A Very Piers-ing Issue
You can always rely on Piers Morgan to screw things up. No sooner does The Mirror editor get his hands on a major scoop - namely, genuine revelations regarding the abuse of Iraqi detainees by the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) in Basra - than he ruins it by publishing photographs that look so staged one wonders how stupid he really thinks we are.
It is reported that even senior figures working at The Mirror now concede that the images are probably hoaxes - provoking a gleeful backlash from elements of the right-wing press, with The Sun describing them as potentially "the most dangerous forgeries ever", and lambasting the decision to publish. Yet too often the stated reasons for such outrage miss the point, attacking The Mirror's policy for the wrong reasons.
A typical argument as to why Morgan was so wrong to publish the widely-discredited photos (beyond the perfectly valid reason that doing so constituted sloppy, inaccurate journalism) runs something along these lines: Any image showing British troops apparently abusing Iraqi detainees is bound to further antagonise Iraqi citizens in the British zone of control, and thus increase the likelihood of 'our boys' coming under attack from angry mobs.
If The Mirror's photographs are shown to be forgeries, they will have increased the risks faced by British soldiers on the ground for no valid reason - and hence are criminally unpatriotic.
Yet this argument appears to neglect the fact that abuse akin to that in the disputed photographs almost certainly did happen. In mid September last year, a 26 year-old hotel receptionist named Baha Monsa was, by all accounts, kicked and beaten to death whilst in the custody of the QLR - having committed no crime beyond being a bystander when the hotel at which he worked was raided.
An admittedly provocative counter to the accusations thrown at The Mirror could simply be that whilst the photos themselves may not have been genuine, they did at least highlight, to ordinary Iraqis, the fact that British soldiers have not been behaving with complete integrity during the occupation. This potentially ensures that greater scrutiny is afforded to their actions and operations elsewhere.
At times, the Right has been dangerously close to arguing that no abuse carried out by British soldiers should ever be publicised, effectively giving 'our boys' carte blanche to disregard the Geneva Convention as they see fit.
However, there is a slightly more valid reason for being frustrated with The Mirror's actions, concerning the likely impact upon British public opinion of any conclusive proof that the photographs have indeed been forged.
It is an unfortunate fact that many people in this country do not tend to pay particularly close attention to the details of the news stories making headlines.
As a result, they could well be inclined to believe that any official discrediting of The Mirror's images (which seems bound to emerge before long) is also a rebuttal of all stories of prisoner abuse, at the hands of the British, released thus far.
The QLR will likely claim complete vindication in the light of any such humiliation for Mr Morgan - despite some of its soldiers' prevailing guilt regarding the actual abuse that the initial basis for the photographs.
Thus the army could well succeed in pulling off the trick Tony Blair's government attempted with regard to the Hutton report - using "proof" of innocence on one isolated accusation as the basis for indirectly promoting an image of purity in all other regards. As a result, domestic pressure upon the government to ensure the rights of Iraqi citizens can only recede - the campaign to that effect discredited by its association with The Mirror's forgeries.
It may well be the case that Piers Morgan himself was duped by the photographs that he now finds himself ever more tenuously defending. It may be that he suspected them to be falsified, but decided to proceed with publication regardless - the inevitable publicity gains from doing so being seen as worth the risk. Either way, he has likely helped ensure that the rights of Iraqi citizens can continue to be abused by British troops. Nice one, Piers.
13th May 2004