All troop allegations properly investigated - PM

All troop allegations properly
investigated says PM

There is 'no evidence whatever of systematic and widespread abuse' by British troops in Iraq, the Prime Minister said yesterday.

Mr Blair added that photographs published by the Mirror newspaper are 'almost certainly fake' in the Army's view. He added that the images are undergoing final checks.

"I can't think why anyone would do such a thing," he said in a Radio interview in Lancashire.

"The Queen's Lancashire Regiment, all the regiments that have been out in Iraq, have actually done a fantastic job for people there, and they have done it with soldiers protecting themselves and protecting the local population in very difficult circumstances."

Mr Blair said that f there have been any situations of abuse then there would be an apology.

"The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is not that in a democracy bad things don't happen, but when they do happen the thing is investigated and people are held to account."

Speaking on the record unemployment figures published yesterday, the Prime Minister said that unemployment had halved in the region since 1997.

"There are almost 200,000 more people in work in the north west than there were 7 years ago," said Mr Blair.

ENDS

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