対イラク武力行使

　 虐待それ自体は実際におこなわれたとされているようですが、それとは別に、虐待写真に関する英国紙の疑惑報道を記します。
　 ただし英国紙の疑惑報道は、英国兵士による虐待写真に限定されており、米国兵士によるものには言及していないようです。

　 いくつかの英国紙にて報道されていますが、そのひとつ_the 　 Guardian_紙の報道。
　 同紙のウェブサイト版で読めますが、無料登録が必要なので、リンクしてもたぶん出てこないとおもわれます。
　 よってその記事を全文転載します。

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Inquiry into 'toriture' pictures

Mirror stands firm as doubts raised over images of British abuse

Sandra Laville, Richard Norton-Taylor and Helena Smith in Nicosia

Monday may 3, 2004

_The Guardian_

Military police were yesterday investigating the authenticity of a series of photographs purporting to show British soldiers torturing an Iraqi prisoners outside Basra, amid suspicions that the pictures could be an elaborate set-up.

Officers from the special investigations branch began interrogating soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment at their base in Cyprus to establish whether anyone had taken the pictures.

The images show an unidentified squaddie kicking, beating and urinating on a hooded prisoner in the back of a truck. They were said to have been taken during eight hours of mistreatment after the Iraqi was arrested for stealing in Basra last year. But military experts and sources close to the regiment believe the pictures are suspicious.

A source close to the regiment told the Guardian that the pictures looked too pristine to have been taken by a soldier with a pocket camera. Other defence experts said the rifle in the photograph was an SA80 Mk 1 which was not issued to soldiers in Iraq and British troops on patrol wore berets or helmets not floppy hats like the one in the picture.

Piers Morgan, editor of the Daily Mirror which published the pictures, said he had no doubts about their authenticity. He said the newspaper was given the images by two serving members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment and stood by its story that the prisoner was subjected to an eight-hour beating, during which he had his jaw broken and teeth smashed before being dumped from a moving vehicle.

Last night the soldiers who gave the pictures to the Mirror detailed other incidents of brutality towards Iraqis and said hundreds of similar photographs have been taken and are swapped amongst squaddies in Iraq.

They told the mirror: "We stand by every single word of our story. This happened, it is not a hoax and the army knows a lot more has happened." The Ministry of Defence said the authorities were not aware of other photos of prisoners being mistreated or of a culture of trading pictures.

"If people have got evidence of such activity, then they should bring it to the attention of the autorities. We won't stand for activity like that," the ministry said.

Nocholas Soames, the Tory defence spokesman , questioned the Mirror's decision to run the story. "One has to wonder at the behaviour of the Mirror in publishing these pictures where there is clearly a question mark over their veracity," he told BBC Radio Five Live. "We need to be a little more cautious before rushing to judgement."

While senior defence figures pointed out the apparent uinaccuracies in the photographs, they said they had to take allegations of mistreatment of prisoners seriously. "A full investigation is under way," said Dennis Barnes, a spokesman for the Regiment in Cyprus.
"If the allegations prove true, the firmest action will be taken against anybody involved."

（つづく）