Washington, May 12: US military personnel took photos of Iraqi prisoners in sexually humiliating poses in an apparent effort to obtain leverage for future interrogations,
a leading Senator said.
"They staged those photographs, which I understand were going to be shown to the prisoners' families by way of threats unless he came forward with some valuable
information," said Sen. John Warner, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"The plot is thickening," Warner added as he presided over a daylong hearing into prisoner abuse. The hearing was jolted by the release of a video, posted on an Islamic
militant web site, that showed the apparent beheading of an American civilian in Iraq.
Testifying before the panel, the Army General who first investigated abuse in an Iraqi prison said the mistreatment resulted from faulty leadership, a "lack of discipline, no training whatsoever and no supervision" of the troops.
Major General Antonio Taguba also left open the possibility that members of the Central Intelligence Agency as well as armed forces personnel and civilian contractors were culpable in the abusive treatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.
"Senators ... Are in a virtual state of shock about the beheading," Warner said after returning to the committee hearing from the Senate floor.
Bureau Report
