WASHINGTON — Military officials are preparing to give Congress additional photographs from their investigation into the abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday.
Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said the military had agreed to give the armed services panel classified discs containing unreleased digital images. "I was assured yesterday that all the new photos are being reviewed by the lawyers and so forth and will be forthcoming to Congress," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday May 12, 2004 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 27 words Type of Material: Correction
Prisoner abuse -- An article in Monday's Section A said CBS' "60 Minutes II" reported on Iraqi prisoner abuse on May 28. The program aired April 28.
The evidence will be shared with members of Congress, Warner added, but "when that will be released to the public remains to be seen."
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during congressional testimony Friday that additional photographs and videos exist of physical violence toward prisoners under U.S. control, some of them showing "acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman."
The warning came amid an international furor over the images that have already come to light, which show mistreatment of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.
On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate committees on foreign relations and intelligence, said there were "probably in the range of 30" investigations under way into the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan under U.S. control.
"There are many, many investigations ongoing now as a result of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, deaths that came at the hands of United States officials," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation," noting that some have been referred to the Justice Department.
"This is deeper and wider than I think most in this administration understand," Hagel said. "Aside from the fact that we're losing the Iraqi people, we're losing the Muslim-Arab world, and we're losing the support of our allies."
Although Warner said it was unclear when the new photographs would be released to the public, three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) -- strongly urged public disclosure of the material.
"If there are more photos out there detailing abuse and terrible behavior, if there's a videotape out there, for God sakes, lets talk about it, because men and women's lives are at stake given how we handle this. So I want to get it all out on the table," Graham said on "Meet the Press."
