The White House and Pentagon Thursday both denied a British newspaper's report saying that alleged photographs of abuse at Iraqi prisons include images of rape and sexual assault.
"None of the photographs in question depict the images described in the article," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at a press briefing of a Daily Telegraph story claiming to describe graphic photographs and accounts of rapes and other abuses of prisoners at the notorious Abu Ghraib jail outside Baghdad.
Citing an ex-army officer who published a 2004 report into the abuse scandal at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, the report said that the photos showed rape, torture and abuse.
The report also said that the photos were among those that Obama's administration has chosen not to release for fear they might jeopardize the security of U.S. troops abroad.
Gibbs also charged that British newspapers had a record of getting it wrong, saying he would "speak generally about reports I 've witnessed over the past few years in the British media."
"Let's just say if I wanted to look up -- if I wanted to read a write-up today of how Manchester United fared last night in the Champions League Cup, I might open up a British newspaper," he said. "If I was looking for something that bordered on truthful news, I'm not entirely sure it'd be the first stack of clips I picked up."
Earlier the day, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman also accused that the Telegraph "demonstrated an inability to get the facts right."
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)
