On Thursday, a U.S. federal judge ordered the release of more images of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse - which may open up the American military to more embarrassment from a scandal that already has stirred outrage around the world.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein rejected government arguments that the images would incite acts of terrorism and violence against U.S. troops in Iraq, saying that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."

Alvin K. Hellerstein, May 1999. (AP Photo/Rick Kopstein, New York Law Journal)

"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed," he said.

The judge ordered the release of 74 photographs taken by a soldier, and turned over to the Army by a military police officer. Some may be duplicates of ones the public has already seen.

An appeal of Hellerstein's ruling was expected, and could delay release of the pictures for months.

Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said releasing the photos would hinder his work against terrorism.

"When we continue to pick at the wound and show the pictures over and over again it just creates the image -- a false image -- like this is the sort of stuff that is happening anew, and it's not," Abizaid said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked for the photographs and videotapes to be released as part of an October 2003 lawsuit requesting information on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, and on the transfer of prisoners to countries known to use torture.

The ACLU contends that prisoner abuse is systemic.

"It's a historic ruling, said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. "While no one wants to see [them,] they will play an essential role in holding our government leaders accountable for the torture that's happened on their watch."

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan said it is reviewing the ruling and will consider its options.

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had argued in court papers that releasing the photographs would aid al-Qaeda recruitment, weaken the shaky governments in Afghanistan and Iraq and incite riots against American troops.

But the judge said his job isn't to "defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government."

The judge said the pictures were important because they were the best evidence of what happened at the prison.