British army raises doubts over 'torture' pictures

1.00pm - By ANDREW GRICE and ANDREW GUMBEL

LONDON - Doubts were raised today about the authenticity of shocking photographs purporting to show British troops apparently mistreating prisoners in Iraq.

The Daily Mirror, which published the pictures on Saturday, stood by its decision and promised further revelations.

But the Queen's Lancashire Regiment launched a fightback, sources saying the photographs may not have been taken in Iraq.

They said a rifle carried by one soldier was an SA-80 Mk1 of a type not issued to troops in Iraq, and troops in Iraq wore berets or helmets, not the floppy hats seen in the pictures.

They said the Bedford truck in which a hooded Iraqi was apparently abused was a type never deployed in the country.

Questions were also raised over the sharp quality of the photos and the absence of sweat, dirt and injuries on a captive, supposedly arrested for suspected theft and subjected to an eight-hour beating.

Figures did not appear to be moving, suggesting their poses may have been staged, the regiment sources said.

Piers Morgan, the Mirror editor, said the two serving soldiers in the regiment who exposed the affair said the photos were real.

"They stand fully behind every word of their story, rebutting every question raised," he said.

"They also make a number of serious new allegations of improper conduct by British troops." He added: "The Daily Mirror makes no apology for exposing this outrageous and unlawful behaviour, common knowledge among disgusted British servicemen in Basra for many months. Nor do we believe there is any reason to think that these photographs have been faked in any way, given the powerful testimony we have had."

A serving officer who fought in Iraq told GMTV's Sunday programme anonymously that detainees suffered "serious beatings or kickings" with the knowledge of senior officers.

Although officers were "hugely annoyed and upset" and did not sanction mistreatment, they did little to stop it, he claimed.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said the "terrible" accusations were being taken seriously.

Asked whether they could lead to compensation claims, he said: "We will accept whatever obligations there are on us."

Dr David Kay, former head of the Iraq Survey Group hunting weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said the pictures of mistreatment had lent weight to calls in America for coalition troops to withdraw.

"We are clearly at a crisis point," he told BBC Radio 4. Coalition troops must decide whether to remain or accept they were "becoming the issue" and withdraw, he said.

In the US, Janis Karpinski, the reserve brigadier-general relieved of her command at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, told reporters that Army intelligence, and the Central Intelligence Agency, were directly responsible for interrogations in a special high-security cell-block where the abuses were committed.

She said the photographed reservists under her command were "bad people" but suspected they were acting with the encouragement, if not the direction, of her superiors.

Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick is among six suspects facing military prosecution for cruelty to prisoners and other crimes.

He wrote in a letter to his family in January that military intelligence had "encouraged us and told us, 'Great job'." He added: "I questioned ... such things as leaving inmates in their cell with no clothes or in female underpants, handcuffing them to the door of their cell, and the answer I got was, 'This is how military intelligence wants it done'."

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