- NEW YORK -- Disgraced US
soldier Lynndie England was filmed having sex in front of Iraqi prisoners,
it was claimed last night.
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- The 21-year-old private is already at the centre of a
storm over pictures showing her holding a naked inmate by a leash at Baghdad's
notorious Abu Ghraib jail.
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- Now more depraved pictures of the reservist in a series
of sex acts with different colleagues have been handed to senators in America.
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- One said: "She was having sex with numerous partners.
It appeared to be consensual. Almost everyone was naked all the time."
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- Senator Norm Coleman added: "It was pretty disgusting,
not what you'd expect from Americans. There was lots of sexual stuff, not
of the Iraqis, but of our troops."
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- Other pictures in a new dossier handed to Congress showed
Iraqi women made to expose their breasts and forced sexual acts between
male prisoners. One was of an inmate abusing himself with a banana.
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- Among the most disturbing scenes was a video of a young
male repeatedly banging into a cell door until he collapsed.
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- The handcuffed prisoner appeared to have a rope attached
to his waist with someone pulling him towards the door.
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- Senator Joe Lieberman said: "It just deepens the
conclusion that this was a cell block that had gone wild." Colleague
Ben Nighthorse Campbell added: "I don't know how the hell these people
got into our army.
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- "There were several pictures of Iraqi women who
were disrobed or putting their shirts up. They were not smiling, that's
for sure. But it looked like they hadn't been beaten."
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- Politicians said the new pictures of abuse were even
more graphic than they expected.
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- Senator Richard Durbin said: "It's like looking
at one of the rings of hell, and it's a ring of hell of our own creation.
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- "When you see these photos of violence and brutality
and perversity and depravity, you want to turn around in revulsion."
Senator Ron Wyden added: "It was significantly worse than I had anticipated.
Take the worst case and multiply it over several times."
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- However, officials were split as to whether to make the
degrading images public. Some fear releasing them would only further inflame
passions in the Muslim world.
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- Others argue it would demonstrate the openness of US
society and limit the damage caused by leaking the photos to the media.
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- But lawyers said making them public would be against
the Geneva Convention which bans the release of images demeaning to prisoners.
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- George Bush last night spoke of his shame at seeing the
pictures of US soldiers brutalising Iraqi prisoners. He told an audience
during a speech on education in Parkersburg, West Virginia: "Like
you, I have been disgraced by what took place in the prison.
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- "But the actions of a few do not reflect on the
fantastic character of the more than 200,000 men and women who have served
in Iraq."
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- Private England, who is five-months pregnant, was sent
back to the US after the scandal broke and is facing a court martial.
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- She spends her days doing menial chores like washing
walls at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
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- The soldier tried to paint herself as an unwilling participant
in the humiliating photos of her with the naked Iraqi on a dog lead and
others shots including her pointing at an inmate's genitals.
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- She claimed she was following orders from "persons
in my chain of command".
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- Yesterday her sister Jessica Klinestiver said she was
"being made a scapegoat".
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- The father of Private England's child is thought to be
military policeman Charles Graner who was yesterday told he will be charged
next week with abusing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib jail.
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- The 35-year-old was pictured standing behind a pile of
naked prisoners. In one shot, he is arm-in-arm with Private England.
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- Graner is the second soldier to face a court martial.
His colleague Jeremy Sivits will stand trial in Baghdad on May 19.
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