*Ø* Blogmanac | UK troops in Iraqi torture probe

BBC News:

"The Ministry of Defence has launched an investigation into allegations that British soldiers have been pictured torturing an Iraqi prisoner.

"The photographs, obtained by the Daily Mirror newspaper, show a suspected thief being beaten and urinated on.

"The UK's most senior soldier, General Sir Mike Jackson, said if guilty, the men were not fit to wear the uniform.

"This follows revulsion expressed across the world by pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused by US troops...

"BBC defence correspondent Paul Adams said the MoD was in a "tailspin" over the news, which threatened the British mission to win Iraqi "hearts and minds".

"The Mirror says the pictures were handed over by British soldiers who claimed a rogue element in the British army was responsible for abusing prisoners and civilians.

"Speaking on condition of anonymity, the soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment told the paper no charges were brought against the unnamed captive.

"They allege during his 8-hour ordeal he was threatened with execution, his jaw broken and his teeth smashed.

'Losing war'

"After being beaten and urinated on, he was driven away and dumped from the back of a moving vehicle, the soldiers claimed.

"They added they did not know whether he survived.

"The reason for making the photos public was, they said, to show why the US-UK coalition was encountering such fierce resistance in Iraq."

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