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UK - The discrediting of the anti-war faction...
using the same techniques as Saddam Hussein?
Daily Mirror story
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Doubt over Mirror photos
"A BBC defense correspondent quoted sources close to the regiment as saying aspects of the photographs were extremely suspicious. They said the type of rifle and the floppy hats pictured were not used by troops in Iraq, and the type of truck shown in the background had not been deployed there. "
Blair Appalled by Iraq Abuse Photos, Doubts Emerge
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Abuse Of Iraqi POWs By GIs Probed
April 29, 2004
Last month, the U.S. Army announced 17 soldiers in Iraq, including a brigadier general, had been removed from duty after charges of mistreating Iraqi prisoners.
But the details of what happened have been kept secret, until now.
It turns out photographs surfaced showing American soldiers abusing and humiliating Iraqis being held at a prison near Baghdad. The Army investigated, and issued a scathing report.
Now, an Army general and her command staff may face the end of long military careers. And six soldiers are facing court martial in Iraq -- and possible prison time.
Correspondent Dan Rather talks to one of those soldiers. And, for the first time, 60 Minutes II will show some of the pictures that led to the Army investigation.
According to the U.S. Army, one Iraqi prisoner was told to stand on a box with his head covered, wires attached to his hands. He was told that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted.
It was this picture, and dozens of others, that prompted an investigation by the U.S. Army. On Tuesday, 60 Minutes II asked Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of coalition operations in Iraq, what went wrong.
"Frankly, I think all of us are disappointed by the actions of the few," says Kimmitt. "Every day, we love our soldiers, but frankly, some days we're not always proud of our soldiers."
For decades under Saddam Hussein, many prisoners who were taken to the Abu Ghraib prison never came out. It was the centerpiece of Saddam's empire of fear, and those prisoners who did make it out told nightmarish tales of torture beyond imagining and executions without reason.
CBS news
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Are The Daily Mirror being discredited?
Has the editor Peirs Morgan been targetted or is he even complicit
in the degrading / dismantling of the UK anti-war system?
What have THEY got on him?
Remember BBC DG Greg Dyke & Gavyn Davies,
Labour party stooges...
Taking the rap for the Dr Kelly affair?
The BBC was re-marketed as TRUSTWORTHY
It is now a major propaganda outlet for government spin...
[What a joke!!!]
Is the Daily mirror about to go
through the very same process?
Update:Peirs Morgan sacked
or did heresign?
Why?
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Editor sacked over 'hoax' photos
Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake. In a statement the Mirror said it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and that it would be "inappropriate" for Morgan to continue.
The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) said the Mirror had endangered British troops by running the pictures. Roger Goodman, of the QLR, said the regiment now felt "vindicated". Mr Goodman added: "It is just a great pity it has taken so long... and that so much damage has been done in the meantime."
At a news conference in Preston on Friday afternoon, the regiment demonstrated to reporters aspects of uniform and equipment which it said proved the photographs were fake.
The regiment's Brigadier Geoff Sheldon said the vehicle featured in the photographs had been located in a Territorial Army base in Lancashire and had never been in Iraq. He said the QLR's reputation had been damaged by the Mirror and asked the newspaper to apologise because the evidence they were staged was "overwhelming".
The Conservatives said they hoped lessons had been learned from the row.
Deputy leader and foreign affairs spokesman, Michael Ancram, said: ''Looking at the facts objectively, this is the right thing for Piers Morgan to have done. "The photos that were published in the Daily Mirror have done great damage to the reputation of our troops, who are serving under some of the most difficult conditions in Iraq.''
'Recruiting poster for al-Qaeda'
The photos published in the Mirror on 1 May appeared to show British troops torturing an Iraqi detainee. In one picture a soldier is seen urinating on a hooded man while in another the hooded man is being hit with a rifle in the groin.
Colonel Black, a former regiment commander of the QLR, said the pictures put lives in danger and acted as a "recruiting poster" for al-Qaeda. However one of the Mirror's informants - Soldier C - said there had been abuse in Iraq. The Territorial Army solider has been questioned by Royal Military Police after talking about his claims to the Daily Mirror.
On ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald he said: "It did go on, it wasn't all the army, it wasn't systematic but it did happen."
Downing Street refused to comment on the issue, saying it was a matter for the Mirror board.
Reaction to Morgan sacking
The BBC's Nicholas Witchell said it appeared Piers Morgan remained unrepentant right to the end
"According to one report Mr Morgan refused the demand to apologise, was sacked and immediately escorted from the building," he said.
Morgan will be replaced on a temporary basis by his deputy, Des Kelly.
The newspaper released a statement saying:
"The Daily Mirror published in good faith photographs which it absolutely believed were genuine images of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner. "However there is now sufficient evidence to suggest that these pictures are fakes and that the Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax. "The Daily Mirror therefore apologises unreservedly for publishing the pictures and deeply regrets the reputational damage done to the QLR and the Army in Iraq. "The paper will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation. "The board of Trinity Mirror has decided that it would be inappropriate for Piers Morgan to continue in his role as editor of the Daily Mirror and he will therefore be stepping down with immediate effect."
The Sun newspaper had offered a £50,000 reward for "information about the fake Mirror photos" but withdrew the offer following the sacking of Morgan.
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The chairman of Trinity Mirror plc has said he stands by the Daily Mirror's decision to publish photos apparently showing UK troops abusing an Iraqi.
Sir Victor Blank, chairman of the group which owns the title, said that it was the paper's job to expose such abuses.
He said: "If there are bad apples, they should be rooted out and the role of the Daily Mirror is to do just that."
Trinity Mirror backs abuse report
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Hey! What happened?
"The Washington Times is a hysterically right wing paper owned by... the Moonies! - the same lunatic so-called religious sect that American parents were terrified of only a few years ago when it was brainwashing teenage kids. Now it is telling all Americans what to think and they already agree whole-heartedly. Few Americans, of course, will accept that they are brain-washed even though many are too scared to say what they think. Great society? Economically perhaps, and even then with no sense of responsibility to the world as opposed to its own self-interest, but greatness has yet to find someone worthy among today's arcade-game rulers.
When US investment fund manager Tom Shrager of Tweedy Browne made a call to Trinity- Mirror's chief executive Philip Graf to complain about the Mirror articles, it raised a ghost the British did not know existed. The British have become used to brazen newspaper proprietors calling the editorial shots, from Lord Beaverbrook via Robert Maxwell to Lord Black, not to mention Rupert - "My papers will campaign against the euro" - Murdoch.
Investor power is a new one. Yet we should not overlook that almost a third of Trinity-Mirror's stock is in the hands of just three New York fund managers. Apart from er... Tweedy Browne's 4% stake, the mutual fund giant Fidelity owns 14% and the Capital group has 13%. If the key players in those companies all feel like Shrager, who's to know what they might do. Trinity-Mirror is certainly taking it seriously.
As one of their senior executives told Greenslade: "This is a very delicate matter."
You bet. Shrager has been candid about what he said. He told Greenslade he had simply wanted to register his disappointment about the Daily Mirror's coverage to its owners. Even so, he was strongly committed to the freedom of the press! His complaint was that the "right" to that freedom required that it be used fairly and responsibly. "The Mirror wasn't fair and wasn't accurate," he said. He meant it was not biased the way of the US press. Was limitation of freedom countenanced by Thomas Jefferson, a staunch defender of press freedom?"
THEY DON'T LIKE IT UP 'EM
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Morgan Complicit?
a)Viglen share tipping scandal
- Morgan made tens of thousands ramping shares tipped in the Mirror
b) His brother is a serving member of HM armed forces in Basra (aka a human rights abusing occupier fascist)
c) He earned over 1m last year through various packages while his employees faced a pension fund deficit of 120m (see here)
d) His #1 hero is Rupert Murdoch, the neo-con guru
e) He worked on the Sun at the time the Sun were savaging striking miners and accusing those who lost family at Hillsborough of urinating on the dead and looting corpses.
Indymedia
Piers Morgan: Anti War Hero or Enemy of the State?
