justification" for the killing of Nicholas Berg, 26, and that it would not shake
U.S. resolve to bring democracy to Iraq.
The private Capitol Hill screening marked the latest turn in a scandal that
has prompted Bush to apologize to the victims and Democrats to demand the
dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has been holding hearings to
determine whether prisoner abuses were limited to the Abu Ghraib facility. The
committee also wants to see whether responsibility went beyond a small group of
enlisted soldiers and their immediate supervisors, who the Army says provided
inadequate training and supervision.
Among the uncertainties is whether military intelligence officials directly
or indirectly encouraged the abuse in order to "soften up" detainees for
interrogations.
The Defense Department is investigating the abuse, and the courts-martial of
three military police guards have been ordered.
Lawmakers said the new photos showed small groups of soldiers — fewer than a
dozen — abusing the prisoners. Many of the soldiers' faces were already familiar
from photos published worldwide. It wasn't clear whether all the abuse took
place at Abu Ghraib or at other locations, they said.
Senators said the photographs were presented as a rapid slide show on a
screen in the classified hearing room. Pentagon officials were present, but did
not answer questions about the pictures, apparently fearing they might interfere
with the any prosecutions.
The photos were seized from service members and included many shots unrelated
to the investigation, such as pictures of historic sites. Some photos showed
what appeared to be soldiers having sex. Because of the vast number of photos —
and members coming and going — not all saw the same slides, and impressions
varied.
"I saw cruel, sadistic torture," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., who added
that some of the images were of male prisoners masturbating. She said she saw a
man hitting himself against a wall as though to knock himself unconscious.
Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said he did not see acts of violence, but what
appeared to be "results of acts of violence."
He said he saw people in body bags and a person with a face "virtually gone."
He saw "people being stitched up above the eyebrow apparently unconscious."
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., said, "There were people who were forced to have
sex with each other."
Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., said, "There were some pictures where it looked
like a prisoner was sodomizing himself" with an object. He said blood was
visible in the photograph.
But House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said he thought "some people
are overreacting."
"The people who are against the war are using this to their political ends,"
he said.
At a Senate hearing earlier Wednesday, Rumsfeld said Pentagon lawyers had
approved methods such as sleep deprivation and dietary changes as well as rules
permitting prisoners to be made to assume stressful positions.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told senators the
military has taken steps to correct the problems that led to abuses, including
replacing the military police unit that took some of the
photos.
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