New photo, more worry about Iraqi prisoner abuses
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-05-11 19:54

A stark snapshot of guard dogs menacing a naked Iraqi prisoner was added yesterday to the growing catalog of abuse by US occupying forces, giving new urgency to the scandal as Pentagon and Bush administration officials steeled themselves for the likely release of hundreds of more explosive images now in government possession.

Senator John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he and other members have been assured private access to the photographs and videotapes -- described as even more graphic and disturbing than the ones already made public -- once Pentagon lawyers finish their review.

Senator Lindsey O. Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was given a classified briefing on the matter, has said new photos and videotapes provide evidence of the rape and murder of prisoners. But even without the next wave of evidence, there were fresh questions over the weekend about how widespread the abuse was. Seymour Hersh, the investigative reporter who uncovered the guard dog picture published in this week's issue of The New Yorker, said on CNN's "Late Edition" an accompanying sequence of about 20 photographs that he saw shows the Iraqi man with a gaping wound on his legs, apparently after having been attacked by the animal.

A Pentagon spokeswoman would not comment yesterday regarding the photograph.

In a sign that Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld may have failed to reverse his fortunes with his apology on Friday, several prominent members of Congress refused to give Rumsfeld the full backing that other members of the Bush administration have. On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney issued a statement declaring Rumsfeld the best defense secretary in history, and scolded Rumsfeld's critics for demanding his resignation.

"I think it's still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, General [Richard B.] Myers can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military and the American people to lead this country," Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said yesterday on CBS's "Face the Nation." Hagel, a Vietnam veteran, said Bush is "going to have to make some hard choices," clearly suggesting that top officials should be punished for the incidents. "This is deeper and wider than I think most in this administration understand. Aside from the fact we're losing the Iraqi people, we're losing the Muslim, Arab world, and we're losing the support of our allies," Hagel said.

Warner, Republican of Virginia, also remained critical of top Pentagon brass -- and, without calling for Rumsfeld's removal, offered mostly bureaucratic reasons for keeping him in office. "Those who are calling for the resignation, we're in two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq," Warner said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "To pull out the top man at this time, and try and go through the complicated procedures of clearances, finding a new individual, bringing him in, bringing in that new individual's staff, in the few months before the election, someone better weigh that carefully against these calls for his resignation."

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