Leaked Video Details Friendly-Fire Kill

Cockpit Video Captures 2003 Exchange Between Two U.S. Pilots After Killing British Soldier In Iraq

(CBS/AP) 
The U.S. military has no plan to release the names of the pilot or their unit, Connor said.

The U.S. Embassy's deputy chief of mission, David Johnson, said he thought the coroner had already viewed the video.

"Our focus is really on finding out where our procedures fell down and allowed information that was classified to be provided to individuals who did not have appropriate access to it," Johnson told the AP, saying that U.S. and British exchanges had been "military to military."

Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker is hearing the inquest, which resumes Feb. 16.

British coroners tasked with inquests into suspicious deaths have become increasingly critical of military errors. One coroner last year criticized American authorities for failing to provide access and name U.S. Marines involved in the death of British television journalist Terry Lloyd, shot in Iraq in March 2003.

Johnson said the British inquests were "unique."

"It's a very delicate situation in looking at this issue in the context of domestic law when what has happened has occurred on the battlefield," he said.

He said the video humanized the tragedy on both sides but that nothing could compare to the family's loss.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington that he had read the transcript of the incident. "My reaction is that these people immediately understood that it was a terrible, terrible mistake, and they felt immediate remorse of what happened."

Susan Hull, Hull's widow, welcomed the release of video, saying it was "vital evidence and must be shown" at the inquest.

"The inquest is my one and only chance to hear how and why Matty died," she said in a statement released by her lawyers. "I would have preferred to hear the evidence from the U.S. pilots themselves. However, they cannot be compelled to come and they have not come voluntarily. The video is therefore vital evidence and must be shown. I do not relish hearing it in open court, but after years of being told that it did not exist or was secret I feel that it was right not to give up hope."

Previously, the Defense Ministry had said it was unable to persuade the U.S. to declassify the footage — a recording British authorities initially claimed did not exist.

Britain's defense secretary, Des Browne, welcomed the U.S. release of the video. "The release of classified information, even for the closest of allies, is never straightforward, but this is the right thing to do," he said.

Former U.S intelligence officer Bob Ayers, now a security analyst based in London, said pilots in fluid combat situations often do not have real-time intelligence and logistics information. He also said the situation underscores the problem of forces unable to communicate with each other on the ground.

"This was happening during the mad rush toward Baghdad," Ayers said. "You have planes that are going 300 mph and by the time they get coordinates, they're five to 10 miles off the mark."

Paul Smyth, a navigator and wing commander with the Royal Air Force who flew combat missions to Iraq in 1991, said the pilots should not be blamed.

"I had a lot of empathy with the pilots and how awful it must have felt," he said, noting that units are provided with only a limited number of radios and have limited ability to communicate between forces.

"I don't think we should be looking at blame," he said. "If you look at the conflicts in North Korea and other places, there have been advances. It's a case of the glass being half full and half empty, but at the end of the day you're never going to be able to completely eradicate friendly fire incidents in fluid combat situations."

[lars008-2009]

fascist nazi islamic muslims
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nazi+muslim

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=nazi muslim&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

[lars008-2009]

Terrorism Awareness Project to wake up Americans and the World
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/islamic-mein-kampf

[lars008-2009]

usadvisor101

tell it to the fascist nazi islamic muslims that are killing of iraqi civilians......

[lars008-2009]

the war is legal skippy
here's your enemy..... try to remember that..... there will be a test later....
UK TV AIRS SHOCK 'UNDERCOVER' LOOK INTO MAINSTREAM BRIT MOSQUES...
Dispatches: Undercover Mosque
This is part one of the much-anticipated UK Channel 4 documentary Dispatches: Undercover Mosque, exposing evidence of Islamic supremacism, shocking misogyny, and support for violence at a number of Britain%u2019s leading mosques and Muslim institutions. (Thanks again to LGF operative kasper.)
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24018_Dispatches-_Undercover_Mosque&only

Dispatches - Undercover Mosque (1 to 6)
UK Channel 4, aired 15th January 2007.
Radicalisation of UK mosques by Saudi Wahabbism
http://youtube.com/watch?v=peFQWuk4nuo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MuCLC8kjWCI
http://youtube.com/watch?v=x5t5EqWX92k
http://youtube.com/watch?v=yMztM0Z7BYE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=V4Zv3BUmwqs
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KvjvNScmTQA

'Obsession'
Documentary gives insight into radical Islam%u2019s global threat
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launchPage.html?110506/110506_fnl_obsession&%27Obsession%27&FNL&Documentary%20gives%20insight%20into%20radical%20Islam%92s%20global%20threat&Foxlife&-1&%27Obsession%27&Video%20Launch%20Page&News
http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/12min.htm
http://myspace.com/waragainstthewest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BL4-mxE87w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUpcpEQtgp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BUqXSeCDJc

[jmb_1]

Someone wrote that it was because of fault information on the location of the friendly forces.

We won't know the truth without the people concerned being cross-examined in court but it looks more a case poor operating procedures causing confusion between the air and ground. The worrying thing is that these pilots are said to be now training other pilots, we must just hope that they have learnt from their mistakes.

Obe British newspaper is reporting that US Central Command have said they "owned" the recording and would have had no problem in its release to the British authorities which suggests that the cover-up was at a higher level which is no surprise.

