IRAQ: TORTURE

Independent: GIs Raped, Rode Prisoners Like Animals In Abu Ghraib
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, Justin Huggler in Baghdad and Leonard Doyle

The abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison continued yesterday with the publication of fresh pictures and sworn statements that detailed a teenage boy being raped, prisoners being ridden like animals and other Iraqis being forced to eat pork and drink alcohol in contravention of their religion. For the first time video footage of some of the abuse was also broadcast, a development likely to increase the political impact of the scandal.

The new details caused fresh outrage around the Arab world and further rocked the Bush administration - already floundering after a week in which US forces killed dozens of guests at a wedding party in Iraq after mistaking them for insurgents. The latest pictures and allegations - chronicling more calculated attempts to humiliate Muslim prisoners - have only added to the suspicion that they were part of a policy formulated at a high level of authority.