Chairman stands by Iraq photos but quiet on Morgan

LONDON – The Trinity Mirror chairman Sir Victor Blank has thrown his weight behind the Daily Mirror's decision to publish photos showing British troops abusing an Iraqi prisoner.

However, Sir Victor refused to be drawn, when asked, if Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan should go if the pictures prove to be a hoax.

Speaking at the Trinity Mirror AGM, Sir Victor said: "I'm not going to answer a hypothetical question."

He defended the Daily Mirror's decision to run the story by saying that that it was the job of the paper to expose such abuses and that if there were rotten elements in the military they should be weeded out.

"The core issue raised by the Mirror is about very serious allegations of brutality and torture by rogue elements in the armed forces. I think the view is the armed forces are very important to us and we support them. If there are bad apples, they should be rooted out and the role of the Daily Mirror is to do just that -- and it does it in a loyal and committed way," he said.

Sir Victor was speaking in response to a question from Trinity Mirror shareholder, Peter Collier, 67.

Collier said: "While I am very happy for the Mirror to print the stories they have done over the last few days concerning Iraqi prisoners' treatment, I sincerely hope, from the paper's point of view and that of the country and our troops over in Iraq, it turns out it's a true story and the photos are true and somebody has not been sending the Mirror a lot of forged photos."

Collier added that if the photos turn out to be false all those involved "should get the sack... because they would have done a terrible lot of harm to this country's reputation and to our troops out in Iraq".

Morgan is set to appear before MPs on the Commons defence select committee to explain his decision to publish the photos, which are now being investigated by the Royal Military Police special investigation branch.

Experts have so far failed to identify the pictures as fake but there has been widespread speculation that the pictures are not the genuine article.

Experts have highlighted the fact that there are a number of inconsistencies suggesting that the pictures were faked, centring on the type of weapon featured, the spotless nature of the truck and the cleaniness of the soldier's uniform.

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