WASHINGTON, May 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Congressmen expressed their appall and disgust after privately seeing Wednesday, May 12, 1,600 new and unreleased photos and videos of Iraqi prisoner abuse, with some charging the acts could have never been confined to only those involved.

"There were some awful scenes. It felt like you were descending into one of the rings of hell, and sadly it was our own creation," Sen. Richard J. Durbin was quoted as saying by Reuters.

A special showing of pictures and videos of the abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison was held in secure viewing rooms on both the House and Senate sides of Congress.

After viewing the images, members of Congress said they included Iraqi women exposing their breasts, and hooded Iraqi prisoners masturbating, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

''I was obviously shocked and horrified to discover that the new photos are even more gruesome than those we have seen in the media," said Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Lowell.

''There's no doubt in my mind that the abuses at Abu Ghraib constitute torture."

Some of the lawmakers remembered photos of a shackled prisoner repeatedly banging his head against a wall, reported the Boston Globe.

It added that the congressmen saw many sexual images, some of simulated acts and others including actual intercourse between male and female soldiers.

Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, said there were also some "gruesome scenes" that showed dead bodies, without explanation of how they died.

"I expected that these pictures would be very hard on the stomach lining and they are significantly worse than anything I had anticipated," remarked Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat.

"Take the worst case and multiply it several times over. This means that it is so urgent that steps are taken to try to repair the damage," he said.

Several legislators cast doubts on the administration argument that knowledge of the abuses was confined to the participants who appeared in the pictures.

"You can't tell me that all this was going on with seven or eight Army privates," said Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida.

"The question is, how far up the chain of command did these orders (go)," asked Democratic Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey.

The Washington Post described the private screenings arranged by the Pentagon - one for senators, one for House members – as surely ranking among Congress's more bizarre scenes.

"House members silently crammed into a standing-room-only as hundreds of images, some described as pornographic, flashed on a screen for a few seconds each.

"Lawmakers emerging from that session, and from a less-crowded Senate room, seemed almost at a loss for words," said the daily.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist commented saying, "What we saw is appalling" while Democratic Rep. Jane Harman recalled "cruel, sadistic torture".

“Incites More Hatred”

Some lawmakers said they favored publishing the new abuse photos and videos while others argued this would increase hatred against the United States and incite more attacks against Americans in Iraq and elsewhere.

Virginia Senator John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the White House should not authorize the release of more images, saying U.S. nationals could be hit in revenge strikes.

Warner also urged Senators to be wary of the way they describe the images to avoid fanning "further anger against our forces or others working in the cause of freedom."

He claimed that making the pictures public might interfere with criminal trials against those facing prosecution.

"I think at this time it would not be wise to publish them," Warner said.

He argued it would be better to release the images during the trials "when the prosecution has a right to bring out certain photographs, (and) the defense has a right to bring out other photographs - so you will have a balance of interests."

The Independent said the decision whether the new batch of photos should be released was likely to be left up to the U.S. administration.