The mirror apologise….about time.

In the incontinent regiment;););)?

Flood.™

Soldier arrested

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=513332&section=news

Soldier arrested over Mirror hoax photos
Tue 18 May, 2004 21:27

LONDON (Reuters) – At least one soldier has been arrested over fake pictures showing alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by British troops, the defence ministry says.

The photos were published in the Daily Mirror just days after similar ones were published in the United States showing U.S. soldiers abusing prisoners, shocking the world and causing widespread anger in the Arab world.

A spokeswoman would give no further details about the arrest by the ministry’s Special Investigation Branch (SIB).

“The SIB, as part of the ongoing investigation, arrested somebody to be questioned under caution,” she said. “At least one person has been arrested. It is a soldier.”

Four other British soldiers have been arrested and released without charge by military police probing some of the alleged cases of abuse by British troops.

The Mirror, which sacked its flamboyant editor Piers Morgan on Friday, issued a front page apology for the photos.

The paper was a harsh critic of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to go to war. Blair’s personal ratings have sunk since the U.S-led invasion 15 months ago.

How about…

Once upon a time
The Daily Mirror showed pictures apparently showing British soldiers torturing Iraqis and claimed that they were real.
Tony Bliar and his government insisted that Iraq had to be invaded and Saddam overthrown because they had weapons of massed distruction that could be launched against Britain in 45 minutes.

Result?
The Mirror sacks its editor and tries to make it look like they were actually conned about the pictures, despite bringing the country much embarrassment from within and around the world. Much celebration.
Despite protest from within his party, the country, and around the world, Bliar and his government continue to bring embarrassment upon Britain. Bliar continues to look smug.

Conclusion?
Whilst the world still believes that British soldiers did torture Iraqis – pictures or no pictures – Britons will sub-consciously believe that the storys are also false. Government celebrates; lawyers flock to Iraq with legal aid forms to assist former prisoners in suing the government.

Flood.™

“Yes. He might have offerered a very large sum of money to someone who could besmirch the British Army in photos, and he would have put them out asap.”

well thats just the way the system works. do blame the person for following the rules the system sets out.

“I said it when I first saw them. I posted on two seperate forums. It was blindingly obvious.”

true, but none of them were able to come up with a conclusive decision until after the gov decleared the pics fake.

“Thats a completely irrellevant argument. This is about the images that the Mirror published – nothing else. No abuse issue or anything. It is solely about the Mirrors, and Morgans, and whoever else was involved, sly manipulation of the public – and the damage it could do to every troop on the streets. That war has just kicked up a gear due to the Mirrors LIES. Not the Mirrors MISTAKES. Don’t kid yourself that they were hoaxed.”

well i think it makes a great deal of difference! if the allogations were all b****ks, then what morgan did was plain evil. but if the stories had substance and only the pictures were fake, then it changes little, and the british army has no-one to blame but itself for the backlash in iraq.

dont want people to hate you and want to kill you? then do go about torchering and abusing them.

“but do remeber that these pictures came out right on the heal of the american pics, which might have had two affects on piers.”

Yes. He might have offerered a very large sum of money to someone who could besmirch the British Army in photos, and he would have put them out asap.

“piers probably should and would have done alot more checking to make 100% sure that they are real.”

You’d have thought a front page and all the attendant pages on the ‘scoop’ of the year would be a good enough reason to look. Patriotism aside.

“he made a mistake, people do, and he’s paid for that mistake by resigning”

That was no mistake. He should pay for it in prison.

“its all easy to say, ‘oh look, those pics were fake’ with hidesight, but how many of us were 100% sure when they came out?”

I said it when I first saw them. I posted on two seperate forums. It was blindingly obvious.

“whether the truth is that abuse didnt happen, or just that it wasnt caught on film”

Thats a completely irrellevant argument. This is about the images that the Mirror published – nothing else. No abuse issue or anything. It is solely about the Mirrors, and Morgans, and whoever else was involved, sly manipulation of the public – and the damage it could do to every troop on the streets. That war has just kicked up a gear due to the Mirrors LIES. Not the Mirrors MISTAKES. Don’t kid yourself that they were hoaxed.

It is good to see the MIRROR has finaly admitted it Cocked Up …

Admitting it cocked up is one thing, but all it has really admitted so far is that it was conned.
It has not admitted any real responsibility – that would be dangerous to its character and standing.

Flood.™

well i agree with what everyone is saying, but im still going to play the devil’s advocate here.

there is only so much checking that editors can be reasonably expected to do to varify things. if these pictures just came out of the blue, then piers probably should and would have done alot more checking to make 100% sure that they are real. but do remeber that these pictures came out right on the heal of the american pics, which might have had two affects on piers.

1. it could have, at least in his mind, in some form confirm that the pictures are genuine, as ‘similar’ material has already came out. ‘well if the yanks can do it, can we be that sure that our boys cant?’. this might have made him a little complacent and so went with the story without going through everything he probably should have.

