"Obama's bid to suppress prisoner abuse pictures fails as images are leaked"

Last updated at 12:03 PM on 15th May 2009

Photographs of the alleged abuse of prisoners in Iraq thought to be among those that Barack Obama is trying to prevent from being published have been released.

Pictures apparently showing Iraqi inmates being subjected to degrading treatment were disclosed the day after Mr Obama announced a legal bid to stop more than 2,000 images being seen.

It is alleged that the pictures, one of which shows a naked man hung upside down from a bunk bed, are among those that the president wanted suppressed.

Mr Obama fears a backlash against U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Further images purportedly from the 2,000 include one of a naked man covered in excrement with a guard standing in front of him.

Others yet to be released are alleged to show guards threatening to sexually assault a detainee with a broomstick and hooded prisoners in transport planes with copies of Playboy magazine showing naked women open on their laps.

The president had previously committed to allowing them to be seen but changed his mind after senior generals said it could place U.S. troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in greater danger.

The images were released in Australia yesterday where they were originally obtained by the television channel SBS in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

The release comes at an inopportune time for President Obama who is trying to build bridges with the Islamic world.

He is scheduled to make a major speech in Cairo on June 4 when he will outline his plan to establish peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

President Obama earlier vowed to fight to block the release of the 2,000 'inflammatory' photographs showing the abuse of prisoners by U.S. soldiers.

He had previously said the administration would not oppose a court ruling demanding the release of hundreds of the classified photos.

This followed his decision to release the U.S. Justice Department memos detailing CIA interrogation methods, such as waterboarding, that he has now outlawed as torture.

Aides say he changed his mind on the photos because 'he did not feel comfortable' with their release.

He has asked his legal advisors to present a new case to judges saying that making the pictures public could imperil national security.

The White House legal team is now preparing for a June 9 deadline to present its case that it would be against the interests of national security to make them public.

'The President strongly believes that the release of these photos...would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theatres of war, jeopardising U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult,' said a White House official.

The government was ordered to release the photos by the courts after the American Civil Liberties Union won two lawsuits. The Bush administration had blocked earlier attempts to make the pictures public.

ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said: 'The decision to suppress the photos is profoundly inconsistent with the promise of transparency that President Obama has made time after time.'

The proposed release of the pictures led to Liz Cheney, daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney, accusing Mr Obama of finding it 'fashionable' to 'side with the terrorists'.

She said she was worried the photos would show the US military in ‘a very negative light.’

Original Link (Now Broken) - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1181358/Obamas-bid-suppress-prisoner-abuse-pictures-fails-images-leaked.html