Barack Obama attempts to block alleged torture photos

President Barack Obama is attempting to block the release of up to 2,000 photographs of alleged abuse at American prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Telegraph.co.uk

By Alex Spillius in Washington
 

Barack Obama is attempting to block the release of up to 2,000 photographs of alleged prisoner abuse Photo: AP

The entrance of Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad, 2004 Photo: AFP/GETTY

Just weeks after announcing he would make the images public, administration officials said the president had told his legal advisers that releasing the photos would endanger troops.

Mr Obama said: “The most direct consequence of releasing them I believe would be to inflame anti-American public opinion and to put our troops in greater danger.”

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The president claimed the images were not as “sensational” as the images released from Abu Ghraib in 2004.

The change of heart came after representations by senior military commanders and Robert Gates, the defence secretary.

The decision is an embarrassing climb down for Mr Obama, who had previously decided to allow the pictures to be released in a bid to bury the issue for good.

The White House had said that "it was pointless to appeal" against a court judgment in favour of a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr Obama now wants the issue to go back to court, although federal appeals judges have already ruled the photos should be released.

They were due to be released by May 28, just days before Mr Obama is due to speak in Egypt on June 4 in what is intended to be a landmark address to the Muslim world.

The prospect of a new set of images similar to those released in 2004 showing abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, which damaged America's standing in the world, could have done serious damage to the president's bid to build bridges with Islamic states.

The new photographs of alleged abuse were taken at the same prison and six other locations, and promised to be as offensive the originals which led to a series of prosecutions of US military personnel.

They include a prisoner pushed up against a wall as military guards or interrogators appear to threaten to sexually assault him with a broomstick; female soldiers posing with hooded, shackled prisoners who were stripped naked and hooded prisoners on transport planes with Playboy magazines opened to pictures of nude women on their laps.

The images relate to more than 400 separate cases involving alleged prisoner abuse between 2001 and 2005.

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said: "The president believes in this special case the damage that would be done to troops and our national security has not been fully presented to the court.

"The Department of Justice will look for different avenues and is likely to seek a stay.".

Mr Obama's change of heart appears to go against the spirit of openness he has promised in his fledgling presidency.

The administration has been taken aback by the controversy sparked by the release of four CIA "torture memos" last month which has embroiled senior Democrats and led to calls for prosecution of Bush officials, when the president hoped to put the issue behind him.

This is not the first instance where he has disappointed supporters by following elements of the Bush policy on terror, however. Aides have admitted that he will soon announce plans to continue the heavily-criticised military trial system at Guantanamo in altered form.

The administration has also given itself room to continue making extraordinary renditions of terror suspects in some circumstances.

The administration had initially planned to release only the 21 photos sought by the ACLU, but General David Petraeus ordered that all 2,000 photographs be released to keep from "dragging this issue out forever".

The Pentagon feared there could be a backlash in the Middle East similar to the one provoked by pictures from Abu Ghraib prison which became emblematic of American mistakes in Iraq.

The Bush administration had resisted releasing the images to the public, contending the disclosure would fuel anti-American feeling and violate US obligations towards prisoners under the Geneva Conventions.