2. it is highly unlikely that piers only got the pictures a day or two before he publicised them. my guess is that he’s been sitting on them for a while waiting for all the checks to be completed. then the american pics came out. he must have felt great pressure to get the story he had out before someone else beat him to the punch. cos thats pretty much the worst nightmare of any jurnolist – to have a real earth shattering scoop only to have some else report it first. that might have made him to make an executive decision that ultimately turned out to be wrong.

he made a mistake, people do, and he’s paid for that mistake by resigning. blair and bush made an even greater mistake, and many would seriously question whether it was a mistake at all, yet i dont see them offering any punlic appologies or resigning.

its all easy to say, ‘oh look, those pics were fake’ with hidesight, but how many of us were 100% sure when they came out? even the government took serveral days to announce that they were fake. why? cos not even they could be 100% sure without having military experts going over the pics. i dont about the rest of you, but that worries me, ALOT!

so, before we all jump on the ‘bash piers – that eveil lying ********’ wagon, it might be worth while to think about the question of, whether the truth is that abuse didnt happen, or just that it wasnt caught on film.

It is good to see the MIRROR has finaly admitted it Cocked Up but I wonder if Blair and Co will ever apologise or Admit to any Mistakes they have made???
Or am I being TOO CYNICAL
.
“(Please excuse any spelling mistakes)”

well true, if it wasnt the mirror that faked the pics then someone has done somthing very bad. I might venture that the mirror was fed some **** and piers said they needed foto’s so they went away and got some…..

the editor is responsible for the content of that paper and he should have done his job, which i suppose is to present a paper thatwill sell, but this is the worst way.

We should see articles on just how well the brits are doing and what they face in everyday life.

in other words, the TRUTH.

coanda

Don’t fall into that trap – broadsheet and tabloid are sizes of newspaper, not references to editorial content. The term tabloids should also include papers like the Express and the Mail, but rarely do since the public associate it with the traditionally ‘red-topped’ mass-market sensationalising tabloids like the Sun, Star, Mirror, and Sport.
Anyway…
The editor is sacked, the pictures are fakes, nobody was tortured?
Get real: someone, somewhere, is laughing his socks off at this. – Nermal

i don’t think you should put the blame directly on Piers. It wasn’t entirely his fault. The real culprits are those soldiers who made the images. They then sold them to the newspaper. Piers was only going on what he was given. yes ok, maybe he should have checked the pics out better, but the soldiers are the naughty ones – they made £££’s selling the images to the paper. Maybe cheque book journalism should be banned?

The Independant is still a broadsheet – its just gone tabloid size. The Independant (and the Times) is read by people who work in the City and who are classed as educated professionals. they read the paper when they commute – i.e. on the train or the underground – the only spare time they’ve got. These people find it hard to read the paper, having to deal with the shear size of the sheets, getting all screwed up and in a mess, falling apart etc…, so the Independant thought it would be a much better idea to cut the size of the paper to tabloid size. this makes it much easier to read on the train, Undergorund, taxi etc, and is very popular with its readers. thats why they changed the size.

adam

I had an argument with a friend lately about The Independent relaunching in a tabloid size format. He reckoned people would no longer buy it as it was now a tabloid.

I argued that it was still the same paper, just in a tabloid size paper format. He said people would consider it to be the same as The Sun, Mirror etc and if the same thing happened to his favourite paper The (Glasgow) Herald then he’d stop buying it.

After about three hours of trying to assure him it’s just a change of paper size and not content, I gave up and bored my eyeballs out with a cork screw !!! 😮

The Independant made the decision to go totally tabloid when it found that near all the returns (the unsold papers) were broadsheets. People didn’t want the broadsheets and so bought the tabloids instead, going reluctantly back to broadsheets only when the smaller edition had sold out. – Nermal

“Isn’t it a basic and fundamental rule of journalism: Check your sources ???”

Should read:

“It is a basic and fundamental rule of journalism: Pay your sources”

Historical researchers are painstaking. Other researchers are painstaking. Journalists generally aren’t. It’s a day job, and there is usually a deadlline – or you may have a scoop. I’ve given meticulously researched and well written copy to papers a few times, only to see them re-written, with errors and mistakes all over the place. The Mirror has never really had a reputation as a serious journalistic tome anyway.

Oh my god!!! someone else who sees things the way i do, well done Hand :). I hate the tabloids, they’re a scurge that does nothing but stir up **** storms :mad:. Give me a broadsheet ANY time

I had an argument with a friend lately about The Independent relaunching in a tabloid size format. He reckoned people would no longer buy it as it was now a tabloid.

I argued that it was still the same paper, just in a tabloid size paper format. He said people would consider it to be the same as The Sun, Mirror etc and if the same thing happened to his favourite paper The (Glasgow) Herald then he’d stop buying it.

After about three hours of trying to assure him it’s just a change of paper size and not content, I gave up and bored my eyeballs out with a cork screw !!! 😮

C’mon, everyone knows that the tabloids are the only source of information for keeping track of the aliens on planet Earth.

They were hoaxed!!! :rolleyes:
Isn’t it a basic and fundamental rule of journalism: Check your sources ???
Those jerks were just expecting make a bunch of money.

Some apology. Full page headline:

We Were Hoaxed

Yeah, right, sure you were.

Oh my god!!! someone else who sees things the way i do, well done Hand :). I hate the tabloids, they’re a scurge that does nothing but stir up **** storms :mad:. Give me a broadsheet ANY time

I’m glad that ******* is out, now all that needs to be done is to get our boys to do a now even harder job buy keeping the iraqi’s happy, if thats possible after what they have seen

You guys in the UK have one way to punish those *******s: stop buying those sh!tty tabloids !

I could never understand why they made those so called Iraqi prisoners wear satin shirts with satin flags stiched on them ? 😎