General says photos would aid al-Qaida

NEW YORK – Releasing photos and videotapes of detainee abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison would aid al-Qaida recruitment, weaken governments in Iraq and Afghanistan and incite riots against U.S. troops, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warned in court papers.

The American Civil Liberties Union is seeking the release of 87 photographs and four videotapes taken at the prison as part of a lawsuit it filed in October 2003.

Gen. Richard B. Myers wrote in recently unsealed court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that it was “probable that al-Qaida and other groups will seize upon these images and videos as grist for their propaganda mill.”

The ACLU complaint seeks information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody and the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture. It also contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.