Congress to Get New Photos of Iraqi Inmates

WASHINGTON — Military officials are preparing to give Congress additional photographs from their investigation into the abusive treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Sunday.

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) said the military had agreed to give the armed services panel classified discs containing unreleased digital images. “I was assured yesterday that all the new photos are being reviewed by the lawyers and so forth and will be forthcoming to Congress,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The evidence will be shared with members of Congress, Warner added, but “when that will be released to the public remains to be seen.”

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during congressional testimony Friday that additional photographs and videos exist of physical violence toward prisoners under U.S. control, some of them showing “acts that can only be described as blatantly sadistic, cruel and inhuman.”

The warning came amid an international furor over the images that have already come to light, which show mistreatment of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate committees on foreign relations and intelligence, said there were “probably in the range of 30” investigations under way into the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan under U.S. control.

“There are many, many investigations ongoing now as a result of deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq, deaths that came at the hands of United States officials,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” noting that some have been referred to the Justice Department.

“This is deeper and wider than I think most in this administration understand,” Hagel said. “Aside from the fact that we’re losing the Iraqi people, we’re losing the Muslim-Arab world, and we’re losing the support of our allies.”

Although Warner said it was unclear when the new photographs would be released to the public, three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) -- strongly urged public disclosure of the material.

“If there are more photos out there detailing abuse and terrible behavior, if there’s a videotape out there, for God sakes, lets talk about it, because men and women’s lives are at stake given how we handle this. So I want to get it all out on the table,” Graham said on “Meet the Press.”

Graham also sent a sharp signal to Vice President Dick Cheney, who Saturday rallied to Rumsfeld’s defense, calling on the secretary’s critics to “get off his case and let him do his job.”

The vice president’s statement was “inappropriate,” Graham said Sunday, adding that Congress was exercising its oversight responsibilities. “Nobody’s on their back. We’re doing our job.”

McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said it would be “foolish” for the administration to try to withhold photographic images of abuse from the public, arguing that such an approach would only suggest that this country was uncertain in its commitment to prevent such treatment.

“All the information concerning this should be brought out completely,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.”

It also appeared Sunday that Rumsfeld’s future was far from certain. The Defense secretary Friday sought to address criticism of his actions in the prison scandal, telling Congress that “I wish I had been able to convey” to the president and public the gravity of the situation before it broke May 28 on “60 Minutes II.” President Bush has expressed his displeasure but said Rumsfeld would stay on.

Democrats, including presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), have called on Rumsfeld to resign, and some Republican members of Congress on Sunday made clear that their own minds were not made up about Rumsfeld’s fate.

Hagel said Sunday that the president would face “hard choices” soon about Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“I think it’s still in question whether Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and, quite frankly, Gen. Myers can command the respect and the trust and the confidence of the military of the American people to lead this country,” Hagel said.

“This is as serious a problem as we’ve had since Vietnam,” Hagel said on “Face the Nation.” “You cannot have commanders at the top ... being questioned within the ranks of the military” during a time of war.

“It’s not settled yet,” Hagel said.

McCain, who often follows an independent path, told “Fox News Sunday” that it was too soon to demand that the Defense secretary step down.

The Arizona Republican, who spent more than five years in North Vietnamese prison, said he was waiting to learn such fundamental information as “what was the chain of command” responsible for U.S. conduct at Abu Ghraib.

“We can make a much better judgment after we have gotten a lot of the answers,” McCain said, “but I certainly think it would be terribly premature to call for his resignation at this time.”

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) said on “Face the Nation” that he thought Rumsfeld should resign, but he argued that the greater problem was a lack of “moral clarity” from the Bush White House.

“It doesn’t need to be perceived as being a political battle between Democrats who are willing to say Rumsfeld should step down and Republicans put in the spot of not wanting to say that,” Biden said. “It’s so much bigger than that.”