MB

[dontseewhy]

Ya know Ppl always talk about how bad bush is and yeah i agree we shouldnt be in iraq now but everyone says well we shouldnt have been there in the first place. ok lets see first off no matter what president we got theres always people gonna talk trash about them. 2nd as for saddam what you think we shoulda jus sat back and just maybe he woulda took over everything hmmm he did meet hitler. he was a *** that needed to get got, and to those who say these pilots are at fault dont be ignorant they was told there are NO friendly's and they did what anyone else would have done over there

[darkfyreaol]

""I think killing these *** rocket launchers, it would be great," the second pilot says. "

Everyone makes mistakes, but y'know..When you're flying a bombing mission in enemy territory, you're kind of representing your country.

I'm sure killing those rocket launchers doesn't seem so great, now.

[akarsno]

In my opinion ... this war was not right in the first place and it should not have went in that direction.

I was against it and am still against it. So many lives were taken and for what ... so called democracy in Iraq?

The America I knew as a great nation once has made the greatest mistake in voting and agreeing to go to war with Iraq when they had the fall of september 11, what to do ... a president that they elected lied to his own people for his own political gain and shaming his country before other great nations.

All of this would not have happened .... if he was never voted. Now cause of him ... and thanks to him, nations are again ... balming one another for what has happened.

When and how are we ever going to make good all over again to gain proper internationl relations with other world leaders and nations and not have the name of America or it citizen being targeted for what this administration has done?

Why has the president not step down and let someone else take office besides him? No more troops in Iraq! Enough! Too many has died alrady!

[peter2489]

I support the usa and uk forces,however the us armed forces have a history of friendly fire incidents,having watched the video,this is less the pilots fault and more to do with faulty information as to the positions of friendly forces.i wonder if bush was in charge of the infomation on this one,it could explain why it took 3yrs for the facts come out!!!!.

[tuckerndfw]

The US & UK, without lawful authority or justification, invaded a sovereign nation.

Given the fact the US & UK do not typically or historically invade other nations for humanitarian reasons; or, for the purpose of installing "democracies," we can exclude that as a reason for the invasion.

Given the fact Saddam Hussein excluded US & UK oil companies from bidding on developing Iraqi oil fields, the motive is rather obvious for US & UK politicians to invent reasons to invade Iraq.

Given the fact ExxonMobil & British Petroleum are currently controlling and profiting from developing Iraqi oil fields, there is little doubt that the primary reason the US & UK invaded Iraq was to steal their oil.

The only alternative is to choose to believe that George Bush & Tony Blair violated international laws, invented or skewed intelligence and otherwise engaged in criminal conduct for the sole purpose of ensuring Ahmed could vote for Omar.

Which makes no sense because the majority of US allies in the Middle East are dictatorships.

It takes far more gullibility to believe the lies told by Bush and Blair than it does to determine the facts based on the available evidence.

[book54552134]

It speacks volumes about American 'Free Speech' when one considers that the American Govenment (and the British Govt. via US directive) censored this story for 3 years.

[jmb_1]

I think most people in the UK feel sorry for the two pilots who obviously made a mistake probably from inadequate training but every time there is a "friendly fire" accident there seems to be a cover up by the US military.

I cannot see what is so secret about the recording that prevented its being released to the British authorities three years ago, there can be only one reason for the reluctance to make it public. I am sure that if they had hit a vehicle carrying a senior member of the Iraqi government then the recording would have been on every TV news programme within hours.

MB

[rheola-2009]

Stezzer

With any and all due respects, but what in hell has this disaster of Iraq to do with our freedom.

If in fact if you are a Brit as you say, then explain to the relatives of those killed in the London bombings what "our freedom" means,as it appears those bombings may well have been a result of Britain's involvement in Iraq.
Some freedom, not knowing when we could possibly be the target of a terrorist attack.

True do not villify those involved, but make every attempt to ensure such a thing can not happen again.

[stezzer]

I have watched the this video three times now, and see no reason why the American pilots should be vilified.

Speaking as a Brit it's obvious that what happened was a terrible and tragic accident.

Instead of people using these forums to spew their own political opinions, can't we all just take a minute to remember those who are fighting in unimaginable circumstances, both American and British.

Young men are dying so that we may continue to enjoy our freedom.

Please show some respect.

[zootallures2]

Ah, the fun of war. I hope this won't discourage anyone. It's hard enough to make excuses why war is great, this isn't helping much. Let's hope the UN or US never get a leader who says "knock it off! What are you all nuts? We're killing innocent people for God sake!!! This is maddness!!!" That would spoil eveything. He could expect to be assaninated shortly after. Imagine no war? What would we do with ourselves?

[bluebird001]

In WW2 they had a saying

when the english flew over the germans ducked
when the germans flew over the english ducked
when the americans flew oever everybody ducked

[parskeedude]

tucker,
You say there is a conspiracy between the US and UK to steal Iraq's oil and that is a fact. Well, I'd like to hear those facts. Do you have any? Or, do you just like to hear yourself spew nonsensical garbage?

[big_m5]

A lighthearted murderous afternoon. The callous act should be punished before an international tribunal.

[big_m5]

A lighthearted murderous afternoon. The callous act should be punished before an international tribunal.

[jjraf33]

Obiquital, if they had any doubt they shouldn't have fired. To say (hypothetically) well they "could" have been rocket launchers, and they "could" have gone on to kill 20 people is no basis for an argument..

Would you have fired, without being absolutely sure? I know I wouldn't have. It's no video game, this is life or death. If you are not sure, and you are in any kind of doubt, you don't fire -Period.

I fly aircraft myself, I really don't know maybe it comes down to training and conditioning at the end of the day.