Madam, - The editor of the Daily Mirror, Piers Morgan, has been sacked and the pictures of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British forces in Iraq have been discredited. But important questions remain.
Whoever was responsible for staging these pictures and supplying them to the Daily Mirror obviously had access to military equipment. The equipment featured in the photos was genuine, but was all of a slightly different model to what had been used in Iraq. This curious fact meant the photos would appear genuine to non-military people, such as journalists, but could easily be discredited later by military experts.
The sacking of Morgan has silenced one of the main media opponents of the invasion and occupation of Iraq while the discrediting of the Mirror pictures has tended to give the impression that the allegations of abuse carried out by British troops in Iraq has also been discredited. This is all very convenient for Bush and Blair.
The International Committee of the Red Cross informed the British Government of prisoner abuse in Iraq months ago. Is it possible that certain people realised that this issue could not be hushed up indefinitely and deliberately set Piers Morgan up in order to silence the main voice of opposition and simultaneously cast doubt on allegations of prisoner abuse by British forces in Iraq? - Yours, etc.,
SEAN SWAN,
Belfast 10.