The inquest into the death of British Army soldier Cpl Matty Hull is going on in Oxford, UK. Cpl Hull was killed when his convoy of British Army Scimitar armoured reconnaisance vehicles, which are quite distinctive in shape and were carrying the appropriate identification panels, was blasted by a US A-10 tank buster. Despite the British soldiers having released an identifying smoke signal and having contacted US air traffic control the A-10 came round for a second attack. For the past 4-years the US have denied having any evidence about the attack but yesterday a cockpit video of the incident, clearly showing the moment of impact, surfaced for the first time. Now the US are saying we can't show the video at the inquest because it is sensitive. Bloody right it's sensitive - especially for the people who have lost relatives at the hands of the cowboys. In the British Army, of which I am an officer, we only shoot when we've positively identified the target - it's a pity the US can't grasp this. It's a bloody good thing the Americans are on our side - God knows how many British soldiers would be killed if we were enemies. Reminds me of the first Gulf War when we lost more soldiers at the hands of trigger happy 'lost' US pilots than we did the Iraqis - nine soldiers were killed then when their Warrior AFVs, again very distinctive and correctly marked, were blasted by an Apache.
I am very sorry for the loss of these British troops. I think that at the very least the US military should look into this, and if it is indeed the result of sloppy flying, take appropriate punitive steps.
I had to come back on this one - there's been an important development so I hope no-one thinks this is bumping. The cockpit video has been leaked to UK newspaper The Sun. None of the show-boating I suspected there might have been but, as the audio clearly indicates, the pilots were less than convinced about the identity of the targets. The pilots are heard to mention FIVE times the fact that the vehicles were displaying orange identification panels before they initiated their attack. At least five times doubt about the identity of the targets passed through the pilots minds and they still decided to fire. We're not talking inexperienced pilots here either - one a Major the other a Lieutenant Colonel. The tape begins as the two US aircraft, call signs POPOV 35 and POPOV 36, spot four armoured vehicles and observe "looks like we got orange panels on them though". You can read the entire transcript here.
I think the Americans (and I am one..have dual citizenship) owe those British soldiers the respect of letting the inquest into their deaths see the truth.