TV shows US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners

PHOTOGRAPHS of Iraqi prisoners, naked except for hoods covering their heads, stacked in a human pyramid, have been shown on prime time US TV.

CBS TV says it has "dozens" of pictures taken by US troops at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad showing prisoners being subjected to a wide range of abuse.

Many of the pictures show US troops looking on in apparent approval.

The US Army announced last month that 17 soldiers had been suspended over the allegations of abuse of prisoners. The group includes a brigadier general.

Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt told CBS the army was "appalled" by the behaviour of its soldiers.

Gen Kimmitt, the deputy head of coalition forces in Iraq, said the suspected abusers "let their fellow soldiers down".

But, he said, the few suspects were "not representative of the 150,000 soldiers that are over here ... Don't judge your army based on the actions of a few," he urged Americans.

CBS says the pictures it obtained show a wide range of abuses, including:lPrisoners with wires attached to their genitals.

A dog attacking a prisoner.

Prisoners being forced to simulate having sex with each other.

A detainee with an abusive word written on his body.

The prison where the abuses are alleged to have taken place was a notorious torture centre during the Saddam Hussein era.

Bob Baer, a former CIA operative with extensive Iraq experience, told CBS: "If there [was] ever a reason to get rid of Saddam Hussein, it's Abu Ghraib [prison]."

The station spoke to one of the six soldiers charged, Sgt Chip Frederick a reservist whose full-time job is as a prison officer in the US state of Virginia.

Sgt Frederick said he and his fellow reservists had never been told how to deal with prisoners, or what lines should not be crossed.

"We had no training whatsoever," he said.

"I kept asking my chain of command for certain things ... like rules and regulations. And it just wasn't happening," he said.

He said he never saw a copy of the Geneva Convention which governs the treatment of prisoners until after he was charged.

The Army investigation confirmed that reservists at Abu Ghraib had not been trained in Geneva Convention rules.

The general who supervised the prison for the US Army, Gen Janice Karpinsky, is among those facing charges.

CBS said an Army investigation had concluded her "lack of leadership and clear standards" led to problems in Abu Ghraib and three other prisons for which she was responsible.

The six military police officers have been charged by the US Army with crimes ranging from assault and maltreatment to indecent acts against prisoners.

The soldiers in question reportedly were assisting interrogators from US intelligence agencies.

When the officers were charged last month, an Army spokesman said the alleged crimes involved fewer than 20 prisoners and happened around November and December.

The charges include conspiracy, dereliction of duty, cruelty, maltreatment, assault and indecent acts with another.