[jcat]

IRAQ PRISONERS 'TORTURED'
America's senior general in Baghdad has denounced US troops accused of torturing Iraqi prisoners.

Seventeen soldiers have been suspended, including one senior officer, with six facing Courts Martial.

The soldiers at a prison outside Baghdad were accused of forcing Iraqi prisoners into acts of sexual humiliation and other abuses.

The charges, first announced by the military in March, were documented by photographs taken by guards in the prison.

Brigadier General Mark Kimmet is appealing to the American people to keep faith with their troops in Iraq.

Some of the photographs, and descriptions of others, were broadcast in the US on Wednesday by a CBS television news programme and were verified by military officials.

One shows a hooded prisoner standing on a box. Wires were attached to him and he was told that if he fell off the box he would be electrocuted.

"The pictures show Americans, men and women, in military uniforms, posing with naked Iraqi prisoners," the programme said.

"And in most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, pointing or giving the camera a thumbs-up."

But one of the soldiers accused of the abuse, insisted it was the Army's fault for not training its troops properly in how to treat prisoners.

In his diary, Staff Sergeant Ivan "Chip" Frederick said he told senior officers about conditions, but one replied: "I don't care if he has to sleep standing up."

The programme's producers said the Army also had photographs showing a detainee with wires attached to his genitals and another that showed a dog attacking a prisoner.

The photographs were taken inside Abu Ghraib prison, where US forces have been holding hundreds of Iraqis.

Brig Gen Kimmet told CBS's Dan Rather: "This is wrong and reprehensible. But it is not representative of (US) soldiers over here."

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...133250,00.html