Photos of US misconduct in Iraqi prisons, which President Barack Obama is trying to keep in the dark, reportedly contain gruesome scenes of rape and sexual abuse.

Major General Antonio Taguba, a former army officer who spearheaded an extensive investigation into the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq, sent shockwaves around the world when he revealed that there are photos that support allegations of rape and abuse against the US military.

"These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency," Taguba said in a Thursday interview with The Daily Telegraph.

One of the pictures depicts a male American soldier apparently raping a female detainee, while the other shows a male translator raping a male prisoner.

Another photo shows how a female detainee was forced to disrobe and expose her breasts.

There were also photos that show US soldiers sexually assaulting the prisoners with objects like truncheons, wires and phosphorescent tubes.

He said that the gruesome nature of the photos is to such extent that he understands why Obama is trying to keep them from the public eye.

"I am not sure what purpose their release would serve other than a legal one," Taguba said. "The sequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy, when we most need them, and British troops who are trying to build security in Afghanistan."

The world reacted in shock and awe in 2004 when photos emerged of grinning American soldiers posing with detainees --some naked, others held on leashes -- at the infamous US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Obama has refused to take the lid off the abuse photos, saying that it would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and endanger US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.