Video of A10 attacking UK troops

[faceless]

I'm sure this video and surrounding case will get a fair amount of mention on the shows this weekend.


Pause it for a while to let it buffer if it stutters.

[major.tom]

From what I could tell, the 'video' was pretty unremarkable, since it was hard to make out anything (except for when the pilot was in his attack dive). The audio, however, was very interesting. 1 pilot (Popov 35?) was clearly skeptical that the orange objects were rockets -- you could hear it in his voice.

What's clear to me from the number of friendly-fire incidents (not to mention the mass civilian casualties) is that the rules of engagement, which are often trumpetted to bolster the innocence of those committing them, appear to be "if it moves, blast it to hell."

[IRiSHMaFIA]

It is almost impossible to see anything in the video at all. It's pretty easy to figure out what's happening though, and it seemed to me popov36 was working hard to get popov35 to agree the orange objects were rockets. I was surprised when they basically made the decision to fire upon them since they did nothing to atleast attempt to verify if they were friendlies or not.

They both know they're screwed, hense popov35 saying to popov36 'we're in jail dude'.

It seems to me there's been no serious attempt to correct these problems...and by problems I mean these trigger happy soldiers that take pot shots at whatever moves, and it doesn't matter how many times the public hears about it either because it just keeps happening over and over, then you have the Bush administration lie about it like they did with Pat Tillman.

[faceless]

'Friendly fire' killing unlawful
The death of a UK soldier when a US pilot fired on his convoy in Iraq was unlawful, a coroner has ruled. The "friendly fire" incident which killed Lance Corporal Matty Hull, 25, amounted to a criminal act, he said. Andrew Walker said the 2003 death was "entirely avoidable" and L/Cpl Hull's widow said the verdict was "right".

The Ministry of Defence apologised for a delay in releasing film from the US A-10 plane. The US said its probe found the death was a "tragic accident". In delivering his verdict, Mr Walker said: "The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal."

No American witnesses gave evidence at the inquest and the coroner was critical of the failure of the US authorities to co-operate. "I believe that the full facts have not yet come to light," said the Oxford assistant deputy coroner. "The US pilots should have flown lower to confirm identities before opening fire", he added. "I don't think this was a case of honest mistake."

Speaking after the verdict, widow Susan Hull said she felt a great sense of relief that it was over and it had confirmed that her husband's death was "entirely avoidable". "I think all of our family feel it was the right verdict. It was what we'd waited four years to hear." She said she was now prepared to "draw the line" on the event. "It's been a long and painful time and we need to move forward." But she said the lack of co-operation from the US was "very disappointing".

Afterwards, lawyer Geraldine McCool said the verdict did not suggest there would be a prosecution of the US pilot and the Hull family would not be calling for one. The Ministry of Defence said it was "very sorry for confusion and upset" caused by the handling of the US cockpit tape. The recording was not initially shown to the inquest, but the US authorities only agreed for it to be released after the footage was leaked to the Sun newspaper.

An MoD spokesman said: "This inquest has highlighted the need for a more coherent approach to the management of documentation and evidence." He said a team has been set up to liaise with coroners and bereaved families and to ensure documents are made available quickly to inquests.

The Hull family believes key information was blacked out of a US Friendly Fire Investigation Board Report given to the coroner investigating his death. Mrs Hull had directly appealed to US President George W Bush to give the coroner the information. In a statement the US defence department extended its "deepest sympathies" to the Hull family. It said the US had shared all information from its own investigation with the MoD, except those parts that had to be withheld for "security, privacy or other reasons". "The investigation determined that the incident took place in a complex combat environment, the pilots followed applicable procedures," it said.

L/Cpl Hull, who was from the Household Cavalry, died from multiple injuries inside his blazing Scimitar tank despite efforts by colleagues to save him. Four other soldiers travelling in the convoy of light armoured vehicles were also injured in the incident on 28 March 2003 near Basra.

----------------

So it was unlawful but no one's to be held to account? That's democracy for you!

[major.tom]

If the recent media attention is any indication, this isn't over yet, but it might as well be. I guess it depends on how widespread and sustained the push is to get the British gov't to push for the U.S. to cooperate and, potentially, surrender these pilots for trial. I can't see either of these things happening, but I've been wrong before.

At the same time, I fear that the attention given to U.S. casualties and "friendly fire" incidents mis-directs us away from the true cost of the war, that paid by Iraqi's (and Afghan's, of course), a price that grossly overshadows the "cost" in human lives to those who do most of the killing.

[faceless]

[major.tom]

Both good points, faceless. Sad, but true. The media (and we) tend to pay more attention when one of ours die.

I wonder that if it takes 5,000, 10,000, or 25,000 dead U.S. and British (and Canadian) soldiers before the wars end, how many more Iraqi's and Afghan's will perish ...

On the bright side, I like to think of Chomsky's optimism about how vocal the opposition to the war was before it started (in Iraq, at least) compared to how long it took opposition to mount against the Vietnam war.

[Brown Sauce]

An American official from the forces, said something like,

"you do realise that the plane was at an altitude of 12,000 feet. That is almost 2 miles, you are bound to make mistakes in these conditions,"

so that's alright then.