Are American "Friendly Fire" incidences really mistakes?

Question

e.g; Tanks taking shots at a hotel that was full of Journalists. U.K Tornado flying in formation with U.S planes shot down by a surface-to-Air missile in a neutral zone. Journalist Terry Lloyd's convoy attacked even though they were well behind the front line. And what about the hundreds of cases the Media don't report like the lone Iraqi shepherd killed when he was strafed by an American Warplane?

The list is endless, can they really all be mistakes?

P.S Let me clarify; i'm talking about the American military attacking OTHER Coalition forces. I'm not aware of a single case of anyone other nation doing it.

To Maddog. as an ex-servicemen i can assure you i have absolute respect for the coalition forces i believe they are doing a vital job and are treated terribly at home, as for the American military i think the majority of them are professional soldiers and decent human beings but i also believe there is a cowboy mentality to some of the them.

Ok severance lets have it your way. ANYONE WHO HAS NOT SERVED IN IRAQ PLEASE CLOSE YOUR EYES AND YOUR MOUTH, YOU
HAVE NO RIGHT TO HAVE A SAY ON THE ATROCITIES BEING COMMITTED IN YOUR NAME.

Answer 1

I think you will always get some trigger happy person who will shoot first and ask questions later, the military attracts that sort of person. But I think the majority of incidents are either they are poorly trained or they are very stressed and nervous so they are more prone to make mistakes.

Answer 2

Well actually the UK Tornado wasn't flying with US planes.

It was flying alone, with a faulty IFF transponder that wasn't working.

More British soldiers have been killed by friendly fire from British soldiers in Iraq than by Americans.

And there are plenty of cases of British forces accidently firing on the media.

During the Falklands war:

SBS and the SAS accidently got into a fire fight with each other, killing one SBS trooper.

HMS Cardiff shoots down AAC Gazelle (UK)

3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British Army (UK) Companies A and C engage each other in an hour-long firefight in the Falkland Islands involving heavy weapons and artillery strikes. At least 8 UK casualties

It's not an American only issue.

Answer 3

It helps every once in a while to repeat, for our younger or less experienced citizens, to tell them what the nature of news is:

News is about the strange, the unusual, the weird.

There are no news stories about murders in the ghetto unless very unusual.

There are no news stories about crimes committed by felons who are released, unless they are weird.

There are no news stories about the wonderful things priests, military men/women, police officers, firemen, and politicians do every day, unless very strange.

The news is not about the normal, but every day people buy into it as if it is reality.

Oh, the stories are usually true, though sometimes biased one way or another, but the whole of the news is FAR from a reflection of reality. You are seeing the strange, the weird, the rare, and then compiling an image of reality based on it.

Don't go that way. Only the madness of the conspiracy theorist lies in that direction.

The cure is simple. If you really want to ask these question (it is not unpatriotic to do so. It is only unpatriotic to treat our representatives as "guilty until proved innocent").

The list is not endless, it is very short. Do three things to regain your perspective: 1) look at the actual statistics, not rare exceptions. One can prove anything with exceptions;
2) Compare with other wars, other countries; research in isolation is NOT research, just careless.
3) Talk deliberately to people who disagree with you. If you surround yourself with people who only think the way you do, you surround yourself with you. Reality is a whole lot bigger than you. Imagine the millions of people you really wish would follow that advice. I do. Be happy to consider you one of them, if open to it.

I had two parents in government. A lot of these conspiracy stories were fodder for the dinner table, and I quickly learned to see through them, as well as understand some of the deeper things that really do happen. Ask me about the Suez Canal sometime.

Answer 4

To the people that say our troops are trigger happy. People are trying to KILL them using the most devious methods. This is a WAR. Innocent people will get killed. Let someone try to kill you for a while and see how much "restraint" you show when something happens. I also do not put it past our ENEMY to plant false info so these things happen. We should have learned on Sept 11 that we are not dealing with stupid people here. They have done thier research and know how we ( our government and our people) will react to certain things. What about the hundreds of cases the Media doesn't report about all the great things our troops are doing? Like giving free medical care, food, water, etc. Troops sending back home for sports equipment and education stuff for the kids. We should give the ground troops a really wide berth here. Its the top brass and government people that scare me.

Answer 5

as much as a mistake can be from the actions of selecting a target and firing.
friendly fire is when 2 soldiers run into a room from different places and mistake each other for the enemy, not a surface to air missile with tracking systems etc.

why don't we hear about how many Iraqi's or Afghan's have died? I don't mean to diminish our soldiers that have died over there, but our casualties are pretty minor in comparison

Answer 6

When you're in an hostile theatre of war (and pray you arm chair warriors don't find yourselves there) nothing is clear. The enemy doesn't glow red with a target on his/her chest, every rock you pass may have an IED behind it, every person that walks in front of you is a potential threat, every vehicle that comes near you is just as likely to blow up than to pass you by. Live with that for 6 to 12 months and you'll soon get jittery. No member of the armed forces wants to kill innocents or his/her allies but the fact remains; it happens. Conflict is not like you play on your PC, so thank your lucky stars that there are people willing to take the burden for you so you don't have to experience it first hand.


To jason; Who speaks for the Servicemen? Just putting my point of view forward as is my right I believe. I see you felt the need to shout, just as well you're not armed eh? Self restraint........

Answer 7

I think that if you fire more bullets, a greater percentage will hit the wrong target. If your armaments have greater destructive power, the effect of the mistake will be greater. I am astounded that there has not been a major nuclear mishap in the past 60 years.....or who knows, maybe there has ?

Answer 8

Unless you've been in a combat situation I don't think you can have any idea of the stresses these people are under. Yes, training could be better - but in those circumstances mistakes are bound to be made.

Answer 9

I think they ARE mistaks - why would they do it on purpose? What do they get for doing so, or achieve? Surely the backlash is they face court marshell, not to mention a reputation for being amateurish - But I think for the most part they were avoidable mistakes.

Answer 10

yes also known as casualties of war; these people get blind sighted in their job, as I doubt any person would purpously kill an innocent person