New images 'disgust' Congress

WASHINGTON -- Despite bracing themselves for the worst, members of Congress emerged "disgusted" and "repulsed" yesterday from a private viewing of graphic pictures that captured instances of brutality, forced sex and other abuses at an American-run prison in Iraq.

"The photos are disgusting; they're deplorable, it makes me embarrassed for these soldiers and all the military personnel who are involved with this," Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said moments after viewing some of the pictures and a video taken at Abu Ghraib prison.

The reaction was equally strong in the Senate.

"It's like looking at one of the rings of hell, and it's a ring of hell of our own creation," Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said. "And when you see these accumulated photos of violence and brutality and perversity and depravity, you want to turn around in revulsion."

The 1,600 pictures and one video were displayed in secure rooms in the Capitol. Only lawmakers were permitted to view the images, and no copies were allowed. The images played in a continuous loop for three hours as lawmakers drifted in and out.

Lawmakers said the images showed the same behavior that has been documented for more than a week in publicly released photographs and in congressional testimony. But the private images showed objects and behavior that were more graphic and diverse, including corpses, military dogs snarling at cowering prisoners, women commanded to expose their breasts, and sex acts, including forced homosexual sex.

In addition, lawmakers said there were images of hooded Iraqi prisoners being forced to masturbate while cameras captured the scene.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said she saw a clothed man hurling himself against a wall as though trying to knock himself unconscious.

Many of the photos appeared to include the same small group of soldiers who were in pictures that have already been made public.

The collection also contained some photos that appeared to have nothing to do with prisoners, including several that lawmakers believed were of sex between male and female U.S. troops. Others appeared to be travelogue-type photos. Many said the images were difficult to decipher.

Most said they were shaken by what they saw.

"The additional pictures and video from Iraq were painful to look at. ... They depict an America I don't know," said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who was one of a small number of lawmakers encouraging public dissemination of the pictures.

"We cannot hide from ourselves what has been done in our name. ... Painful as this is, a democracy needs light to survive, and I believe the pictures and video should be made available, but in a way that gives people a choice whether to look or not," he said.

Most, however, said the pictures should remain shielded from public view.

"As a husband and a dad I wouldn't want to put families though seeing those pictures," said Larsen, adding that releasing the pictures to the public would serve no purpose since people already have a detailed idea of the abuses and misconduct that occurred.

What the new pictures did accomplish, however, was to reinforce the demand that the Pentagon and military's legal arm fully investigate and punish those involved.

"We must swiftly and fully review the incidents of prisoner abuse to ensure that justice prevails," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "We must find out who is responsible for these abuses and hold them fully accountable."

"I was disgusted by them," said Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash. "They are deviant and oppressive and indescribable. They are worse than the pictures in the newspaper."

The pictures had a similar impact on Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., whom Nethercutt is challenging in an increasingly bitter race for Senate.

"They were exceptionally graphic and incredibly disturbing. I found it really hard to look at the photos that depicted outrageous mistreatment of our Iraqi prisoners, and I was really saddened by what I just looked at," Murray said.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said after viewing the images that Congress needs to ensure that it aggressively investigates the abuses and requires that anybody who broke the law be convicted.

"I think we have to be vigilant about getting a full congressional investigation of this. It can't be just the Pentagon investigating themselves," she said. "This is a cultural problem, and we need to follow it all the way up the ranks."

Others came away with questions.

"I don't know how the hell these people got into our Army," said Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., one of several members of Congress who emerged grim-faced.

The private screening marked the latest turn in a scandal that has prompted President Bush to apologize to the victims and Democrats to demand the dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

And it came a day after an American, Nicholas Berg, was beheaded by captors who said they were retaliating for the prison abuses.

This report includes information from The Associated Press. P-I Washington correspondent Charles Pope can be reached at 202-263-6461 or charliepope@seattlepi.com