BRITAIN: Pressure was building on Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan last night after the British government branded as fake photographs purporting to show British soldiers abusing an Iraqi detainee.
In a statement to MPs, Armed Forces Minister Mr Adam Ingram said: "Those pictures were categorically not taken in Iraq. I can also tell the House that this is not only the opinion of the Special Investigations Branch (of the Royal Military Police) investigators - it has been independently corroborated. The truck in which the photos were taken was never in Iraq. Those involved may have committed criminal offences under military law which are the subject of ongoing investigations by the RMP."
Calling on Mr Morgan to co-operate fully with the inquiry, Mr Ingram said the "very high name of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment has been dragged through the mud by the Mirror" and he understood the anger of members of the regiment and their families.
In a defiant statement Mr Morgan insisted the government had still not produced "incontrovertible evidence that the pictures are faked" while adding "these photographs were just one piece of evidence about one incident." The statement continued: "There is, of course, a much bigger issue here that we make no apology for highlighting - which is that the pictures accurately illustrated the reality about the appalling conduct of some British troops."
However, Conservative defence spokesman Mr Keith Simpson said "the good name and possibly the lives" of British troops "have been traded for what now appear to be cheap news headlines."
And the party's shadow foreign secretary, Mr Michael Ancram, said it was now clear Mr Morgan had breached the Press Complaint Commission's code of conduct and urged the Mirror's publishers to take action. "The publication in the Daily Mirror of photographs which now turn out to have been faked has had consequences of the utmost seriousness for our troops serving in Iraq and the reputation of the British armed services throughout the world."
Mr Ancram also turned his fire on Mr Ingram, accusing him of "extraordinary semantics" following his assertion yesterday that he had not misled MPs about reports alleging abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Ten days ago Mr Ingram told MPs he had received no reports about the conduct of British troops. But yesterday he suggested this had been "construed as a denial that I had seen any communication whatsoever about alleged wrongdoings."
To Tory cries of "disgraceful", Mr Ingram said: "Report had a specific meaning to me. It is something that is properly researched, properly constructed and properly presented. The interim (Red Cross) report of February 10th satisfied these criteria. When I said I had not received it, that was a correct and honest answer."