Part 1 at:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Interview with Soldier's wife
at:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

The Sun newspaper says it has
obtained the cockpit video at
the centre of a row over the
'friendly-fire' death of a
British soldier in Iraq.

An inquest into the death of
Lance Corporal of Horse Matty
Hull, 25,
more

Part 1 at:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
Interview with Soldier's wife
at:
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

The Sun newspaper says it has
obtained the cockpit video at
the centre of a row over the
'friendly-fire' death of a
British soldier in Iraq.

An inquest into the death of
Lance Corporal of Horse Matty
Hull, 25, from Berks, was
adjourned after the coroner
said the tape was central to
the case.

The MoD said it was classified
'secret' by the US, so could
not be released.

The Sun says the video shows
US aircraft attacking a
British convoy in Basra,
southern Iraq, in March 2003.

The deputy chief of mission at
the US Embassy in London,
David Johnson, said the video
would be de-classified if the
military considered it would
not put forces at risk in
future.

The Sun has published a
transcript of what it says was
said by US military personnel
on the video.

At the start of the attack,
one pilot notices orange
panels on the vehicles and
asks whether there could be
any friendly units in the
area.

His command gives assurances
there are no coalition forces
in the area.

Pilots open fire but soon the
error is realised and they are
informed that friendly units
were in the area.

They are told: 'Abort your
mission. You got a, looks we
might have a blue-on-blue
situation [a friendly fire
incident].'

An air controller on the
ground says: 'We are getting
an initial brief that there
was one killed and one
wounded, over.'

One pilot replies: 'Copy. RTB
[return to base].' A colleague
says: 'I'm going to be sick.'

They then talk about the
possibility of being jailed
for carrying out the attack.

'Weeping'

The first pilot says: 'Did you
hear?' His colleague replies:
'Yeah, this sucks.'

'We're in jail, dude,' says
the first.

The other pilot then weeps,
saying: 'God dammit'.

The BBC's defence
correspondent Paul Wood said
it was obvious from the
recording that the pilots were
appalled by their mistake.

'They are not just remorseful,
they are weeping. They are
beside themselves.'

He said the question was who
is responsible for the error,
adding that the Pentagon has a
longstanding position not to
let US servicemen appear
before foreign tribunals.

The Sun has released footage
to television and radio
stations, but is not giving
other websites permission to
use clips.

Last week, when the existence
of the tape came to light,
L/CoH Hull's widow, Susan,
described it as an 'absolute
disgrace' that she had been
assured by the military no
such tape existed.

L/CoH Hull, from the Household
Cavalry Regiment, died from
multiple injuries inside his
blazing Scimitar tank, despite
efforts by colleagues to save
him.

He was travelling in a column
of light armoured vehicles
near the southern Iraqi city
of Basra when it was
reportedly attacked by a US
A-10 'tankbuster' aircraft.

Furious attack

On Friday, Oxfordshire
Assistant Deputy Coroner
Andrew Walker was forced to
adjourn L/CoH Hull's hearing
because the MoD had failed to
provide the inquest with a
recording.

He had earlier launched a
furious attack on the MoD for
refusing to release the tape.

The MoD said it was given a
copy of the video by the US
government for its own
investigation into the
incident.

'This recording is the
property of the United States
government and the MoD does
not have the right to release
it without their permission,'
it said in a statement.

However, Mr Johnson, from
London's US Embassy, said the
US government had been in
discussions with Harriet
Harman and other officials
over the tape.

'It is probably incorrect to
say anyone had put pressure on
anyone,' he said. 'We have
been working together on
this.'

L/CoH Hull's family had been
told that some classified
material has been withheld,
'but we did not specify its
exact nature', the statement
added.

'There has never been any
intention to deliberately
deceive or mislead L/CoH
Hull's family.'

A Pentagon spokeswoman said
the US government never
released documents that were
part of an investigation.

The US government would view
whoever leaked the video as
'criminally responsible', the
spokeswoman added.

Category News & Politics

Tags man, recording, american, fire, kill, military, usa, british, iraq, England, cockpit, killed, forces, pilots, friendly, aricraft, a-10