Wickham's musings from Chalke

The first pictures of prisoners hooded and beaten in the back of an army truck proved to be fake, having been posed by soldiers in a barracks in Lancashire. The clothes were too clean, the soldier's floppy hat wasn't of the type used in Iraq, the gun was the wrong type and too clean with no sling, the truck was too clean (no sand or dirt) and it was a particular type of truck that had never gone to Iraq. The actual truck was identified from scratches.

Piers Morgan, editor of the Daily Mirror, stood by his statement that the photos were true, then said that they truly represented what was happening in Iraq, but was nevertheless sacked. It isn't known yet why the photos were staged, but it may have done some good in highlighting that British troops have also been mistreating prisoners, although on a lesser scale than the Americans. Our troops don't seem to have been under the same pressure from American military intelligence but have just been much too rough, beating prisoners.