More images of ‘abuse at Abu Ghraib’ shown

More images of ‘abuse at Abu Ghraib’ shown
By Sundeep Tucker in Sydney and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Published: February 15 2006 14:30 | Last updated: February 16 2006 09:16. Copyright by the Financial Times

The Pentagon on Wednesday said newly released images of US soldiers abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison would inflame tensions and provoke violence around the world.

An Australian television station on Wednesday broadcast previously unpublished images said to show physical abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the US-run prison near Baghdad. Bryan Whitman, deputy Pentagon spokesman, said the images would “further inflame and possibly incite unnecessary violence in the world”.

The shocking scenes are expected to spark further anger across the Muslim world, and follow the broadcast this week of TV footage allegedly showing British troops beating Iraqis in Basra and the continued tension caused by the publication of Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, on Thursday said there was no reason to publish the photographs if they depicted acts that had already been acted on. He added: “If further abuse has occurred then I unreservedly condemn it. But can I say immediately, in defence of the Americans, they are doing something about it.’’

State-funded SBS television’s acclaimed Dateline programme screened video and still images of the wounds allegedly inflicted on the Iraqis by their American captors in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of the country in March 2003.

They included photographs of blood-soaked Iraqi prisoners who had been tortured or shot dead, footage of a prisoner repeatedly slamming his head into a metal door and a film of naked male prisoners being forced to masturbate in front of the camera.

Other images included photos of women’s breasts, prisoners with severe wounds or covered in faeces, as well as degrading pictures of several corpses.

John Bellinger, US State Department legal adviser, said on Wednesday the “disgusting” images showed the “reprehensible conduct that was going on at Abu Ghraib”. But he dismissed calls for the administration to release all the Abu Ghraib-related images, saying it would serve “no additional purpose”.

Previously published pictures of abuses at the prison caused worldwide outrage when they surfaced in April 2004 and led to the jailing of seven low-ranking US army personnel.

The images shown on Dateline have reportedly been viewed by US politicians but have been classified as too graphic for public consumption.

A federal court ordered the Pentagon last year to release all the Abu Ghraib photographs in response to a freedom of information request from the American Civil Liberties Union. The Bush administration is appealing against the decision. “The world has already been shocked by this and people have been held accountable,” Mr Bellinger said on Wednesday.

George Negus, Dateline host, said: “Despite the currently overheated international climate, we’re showing them because they show the extent of the horror that occurred at Abu Ghraib.”

The programme reported that three prisoners at Abu Ghraib were killed when US soldiers ran out of rubber bullets trying to quell a riot at the jail and resorted to using live ammunition.

“We continue to see undeniable evidence that abuse and torture has been widespread and systematic, yet high-level government officials have not been held accountable for creating the policies that led to these atrocities,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said on Wednesday.

The SBS report was filed by Olivia Rousset, an award-winning freelance reporter, who is believed to have obtained the pictures through local contacts in Iraq.