Abu Ghraib Rape Photos
By IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
"The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it," Taguba said. (Google)
CAIRO The Abu Ghraib pictures censored by President Barack Obama clearly depicted horrific acts of rape and sexual abuse of Iraqi men and women in the infamous detention center.
"These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency," Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted the investigation into Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, May 28.
The former army official saw the photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse that Obama has censored because they were among photographs included in his 2004 probe into the prisoner abuse scandal.
"The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it," said Taguba, who documented the rape and sexual abuse in his damning report.
One picture shows an American soldier raping an Iraqi woman prisoner while another shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed.
Another picture shows a male translator raping an Iraqi male detainee.
Other photos depict sexual assaults with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.
Taguba said the photographs, amounting to 2000 images, relate to 400 cases of abuse carried out at Abu Ghraib and six other prisons between 2001 and 2005.
The Abu Ghraib scandal first broke out in 2004 after American newspapers published shocking photos taken on mobile and digital cameras by US soldiers of Iraqi detainees.
The photos showed soldiers at the US-run prison grinning alongside detainees held in humiliating positions or cowering in front of snarling military dogs.
Others depicted prisoners piled up naked in a pyramid on the floor, forced to stand naked in front of female guards, and chained to beds in stress positions with women's underwear put over their heads.
Imperiling
Though he outspokenly condemns the Abu Ghraib abuses, Taguba agrees with Obama that the photos, horrific as they are, should never be released to the public.
"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one," the army general told the Daily Telegraph.
"The consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them."
When first revealed in 2004, the widely-publicized Abu Ghraib abuse pictures triggered international condemnation and damaged America's reputation.
The controversy resurfaced earlier this month after Obama initially pledged not to appeal a decision by the Supreme Court to disclose all of them.
But he later reneged on that promise on the ground that their release could put the safety of US troops at risk.
The reversal drew rebuke from human rights groups for making a mockery of his previous vows of transparency and accountability
By IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
"The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it," Taguba said. (Google)
CAIRO The Abu Ghraib pictures censored by President Barack Obama clearly depicted horrific acts of rape and sexual abuse of Iraqi men and women in the infamous detention center.
"These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency," Major General Antonio Taguba, who conducted the investigation into Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, May 28.
The former army official saw the photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse that Obama has censored because they were among photographs included in his 2004 probe into the prisoner abuse scandal.
"The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it," said Taguba, who documented the rape and sexual abuse in his damning report.
One picture shows an American soldier raping an Iraqi woman prisoner while another shows a female prisoner having her clothing forcibly removed.
Another picture shows a male translator raping an Iraqi male detainee.
Other photos depict sexual assaults with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube.
Taguba said the photographs, amounting to 2000 images, relate to 400 cases of abuse carried out at Abu Ghraib and six other prisons between 2001 and 2005.
The Abu Ghraib scandal first broke out in 2004 after American newspapers published shocking photos taken on mobile and digital cameras by US soldiers of Iraqi detainees.
The photos showed soldiers at the US-run prison grinning alongside detainees held in humiliating positions or cowering in front of snarling military dogs.
Others depicted prisoners piled up naked in a pyramid on the floor, forced to stand naked in front of female guards, and chained to beds in stress positions with women's underwear put over their heads.
Imperiling
Though he outspokenly condemns the Abu Ghraib abuses, Taguba agrees with Obama that the photos, horrific as they are, should never be released to the public.
"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one," the army general told the Daily Telegraph.
"The consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them."
When first revealed in 2004, the widely-publicized Abu Ghraib abuse pictures triggered international condemnation and damaged America's reputation.
The controversy resurfaced earlier this month after Obama initially pledged not to appeal a decision by the Supreme Court to disclose all of them.
But he later reneged on that promise on the ground that their release could put the safety of US troops at risk.
The reversal drew rebuke from human rights groups for making a mockery of his previous vows of transparency and accountability
