Blocked US Military Pics Contain Graphic Images of Rape, Torture

by Jarrett Martineau | May 28, 2009 at 07:00 am

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Among the more than 2,000 photos of U.S. military officers abusing Iraqi prisoners that President Obama's administration has so far been successful in blocking from release to the public are "graphic images of rape and torture", a former U.S. general says.

The Pentagon had agreed to release photographs from between 2001 and 2006 that show military personnel abusing detainees, however, Obama prevented this from occurring amid fears that their release would endanger American troops.

According to former Major General Antonio Taguba: "These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency."

Retired Major Gen. Antonio Taguba, who oversaw the U.S. investigation into the abuses at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, was quoted as telling Britain's Daily Telegraph in an article Thursday that he agreed with Mr. Obama's decision not to release the pictures.

"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them," Taguba was quoted by the Daily Telegraph. "The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it."