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E-mail Bulletin from the BBC - 15 May 2004:
Four soldiers are arrested and questioned in the investigation into the Daily Mirror hoax photo scandal, the Ministry of Defence says.
actual BBC article:
"The MoD says the arrests were not linked to the hoax pictures. The Mirror has apologised for running them.
On Saturday it said it would donate all proceeds from the syndicated sale of the hoax pictures to charity.
Half of the money would be given to an Armed Forces charity of their own choosing, and the rest towards aiding the work of the international Red Cross , it said in a statement. "
BBC
[hmmm....the international Red cross...eh?]
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"While these developments were occurring, English Deputy Defense Minister Adam Ingram said during a parliamentary speech that the torture photos published in the Daily Mirror newspaper were 'definitely not taken in Iraq.' Ingram pointed out that the type of truck in one of the photos was never in Iraq. He said that those involved in the photo incidents would be charged with a crime, but added that details would not be disclosed until the investigation ends. "
Turks.US
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So...people are being arrested for abusing Iraqi prisoners
but...the public believes it was ALL a hoax
because one paper got fitted up...how convenient!
Strange - No one is asking...
Where did the mirror photos come from?
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Flashback: 2003 - Mirror backs Col. Tim Collins on abuse charges!
Gushing praise for Colonel who pistol whipped Iraqis...
"The colonel, who has since been promoted, is alleged to have pistol- whipped an Iraqi civil leader, shot at the feet of Iraqi civilians, and shot at the tyres of vehicles when there was no threat to the lives of soldiers. "
source
Is this the same anti-war Paper?
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COLONEL COLLINS GIVEN OBE
"CIGAR-chomping Gulf hero Colonel Tim Collins has been awarded an OBE in the war honours list.
It is proof the brave 43-year-old nicknamed Nails performed in an exemplary fashion during the conflict.
The Royal Military Police earlier cleared him of mistreating prisoners. after a US soldier complained.
Throughout the war, the Ulster-born dad-of-five led the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment from the front, taking on Iraqi fighters personally.
His moving eve of war speech, when he urged his men to be "ferocious in battle but magnanimous in defeat" so impressed George Bush he hung up a copy in the White House.
Seven ground commanders got DSOs. British forces Gulf boss Air Chief Marshal Brian Burridge and Commander of Joint Operations in Northwood, Lt General John Reith, were knighted."
mirror
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'Fake' pics court martial dropped
The court martial of a soldier accused of faking pictures purporting to show British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners has been discontinued. Stuart Mackenzie, 25, had been facing up to two years' imprisonment on a charge of misusing military equipment.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said proceedings had been "stayed following the emergence of new evidence". "The case is now with the Crown Prosecution Service, with a view to establishing the way ahead," he added.
Publishing the pictures led to Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan's sacking.
After hearing the court martial had been discontinued, Mr Morgan told BBC Radio 4's PM programme he felt "totally vindicated". He added: "It is about time the government and the Ministry of Defence and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment put up some real evidence."
Mr Morgan told PM: "I have always maintained the reason I didn't admit they were a hoax at the time was due to a lack of hard evidence. "All we have ever had actually is this weird claim the truck wasn't in Iraq. "No members of the media were ever allowed to inspect that truck or go near it. "It was put up by the regiment who we accused, who are facing much more serious charges later this year in relation to abuse in Iraq. "We have already seen from court martials earlier this year that much worse than we put forward was going on, indisputably."
One photo was said to depict a Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) soldier urinating on a hooded Iraqi. In another, the hooded man appeared to be being hit with a rifle.
Doubts about the authenticity of the photographs were expressed by experts in the days following the publication and the MoD questioned at least one soldier in connection with the incident. But a lorry shown in the shots had never been used in Iraq, a two-month Royal Military police investigation concluded. Doubts were also raised about the soldier's uniform.
On 15 May, two weeks after publishing the pictures, the newspaper printed an apology saying: "We apologise for publishing pictures which we now believe were not genuine. "We also say sorry to the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and our Army in Iraq for publishing those pictures."
Private MacKenzie, from Haslingden, Lancashire, works for the Inland Revenue. He went to Iraq with the Territorial Army, attached to the 1st Battalion, QLR.
BBC
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