New prison abuse photos released

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Newly released images of naked prisoners, some bloodied and lying on the floor, threatened to revive public anger over abuse by U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib prison at a time when tensions with the West are already running high in the Middle East.

The images were taken about the same time as the earlier photos three years ago that triggered a worldwide scandal and led to military trials and prison sentences for several lower-ranking American soldiers.

But many of the pictures broadcast for the first time Wednesday by Australia's Special Broadcasting Service, including some that appear to show corpses, were more graphic than those previously published. One of the video clips depicted a group of naked men with bags over their heads standing together and masturbating. The network said the men were forced to participate.

Some key Iraqi officials urged their countrymen to react calmly since the pictures were old and the offenders had been punished.

New images appeared Thursday on the Web site Salon.com, which said it had obtained more than 1,000 photographs, videos and supporting documents from the Army Criminal Investigation Command investigation of the case.

The 18 new pictures posted on the site included an image of an Iraqi strapped face down on a bunk bed with women's underwear over his head, blood smears indicating a body had been dragged along the floor and a prisoner apparently sodomizing himself with an object.

Salon.com said the material was provided from an unnamed person "who spent time at Abu Ghraib as a uniformed member of the military and is familiar with the CID investigation." Salon.com said the material was believed to include all photographs published after the scandal broke in April 2004, as well as the photographs and videos published Wednesday by Special Broadcasting Service in Australia.

Salon.com said the material includes a June 6, 2004, CID report that refers to 1,325 images of detainee abuse, 94 video files of abuse as well as images of adult pornography, suspected dead Iraqi detainees, soldiers in simulated sexual acts, "a soldier with a swastika drawn between his eyes," dogs used in abuse of detainees and "125 images of questionable acts."

The Web site also said, "It is noteworthy that some of the CID documents refer to CIA personnel as interrogators of prisoners at Abu Ghraib."

No CIA officers have been prosecuted in the abuse case.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said the case cited by Salon.com "has been written about publicly, repeatedly and extensively."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, testifying Thursday on Capitol Hill, said the soldiers responsible for the Abu Ghraib abuses have been "punished for the behavior that was unacceptable."

Iraq's prime minister condemned the new images of abuse, but said those responsible had already been punished.

"The Iraqi government condemns the torture practices revealed through the recent pictures that show Iraqi prisoners being tortured," Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's office said in a statement. It said, however, the Iraqi government welcomed the U.S. denunciation of the pictures.