Photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners drew international condemnation yesterday, prompting the stark conclusion that the US campaign to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis is a lost cause. "This is the straw that broke the camel's back for America," said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi. "The liberators are worse than the dictators." "They have not just lost the hearts and minds of Iraqis but all the Third World and the Arab countries," he said. The CBS News programme 60 Minutes II on Wednesday broadcast photos taken at the Abu Ghraib prison late last year showing American troops abusing some Iraqis held at what was once a notorious centre of torture and executions under toppled president Saddam Hussein. The pictures showed US troops smiling, posing, laughing or giving the thumbs-up sign as naked, male Iraqi prisoners were stacked in a pyramid or positioned to simulate sex acts with one another. The Arab League reacted angrily to the images of US abuse. It called on the coalition to punish those responsible for the "savage acts" shown in the photos. "We roundly denounce this mistreatment and humiliation, which is contrary to human rights and to international conventions concerning the protection of civil populations under occupation," said Hossam Zaki, spokesman for Arab League chief Amr Moussa. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was deeply disturbed by the pictures. "In all circumstances, and in all places, the secretary-general is strongly opposed to the mistreatment of detainees," his spokesman said in a statement. "He reiterates that all detainees should be fully protected in accordance with the provisions of international human rights law," the spokesman said. The pictures were widely condemned in the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the mistreatment. Blair was appalled at the images, the prime minister's official spokesman said. He said that the photographs were in "direct contravention of all policy under which the coalition operates". "We fully accept that these things should not happen. But the important point is to underline that actions of this kind are in no way condoned by the coalition and this is in contrast with what went before," Blair's spokesman said. "When it comes to winning hearts and minds, the US Army hasn't got a clue," wrote the Daily Mirror tabloid, one of several British papers to splash the photos on its front page. Saudi Arabia's English-language Arab News daily said: "The greatest loss the Americans face is to their reputation, not simply in the Middle East but in the world at large. "US military power will be seen for what it is, a behemoth with the response speed of a muscle-bound ox and the limited understanding of a mouse." **Concern*** In Geneva, the International Committee of The Red Cross voiced concern. "We take this extremely seriously. Torture is forbidden in any circumstances of any person detained in the world. Humiliation and degrading treatment is a form of torture," chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari said. Calling for an independent inquiry, Amnesty International said: "There is a real crisis of leadership in Iraq with double standards and double speak on human rights." Meanwhile, a soldier facing a court-martial for his role in the alleged abuse of Iraqi war prisoners says commanders ignored his requests to set out rules for treating POWs and scolded him for questioning the inmates' harsh treatment. Army Reserves Staff Sgt Ivan "Chip" Frederick wrote that Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad lacked the humane standards of the Virginia state prison where he worked in civilian life, according to a journal he started after military investigators first questioned him in January. The Iraqi prisoners were sometimes confined naked for three consecutive days without toilets in damp, unventilated cells with floors one meter by one meter, Frederick wrote in materials obtained on Thursday by The Associated Press. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Abu Ghraib prison, 20 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Aug.1, 2003 file photo. (AP)