Video soldiers 'just letting off steam'

Prime Minister John Howard says the Australian troops who took videos and photographs of pranks involving guns and at least one colleague dressed as an Arab, were just letting off steam.

Mr Howard's comments appear to be at odds with his military chiefs, who say there is no place for the soldiers in Australia's Army.

Defence Force chief Air Marshal Angus Houston has ordered a full investigation into the matter and Army chief Peter Leahy has flagged the possibility of the soldiers being sacked.

The RSL has also expressed concern about the impact of the video footage.

Its national president, Bill Crews, says the video will damage the reputation of the Australian Defence Force.

"A fair amount of damage could be done, quite apart from the weapon handling issue, a fair amount of damage when you have pictures of Australians mimicking in any way any other cultural group," he said.

"That's perhaps the key problem here, not the weapon handling."

But Mr Howard has played down the seriousness of the issue, suggesting the behaviour was more larrikin and a way to let off steam, rather than an example of the actions of rogue soldiers.

"I don't think we should overreact on this," he said.

"I think we have to understand that soldiers work, particularly in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, they work in very stressful environments.

"Soldiers through the ages have let off a bit of steam when they are working in stressful environments.

"But having said that I will leave it to the military -I'm not going to tell the military, and I don't think anybody else should tell the military, how to handle this."

Context

The Australian Defence Association has also warned that the videos should not be taken out of context.

The association's Neil James says some of the material went too far but it is not a hanging offence.

"Some of them are quite distressing but you have got to look at the context," he said.

"You have also got to look at it in terms of the really distressing videos put out by the people we are fighting."

The footage may be examined by the board of inquiry investigating the death of Private Jake Kovco in his Baghdad barracks in April this year.

The inquiry has previously heard evidence claiming troops regularly mishandled their weapons.