Friendly Fire?

Question

I have been a staunch supporter of the war in Irag and the Americans, since it began. But tonight I saw the news and the appalling video of the "blue on blue" incident which resulted in the death of a British soldier.

When this happened previously I felt anger and disappointment at such a horrible accident, I would remind myself that it was purely an accident.

What I can get over though is the blatent lies, contempt and disregard the American military has shown for the lives of thier comrades in arms. If a mistake was made then make an appology and admit it. Over this incident the American military just plain and simply lied! Video evidence wasnt available they said and tonight the world has seen the tapes that dont exist?

The American military have showed no honour or respect to themselves or for their "Allies".

For the sake of the widow of the Private killed, and all the other British service men you have killed in error, I say shame on you!

Anyone else agree?

Answer 1

How many US servicemen have been killed by the British forces since the start of the first Gulf War.How come we can recognise them but they can't recognise us.At the start of the 1st Gulf war 2 platoons of US Marines shot each other up in Kafji on the Saudi border killing ,(I think) 14 of their own men.
Something is obviously wrong with their recognition traing.
As for the latest incident as it was only 4 small vehicles and they weren't sure why not just leave them,is it a case of Gung Ho "I got rid of my rockets".Until some body is held to account nothing will change.

Answer 2

It does suck but keep in mind American military members are not the only country that has killed allies in combat by "friendly fire". World War II was full of this all over the place and not just involving the US and Britain. The fact is our media exploits things to a level of disgust and writes what they want. If you read more articles on this you will discover that even the UK admitted they know since the media leaked it their are legal implications on video release and making forward statements. It goes a little deeper... but your point is valid as well.

Answer 3

In Canada we are no strangers to friendly fire incidents we have had 5 deaths since 2001. The biggest being four soldiers in Afghanistan in I believe April 2002. The excuse, the pilot and his partner were on prescribed uppers (from the US military) to give them that fighting instinct and cat like reflexes. Well yeah they bombed and killed four of our soldiers. What did the pilot get, a slap on the wrist. We lost another soldier this past fall in Afghanistan to friendly fire. The US chalks it up to more collateral damage. Very sad. So much for being comrades in arms.

Answer 4

No. The death of the British soldier killed is an unfortunate incident of war. America and our military appreciate our British allies support and sacrifices but in the "fog" of war incidents like this can occur. The US military in the past ie. Candadian incident in Afganistan has conducted full investigations and has offered apologies to those involved.

Americans appreciate the sacrifices our British allies have made in Iraq as I hope the Brits appreciated the sacrifices our grandfathers made during WWII.

Message to Alan A: Unless you have served in combat keep your BS opinions to yourself. You know Jack S_it.

Answer 5

What I'm really p*ssed about is that the US govt has decided NOT to discipline the pilots and the hierarchy for their ineffective reconaissance training BUT to hunt down and prosecute the leaker of the video, typical b*oody yanks. The pilots knew they had done wrong and 1 even said "we're going to jail dude" pathetic and typical of the US mentality!

Answer 6

I Do agree if the Americans can come back with a apology i know it will not bring back the BRITISH soldiers back but sorry is a start. Now you know one reason why American troops are not much liked round the world
is it true the pilots should have returned to base before the attack

Answer 7

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Answer 8

These pilots should be made to try and justify their actions on TV.

How they can confuse orange markers for rockets is beyond me.

Trigger-happy morons just about sums up my thoughts on seeing that footage

Answer 9

as bad as it is friendly fire sccidents happen, i sure not only to fellow soldiers but civilians also. misjudgments happen. im not real supprised that the goverment tried to cover it up. possibly because its our strongest alllie.

Answer 10

FYI - this incident occurred four years ago and we apologized then.

Not only did we apologize but we spared our allies the embarrassment of pointing out that the British had told the pilot that there were no friendly forces in the area.

The really sad thing is that the British seem to prefer having their soldiers die than change ineffective doctrinal procedures that resulted in the US pilots being assured that no friendly forces were in the area. (Even worse is the fact that this same error killed 4 British troops in the Gulf War - but rather than fix their procedures - they blamed us.)