British MPs tell paper to name soldiers

By COLIN BROWN

LONDON - British Government ministers are demanding that the Daily Mirror name the soldiers who gave it photographs of British troops allegedly beating an Iraqi civilian.

Former ministers and Labour MPs attacked Piers Morgan, the newspaper's editor, for publishing the pictures of British soldiers allegedly carrying out the abuse.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said the lives of British troops in Iraq might have been endangered.

"These allegations have been put right across the Arab world and also into Iraq," he said in Parliament.

"There is always a question of lives being put at risk because of what may prove to be unfounded allegations, so it is on the conscience of those who run it in this way."

Unconfirmed reports were circulating that the photographs were faked by a private security firm operating in Iraq with a grudge against anti-coalition media.

Ingram was told about the reports minutes after making a statement to the Commons in which he called on the editor of the Mirror to reveal the identity of the soldiers who handed over the photographs to the newspaper.

The attacks on the media over the damage inflicted on the British troops in Iraq by the photographs will be seen as an attempt to deflect criticism from the Army. But ministers were confident that an inquiry by the Royal Military Police into allegations against members of the 1st Battalion, the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, would find that the photographs could have been faked.

Ingram said the Mirror had handed over 20 photographs but was refusing to name the source, whom it said was a serving British soldier. "The Mirror claims to know the identity of one of the soldiers. It seems intent on protecting the identity of the soldier. I do not understand that."

The Mirror claims there is no doubt the pictures are genuine.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Feature: Iraq