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May 15, 2004, Scotsman EDITOR FIRED AS ARMY WINS BATTLE OVER FAKE PHOTOS Gethin Chamberlain Defence Correspondent THE army's angry insistence that pictures of British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners were faked was vindicated last night as the newspaper that printed the photographs published a humiliating apology and sacked its editor. Piers Morgan maintained to the last that the pictures which appeared in the Daily Mirror were real, but to no avail. Hours before Mr Morgan's dismissal, the Queen's Lancashire Regiment - the unit at the centre of the abuse allegations - had gone on the offensive, revealing that the army had conclusive proof the pictures were fakes. Colonel David Black, a former commanding officer of the regiment, warned: "It's time that the ego of one editor is measured against the life of the soldier. "It's up to the readership, the board of directors and the shareholders to put pressure on to get an apology." That pressure came quicker than even the army could have hoped for. Within hours, the Mirror's board caved in. "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 newspaper said in a statement. It said it had believed the pictures 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," it went on. "The Daily Mirror therefore apologises unreservedly for publishing the pictures and deeply regrets the reputation damage done to the QLR Queen's Lancashire Regiment and the army in Iraq." Mr Morgan was not even given a chance to clear his desk; he was escorted from the building by security guards. Initially, Mr Morgan had hit back at his critics. "We told the truth," shouted the front page of the Mirror two days after the first pictures appeared. But his position looked increasingly desperate as the military and the rest of the media ripped the story apart. A copy of one of the pictures was stuck to a grave at the Commonwealth military cemetery in Gaza City, desecrated by protesters angry at the allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners. By yesterday morning the talk was of shareholder displeasure at the Mirror. When the army produced the lorry in which the pictures were taken and established beyond doubt that it had never been in Iraq, the writing was on the wall. Brigadier Geoff Sheldon said the Mirror's allegations were "utter and complete nonsense." He said: "It wasn't a British soldier degrading an Iraqi. It was a mocked-up fake, not even taken in Iraq." Col Black said the Mirror pictures were like "recruiting posters for al -Qaeda." He added: "It is now time to stop this game. It is real lives in danger." There was one last throw of the dice for Mr Morgan - a television interview with one of the soldiers put forward to back up the claims, but it was unconvincing. With his identity concealed, he talked of soldiers beating prisoners for fun, but said it was not typical of the army, nor systematic. Typically, Mr Morgan, a flamboyant figure, chose the camera for his last stand, dismissing calls for his resignation. "We published the truth. If the government chooses to ignore that, it is a matter for them," he said. But the Mirror board, after twice asking him to change the paper's line, sacked him. An army investigation into the pictures is continuing.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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