It's not so much because they are damaging to the current administration, as it is damaging to the image of America. Yes it was highly amoral, and ALL who had a part in it should be punished properly, but despite the rumors we don't know how high it went.

The problem is Americans in general aren't a bunch of sadistic criminals (many are quite friendly), but the more heinious the images that are released, the more other countries (even some that currently side with us) will see us (all of us) as such.

We've already seen at least one example of the hatred that the mild images have produced. What kind of hatred would the truly disturbing pictures have on the rest of the world?

We're already losing too many soldiers, we don't need to be losing civilian contractors whose only sin was wanting to help raise the living standards in Iraq.