Washington, May 28 (Prensa Latina) The Pentagon sought to publish pictures on torture applied by the CIA in the prison of Abu Ghraib during the administration of George W. Bush, but President Barack Obama revoked its decision.
In spite of the order, a former official of the US Army in charge of the investigation of the scandal in the Iraqi prison stated that the pictures showed sexual abuses, Democracy Now revealed Thursday to the newspaper Daily Telegraph.
In an interview published by the British newspaper, former major general Antonio Taguba expressed that at least an image shows a US soldier violating a prisoner and another one captured a translator annoying another prisoner.
According to Taguba, other pictures show sexual abuses done with objects such as billy clubs, wires and a phosphorescent tube.
Obama was criticized when he retracted the promise of allowing the publication of the aberrant pictures two weeks ago.
According to White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, the President changed his opinion because he believed that the pictures could represent a threat for the security of the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Press media pointed out recently that former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and the former US vice-president Richard Cheney authorized CIA to use the torture in interrogations against possible terrorists.
A report of the Committee of Armed Services of the US Senate said that on July 17, 2002, Rice ordered the CIA to continue with the alternative methods of interrogation, including the well-known method of feigned drowning, known as waterboarding.
The report, prepared by the General Attorney’�s Office on request of the Select Committee on Intelligence of the US Senate, declassifies details on the orders given to the CIA by high officials of the Bush administration (2001-2009) related to the use of the torture during questioning of prisoners.
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