"forced to tell the public "lies" about the war in Iraq."

EU Referendum reports that:

"The story of John Salisbury-Baker, the MoD press officer who is suing the ministry for being forced to tell the public "lies" about the war in Iraq.

He is claiming that the trauma of having to "defend the morally indefensible" – such as "telling the media that army vehicles such as Snatch Land Rovers were equipped to withstand roadside bombs" has given him post-traumatic stress disorder.

What comes over from the detail is the way press officers were used to "hold the line" and to keep embarrassing comments away from the media.

Salisbury-Baker was employed at York's Imphal Barracks and it was his job was to visit bereaved families immediately after they had been told that "their loved ones were dead."

Ostensibly there to provide the families with "a shield" to help them deal with media interest after the deaths had been made public, his real job was to act as a minder, to "steer them away from sharper questions from reporters about equipment."

His partner Christine Brooke has made a statement on his behalf, saying that said: "John is an honest, sensitive and moral person and having to peddle Government lies that soldiers in vehicles such as the Snatch Land Rovers were safe from roadside bombs has made him stressed."

She adds that, "He was particularly plagued by the thought that some of the bereaved families he was visiting might have previously believed their loved ones were safe because of what he himself had said to the media ... He felt responsible. He felt he was having to defend the morally indefensible. The vehicles clearly did not give adequate protection from bombs.""

Read the whole story and be grateful that at least someone at the MOD wants to tell the truth.