Australian PM defends US handling of Abu Ghraib case
An Australian network could be justified in airing graphic images of abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison if they showed evidence of mistreatment that has not already been investigated, Prime Minister John Howard said today.
However, if the photographs depict acts that have already been exposed and prosecuted, Howard suggested there was no reason to publish them.
Officials in Iraq and the United States have expressed concern that the images released by the Special Broadcasting Service’s Dateline programme could further inflame tensions in the Middle East, when public anger is already running high over footage of British soldiers beating youths in southern Iraq.
Howard said the network could justify the broadcast if it had grounds to believe they “represented evidence of behaviour not previously investigated”.
“If … these photographs were merely reviving behaviour that had been the subject of investigation and prosecution and punishment and people going to jail, then perhaps (it is) another matter,” he said.
“In the end we are a democracy,” he added, conceding that “once a journalist gets photographs of that kind the reality is they are going to publish them”.
The US Defence Department has said it believes the release of the images of naked prisoners, some bloodied and lying on the floor, could be harmful and endanger the lives of US troops. Some key Iraqi officials urged their countrymen to react calmly, saying the pictures released yesterday were old, and the offenders had been punished.
Nine American soldiers – all low-ranking reservists – were convicted in connection with the abuse and were sentenced to various terms ranging from discharge from the Army to 10 years' imprisonment.
SBS’s Dateline programme has defended its decision to broadcast the images.
“Despite the currently overheated international climate, we’re showing them because they show the extent of the horror that occurred at Abu Ghraib,” the programme’s host George Negus told viewers.
The network refused to give details on the source of the photos and video clips, but said they were among those the American Civil Liberties Union was trying to obtain from the US government under a Freedom of Information request.
Howard, a staunch ally of US President George Bush, defended the United States.
“If further abuse has occurred then I unreservedly condemn it. But can I say immediately in defence of the Americans they are doing something about it,” he said, adding that US authorities had already prosecuted military personnel involved in abusing detainees at the prison.
The opposition Labour Party said it was crucial to discover whether the abuse shown in the new images had been carried out by offenders who had already been punished, or whether there were other perpetrators that must be brought to justice.
“One of our strongest weapons in the fight against terror is our commitment to uphold the rule of law,” said Robert McLelland, Labour’s defence spokesman.
“In the context of this, there must be a completely open process to ascertain precisely what happened within the Abu Ghraib prison compound and if it appears that arbitrary violence was undertaken by any person, serving military personnel or otherwise, they need to be confronted with the full force of the law,” he said.
The party said the US Army should carry out a fresh investigation and urged Howard to raise the issue with Washington.
Australia currently maintains about 1,320 troops in Iraq and the Middle East, including a task force of 450 soldiers who are protecting Japanese military engineers engaged in humanitarian work in southern al-Muthanna province.
Despite widespread public opposition to the war, Howard has repeatedly refused to set a deadline for pulling Australian troops out of Iraq.
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