AMONG the shocking reports of the ill-treatment of Iraqi prisoners, it wasn’t surprising that pictures of tortured and mutilated animals were also found in the Abu Gharib prison.

THE US and Britain denounced the abuse of Iraqi detainees by US forces and vowed to punish those responsible as the Arab world reacted angrily to photographs from inside an Iraqi prison shown by CBS television in America.

IRAQ’S northern oil pipeline to Turkey will not reopen for at least two weeks, the US army said yesterday.