Baghdad, Iraq — Taleb al-Maleji sits on the carpet and concentrates on smoking a cigarette and not biting himself. The sleeves of his checkered shirt end just above his thin wrists — shiny black and purple in spots where the skin has repeatedly been bitten off and healed over. The scars are not from the year he spent in Abu Ghraib prison but from compulsively biting his wrists and fingers when he thinks about it.

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Arab outrage flashed across the Middle East on Friday as TV stations showed graphic images of naked Iraqi prisoners being humiliated by smiling U. The photographs, shown on Dubai-based Al Arabiya and Qatar-based Al Jazeera, included pictures of prisoners naked except for the hoods that covered their heads. The Arab TV stations led news bulletins with the photos of hooded prisoners piled on top of each other in a human pyramid and simulating sex acts, with their genitals blurred. Two U.
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Army Pfc. Lynndie England, shown in photographs smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners, was charged Friday by the military with assaulting the detainees and conspiring to mistreat them. England, 21, is the seventh soldier from an Army Reserve military police unit to be charged in a scandal that has drawn outrage around the world and damaged the reputation of the United States as it tries to stabilize Iraq. England is seen smiling for the camera in one picture, a cigarette in her mouth, as she leans forward and points at the genitals of a naked, hooded Iraqi. Another photo shows her holding a leash that circles the neck of a naked Iraqi man lying on his side on a cellblock floor, his face contorted. No lawyer has been appointed to represent England, said Col. Billy Buckner, a spokesman for the division. She may also hire a civilian lawyer, he said. The charges must be taken up in an Article 32 investigation, a process similar to a civilian grand jury, before they can be sent to a general court-martial. Buckner said potential penalties could range from a reprimand to imprisonment and a punitive discharge.
In March, the U. Army announced that six members of the th Military Police Brigade faced court martial on charges of abusing about 20 prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The charges included dereliction of duty, cruelty, assault and indecent acts with another person. The administrative probe found the prison to be lacking in command policies and training, said an official familiar with the investigation. No criminal charges have been filed against the command staff.