She said she saw a man hitting himself against a wall as though to knock himself unconscious.Sen. Defense officials were present, but did not answer questions about the pictures, apparently fearing they might interfere with the any prosecutions.The photos were seized from service members and included many shots unrelated to the investigation, such as pictures of historic sites Some photos showed what appeared to be soldiers having sex. It wasn’t clear whether all the abuse took place at Abu Ghraib or at other locations, they said.Senators said the photographs were presented as a rapid slide show on a screen in the classified hearing room. but it’s generally the same as what’s in the public domain no huge surprises.”The private Capitol Hill screening marked the latest turn in a scandal that has prompted George Bush to apologise to the victims and Democrats to demand the dismissal of the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.The Senate Armed Services Committee has been holding hearings to determine whether prisoner abuses were limited to the Abu Ghraib facility.

Many of the soldiers’ faces were already familiar from photos published worldwide. Some said they feared releasing photos would only further inflame international passions; others argued it would demonstrate the openness of American society and limit the damage caused by the gradual leaking of photos to media outlets.They also disagreed about whether the photos they saw were much worse than the ones already made public.Democratic Sen. Take the worst case and multiply it several times over.”But Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican, said, “Anything like this is shocking … Ron Wyden said, “It was significantly worse than anything that I had anticipated.

The photos have created international condemnation and threatened to undermine US military and rebuilding efforts in Iraq.Lawmakers differed over whether the new batch of photos should be released a decision likely will be left up to the US administration. Senior American politicians expressed outrage and disgust after they were shown fresh photographs showing US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners with forced sex and snarling dogs. “I was just looking at my own children this morning, my daughter getting the bus to school and I was just thinking that he used to do that.”. One neighbour recommended the solution should be to drop a bomb.But among the birdsong in the quiet neighbourhood where Mr Berg grew up, most people’s thoughts were simply of him and his family, of someone they knew and whose death had brought the horror of Iraq to their doorsteps.A few yards from Mr Berg’s parents’ home, Kathy McCauley was busy with the youngest of her three children.”A lot of the mothers were terribly distraught,” she said. Others may argue that the savagery supports Mr Bush’s purported mission to bring democracy to Iraq. Those opposed to the war will probably be hardened in their opinion that this was the sort of horror that should have anticipated from the outset. But for many Americans, the coffin being flown to Dover Air Force base in Delaware will be bringing home not just the young man’s remains but also the visceral horror of the war and the ongoing occupation by US forces.”I was adamantly opposed to the war,” admitted another of the Bergs’ neighbours, who asked not to be named.

The spokesman said Mr Berg had been warned that it was unsafe in Iraq and that he should leave.It is not clear where or when Mr Berg was kidnapped or killed but analysis of the videotape suggested there was a gap of several hours between the time the masked men read their statement and when he was actually beheaded.It is impossible to predict the effect Mr Berg’s execution will have on US public opinion in the weeks ahead as the Bush administration prepares to return sovereignty to Iraq by 30 June. A day later, he was released.He told his parents that the State Department had been unable to get him a flight home and that he was seeking instead to return overland. They last heard from him on 9 April.A US spokesman in Baghdad said yesterday that Mr Berg had never been in American custody but that the US authorities had helped secure his release from the police cell. His family filed a lawsuit in the federal court in Philadelphia on 5 April asserting that he was being held by the military in violation of his civil rights. If they want to kill each other then let them.”While the US authorities have vowed to find Mr Berg’s killers, his friends and family are also demanding an explanation as to what happened to him in Iraq after he was detained in early March by Iraqi police in the city of Mosul, who apparently questioned the authenticity of some of the documents he was carrying.Mr Berg’s father said that his son had told him in a telephone call he had been handed over to the US authorities who held him for 13 days without access to a lawyer and that he was questioned about what he was doing in Iraq. Yesterday I think I was in shock because it was so close to home but today it has really hit me.”I just think that now we need to get the hell out of there. I know that if I was in their position I would want some support I am so upset by what has happened.