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Newly-Aired
Video Shows Graphic Abuse
Feb
15 10:50 AM US/Eastern
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By
MERAIAH FOLEY
Associated Press Writer
SYDNEY
,
Australia
An
Australian television network broadcast photographs
and video clips Wednesday that it said were
previously unpublished images of the abuse of Iraqis
held in
U.S.
military custody at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.
The
images were taken at Abu Ghraib at about the same
time as previously published photographs of Iraqi
prisoner abuse, the Special Broadcasting Service's
"Dateline" program reported.
SBS
refused to give details on the source of the
photographs, and the authenticity of the images
could not be verified independently.
The
images shown by SBS were consistent with the earlier
photographs of abuse by American soldiers, which
triggered outrage in the Middle East and prompted a
U.S.
congressional investigation and military trials for
some soldiers involved.
The
network did not identify anyone shown in the images.
However, several photos appear to show former Cpl.
Charles Graner, Jr., who is serving a 10-year prison
term at
Fort Leavenworth
,
Kansas
, after being convicted of abusing Iraqi captives.
Men
wearing combat-style uniforms and holding dogs on
leashes appear in at least one image.
Many
of the images broadcast Wednesday were more graphic
than those previously published, showing what appear
to be dead bodies, as well as wounded people and
prisoners performing sex acts. SBS said the
photographs of the dead bodies were of people who
had died at the prison.
The
SBS showed photographs of a bloodied cell block and
a corpse, and said the man had been killed during a
CIA interrogation.
One
clip broadcast by SBS showed a group of naked men
with bags over their heads standing together,
masturbating. The network said the masturbation had
been forced.
Another
video, shot from several angles, showed a man
described as mentally disturbed repeatedly beating
his head against a wall.
A
photograph showed a man with a deep cut on his neck,
and another of the same man surrounded by men
dressed in khaki shirts and pants, with one man
pointing at the wound.
The
Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera broadcast brief
excerpts of the Australian footage, including the
face of an Iraqi prisoner in agony, a hooded Iraqi
male in his underwear, a naked figure lying on the
floor next to what appeared to be a pool of blood
and another with a man who appeared to be Graner
smiling as he held one male prisoner.
The
SBS broadcast said many of the new photos showed
Graner having sex with Lynndie
England
, a 23-year-old reservist from
Fort Ashby
,
West Virginia
, serving a three-year prison term for abusing
detainees.
England
said Graner fathered her young son.
Those
photos were not shown.
SBS
said the images it showed were among photographs the
American Civil Liberties Union was trying to obtain
from the
U.S.
government under a Freedom of Information request.
A
U.S.
district court in September upheld the request in a
ruling covering scores of photographs and several
videotapes. Government lawyers said it was
considering an appeal, and the images were not
immediately released.
In
a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, SBS
said the ACLU had not seen the images sought under
the Freedom of Information request, so it had not
been able to confirm whether they were the same as
those broadcast Wednesday.
But
the general description of the photographs the ACLU
is seeking "is consistent with the photographs
we are releasing," the SBS statement said.
"'Dateline'
is confident in the credibility of the source of
these new photographs and videos," the SBS
statement said. "They are entirely consistent
with descriptions of the unreleased photographs and
videos from various
U.S.
army reports into the abuses."
At
a Senate Armed Services Committee inquiry in May
2004, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
testified that not all known photographs of the
abuses at Abu Ghraib had been released publicly.
"Beyond
abuse of prisoners, there are other photos that
depict incidents of physical violence toward
prisoners, acts that can only be described as
blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman,"
Rumsfeld said at the time.
Copyright
2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed.
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