US officials are struggling over how best to release the next wave
of disturbing photographs, and possibly video films, depicting the
abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison
outside Baghdad.
US magazines on Sunday published graphic new revelations on the behaviour of US military guards behind Abu Ghraib's walls, including one photo showing a naked prisoner cowering under threat from two US military dogs.
Former prisoners seeing their torment broadcast around the world told Time magazine that inmates at Abu Ghraib, which held men, women and teenage prisoners, suffered beatings, sexual abuse and rape.
The US military announced the first court martial proceeding Sunday against Specialist Jeremy Sivits scheduled for May 19, as lawmakers in Washington sought a way to resolve the growing scandal while working to rebuild America's reputation overseas.
Senator John Warner, the Republican chief of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon had assured him that digital photographs would be given to lawmakers but kept classified for the time being.
"They assured me that all the information will be forthcoming to the Congress, but it will be on disc, it will be kept in our room ... because it is of a classified nature," Warner told NBC television.
"When it may get into the public domain, I'm not able to answer that question," he said.
However, newly-released images were obtained by The New Yorker magazine, which released a picture showing a naked prisoner under threat from two US military dogs and their handlers.
The latest picture of events inside Abu Ghraib, which was formerly used by Saddam Hussein to torture and execute Iraqis, was given to the magazine by a member of the 320th Military Police Battalion.
"Another photograph is a closeup of the naked prisoner, from his waist to his ankles, lying on the floor. On his right thigh is what appears to be a bite or a deep scratch. There is another larger wound on his left leg covered in blood," New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh wrote.
The photograph was released as The New York Times published a montage of six photographs on its front page, many released earlier this week, depicting abused Iraqis, and including one dead man laying in an unzipped body bag.
A top secret internal military investigation into the abuses by Major General Antonio Taguba, that was leaked to the US media, had detailed acts including the "videotaping and photographing (of) naked male and female detainees."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized Sunday for British soldiers' mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, in the first official admission of abuse by his forces since shocking pictures were published 10 days ago.
US lawmakers are warning the fallout will likely worsen.
According to Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican, the US public will have to brace for cases of murder and rape from the scandal.
Although former prisoners' stories have yet to be confirmed, released inmates divulged to Time magazine a catalogue of alleged abuses.
Mohammed Unis Hassan told the magazine he was arrested for looting a bank in July. He said he spent seven months in the prison, and was beaten with a cable or riot stick when he failed to say if he knew who was planting bombs around Baghdad.
He also said he saw a US soldier having regular sex with a female inmate, and that guards drank beer and whiskey in the halls.
Another released inmate, Haider Sabbar Abed al-Abbadi, told the magazine that US guards forced his friend to have oral sex with him while he was hooded. He said he knew pictures were being taken because even through the hood he could see the flashes going off.
Faced with even more graphic images leaking out, leading lawmakers from both parties called for all the pictures to be released as soon as Congress receives them.
"One thing I know about scandals: They go on and on and on until the American people feel they have a full and complete picture of what happened," Senator John McCain, a Republican who was himself a prisoner of war in Vietnam, told "Fox News Sunday."
Democratic Senator Carl Levin said the photos "absolutely" should be released to the public.
"The only way that we can redeem ourselves ... is to enforce our values, and doing that in a very open, thorough and prompt process," he said. - Sapa-AFP
US magazines on Sunday published graphic new revelations on the behaviour of US military guards behind Abu Ghraib's walls, including one photo showing a naked prisoner cowering under threat from two US military dogs.
Former prisoners seeing their torment broadcast around the world told Time magazine that inmates at Abu Ghraib, which held men, women and teenage prisoners, suffered beatings, sexual abuse and rape.
The US military announced the first court martial proceeding Sunday against Specialist Jeremy Sivits scheduled for May 19, as lawmakers in Washington sought a way to resolve the growing scandal while working to rebuild America's reputation overseas.
Senator John Warner, the Republican chief of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon had assured him that digital photographs would be given to lawmakers but kept classified for the time being.
"They assured me that all the information will be forthcoming to the Congress, but it will be on disc, it will be kept in our room ... because it is of a classified nature," Warner told NBC television.
"When it may get into the public domain, I'm not able to answer that question," he said.
However, newly-released images were obtained by The New Yorker magazine, which released a picture showing a naked prisoner under threat from two US military dogs and their handlers.
The latest picture of events inside Abu Ghraib, which was formerly used by Saddam Hussein to torture and execute Iraqis, was given to the magazine by a member of the 320th Military Police Battalion.
"Another photograph is a closeup of the naked prisoner, from his waist to his ankles, lying on the floor. On his right thigh is what appears to be a bite or a deep scratch. There is another larger wound on his left leg covered in blood," New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh wrote.
The photograph was released as The New York Times published a montage of six photographs on its front page, many released earlier this week, depicting abused Iraqis, and including one dead man laying in an unzipped body bag.
A top secret internal military investigation into the abuses by Major General Antonio Taguba, that was leaked to the US media, had detailed acts including the "videotaping and photographing (of) naked male and female detainees."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologized Sunday for British soldiers' mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq, in the first official admission of abuse by his forces since shocking pictures were published 10 days ago.
US lawmakers are warning the fallout will likely worsen.
According to Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican, the US public will have to brace for cases of murder and rape from the scandal.
Although former prisoners' stories have yet to be confirmed, released inmates divulged to Time magazine a catalogue of alleged abuses.
Mohammed Unis Hassan told the magazine he was arrested for looting a bank in July. He said he spent seven months in the prison, and was beaten with a cable or riot stick when he failed to say if he knew who was planting bombs around Baghdad.
He also said he saw a US soldier having regular sex with a female inmate, and that guards drank beer and whiskey in the halls.
Another released inmate, Haider Sabbar Abed al-Abbadi, told the magazine that US guards forced his friend to have oral sex with him while he was hooded. He said he knew pictures were being taken because even through the hood he could see the flashes going off.
Faced with even more graphic images leaking out, leading lawmakers from both parties called for all the pictures to be released as soon as Congress receives them.
"One thing I know about scandals: They go on and on and on until the American people feel they have a full and complete picture of what happened," Senator John McCain, a Republican who was himself a prisoner of war in Vietnam, told "Fox News Sunday."
Democratic Senator Carl Levin said the photos "absolutely" should be released to the public.
"The only way that we can redeem ourselves ... is to enforce our values, and doing that in a very open, thorough and prompt process," he said. - Sapa-AFP
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