The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder

A US senator today said cases of murder and rape were likely to come out of the investigation of Iraqi prison abuse by American soldiers that has rocked the US administration.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said after an appearance by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the committee the scandal would worsen.

"The American public needs to understand we're talking about rape and murder here," Graham said after the Senate hearing.

"We're not just talking about giving people a humiliating experience. We're talking about rape and murder and some very serious charges."

During the hearing, Graham asked Rumsfeld whether he had seen videos the defence secretary said had been collected as evidence. Rumsfeld said he had not and gave no details of what more could be expected.

But Graham, who is a judge for the army reserve, said: "It's going to get worse. You're going to have more things to show people that will make people mad, more angry."

Six soldiers face charges over the abuse and seven officers have been reprimanded. Six of the officers face a career ending court martial.

Pictures of Iraqi detainees, naked, bound together and in sexually humiliating poses, taken at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad sparked the controversy.

Rumsfeld revealed that there could be hundreds more pictures and some videos that could worsen the scandal.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9502967%255E1702,00.html