All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer Sunday that nobody in America, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, is "above the law."

Leahy was responding to a report in the New York Times that Cheney ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress.

"If, as the New York Times says, we have the vice president of the United States telling people to break the law, now that's a pretty serious matter," Leahy said on CBS' "Face The Nation." "Either he did, or he didn't. If he did, that's something we ought to know."

He said finding out what happened is important because "usually if something is done wrong by one [administration] and it's exposed, the next one tends to behave themselves."

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UPDATED Previously unseen images* showing what appears to be prisoner abuse on the part of U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been revealed by an Australian television station, which reportedly acquired them following the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2006.

A slideshow of fifteen of the photos is here. Though portions are blocked out, they are extremely graphic.

Among the shots: A picture of a soldier and four nearly naked detainees, one of whom has the words "I'M A RAPEIST" written on his buttocks; a picture of a prisoner cowering while surrounded by dogs and soldiers with guns; a picture of a naked man with an unidentified white liquid coming out of his mouth; a shot of a naked detainee with eight large red welts slightly above his buttocks; a photo of a smiling soldier kneeling next to a detainee strapped down near the floor; a photo of a naked prisoner hanging upside down from the top of a bunk bed; a picture of a soldier who appears poised to punch a shackled detainee; and pictures of what appear to be the corpses of prisoners.

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UPDATED In a reversal of his past position, President Obama is opposing the planned release of photos allegedly showing prisoner abuse by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan out of concern that doing so will put U.S. troops at risk.

It is "my belief that the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," the president said Wednesday afternoon. "In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger."

"Moreover, I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse," he added.

The president said that the photos "are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib," adding they are associated with investigations that have already been closed. But, he said, "they do represent conduct that did not conform with the Army Manual."

Last month, Justice Department officials said they would not fight a court order from federal appeals judges that the photos must be released. The Pentagon had planned to release 44 photos by May 28th, and potentially more at a later date. On April 24th, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said appealing the court decision on the photos was "hopeless."

Now, however, the administration wants the matter revisited in the courts.

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