Pentagon blocks new video evidence of prisoner abuse

The Pentagon is trying to block the release of new video evidence of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, arguing that they would incite public opinion in the Muslim world, according to documents unsealed in federal court in New York.

If the images are made public, "riots, violence and attacks by insurgents will result", General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a statement in support of the Pentagon's case.

Myers claims that the release "would aid the recruitment effort and other activities of insurgent elements."

He also said it will "endanger the lives and physical safety of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines in the United States Armed Forces presently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The documents, which show both the high level and the determination of the Pentagon officials who are engaged in the effort to block the disclosure of the new evidence, were filed in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Under the Freedom of Information Act , the ACLU is seeking to obtain the release of 87 new photographs and four videotapes taken at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. The photographs were among those turned over to army investigators last year by Specialist Joseph Darby, a reservist who was posted at Abu Ghraib.

Darby was the first to uncover the Abu Ghraib scandal last year when he handed military investigators scandalous photographs and video tapes showing his fellow military policemen brutally abusing and torturing Iraqi detainees; the U.S. was holding at Abu Ghraib prison.

U.S. military personnel appeared in those pictures piling up naked inmates on the floor. Iraqi detainees also appeared in the photos cowering in front of snarling military dogs, chained to beds in stress positions, with women's underwear put over their heads.

So far only eight low-ranking U.S. soldiers have been convicted in the abuse scandal that sparked worldwide condemnation of the United States.

Although several U.S. soldiers, who have been convicted in the scandal, asserted that high ranking officials were also involved in the matter, a Pentagon probe cleared all top U.S. commanders of any criminal responsibility.

The suit comes at a sensitive time for Bush’s administration, currently trying to allay the public concerns over its policies in Iraq, especially with the surge in U.S. casualties in the country, AFP said.

A recent Newsweek magazine survey showed that 61 percent of Americans disapprove the way President Bush is handling Iraq.

The top U.S. military commander further stated that the release of new evidence will have an effect similar to that caused by the Qur’an desecration story, published by the Newsweek magazine last April.

The Newsweek said in its story, it later retracted, that the U.S. soldiers flushed a copy of the Holy Qur’an down the toilet.

According to ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, the real reason the Pentagon is trying to stop the release of the new video and photos is because it demonstrates "the failure of American leaders who placed our young men and women in compromising situations and are now seeking to blame them for it."

A hearing is scheduled for Monday for the judge to weigh the latest arguments on both sides, according to the New York Times.