Lawmakers Say New Abuse Photos Disturbing

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

(3:45 PM ET)

By Ken Guggenheim

Associated Press Writer

``In one particular still photo among troops that are in a hallway, where you've seen the clump of people tied together on the floor, we counted seven or eight troops. Now you can't tell me all of this is going with seven or eight Army privates. [...] Where did that failure of the command and control occur?''

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, left, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers, right, testify, Wednesday, May 12, 2004, before the Senate Defense Appropriations committee in Washington.

Image Credit: Ron Edmonds -- AP

WASHINGTON -- AP
Members of Congress viewed fresh photos and videos of Iraqi prisoner abuse on Wednesday, and said they included disturbing images of torture and humiliation.

``The whole thing is disgusting and it's hard to believe that this actually is taking place in a military facility,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

``I expected that these pictures would be very hard on the stomach lining and it was significantly worse than anything that I had anticipated,'' said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. ``Take the worse case and multiply it several times over.''

Several senators, speaking on condition of anonymity, said photos of sexual intercourse were among the images that Pentagon officials screened for lawmakers in a top-secret room in the Capitol. At least some of them appeared to depict consensual sex involving U.S. military personnel, they added.

Others showed military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, as well as shots of Iraqi women commanded to expose their breasts, these senators said.

The private screening marked the latest turn in a scandal that has rocked the Bush administration and apparently led to the beheading of an American in Iraq by Islamic militants who said they were avenging the abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.

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2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan