6 February 2007
Written by Rainer
Video: US Airforce bombing British convoy on 2003 in Iraq
If you need to find one good thing about tabloid magazines is that they publish anything to get viewers and publicity. The Sun just published “a video that does not exist” on their website about the bombing of English convoy by US Airforce on 2003 which lead to a kill of a British soldier.
The video is expected to raise a tight debate because do far the US has denied any usage of the video. The tape was kept hidden even from the widow of the killed British soldier. The British Ministry of Justice has started an investigation, which probably won’t lead to anything drastic as the US never hands out soldiers for foreign courts.
On the video recorded by the A-10 Thunderbolt’s camera the pilots ponder if the convoy is friends or foes. After getting confirmation that there shouldn’t be any friends on the area, and falsely interpreting the orange plates used for recognizing friends as rocket launchers, they decide to strike. Two minutes after strike they hear that they have actually bombed a british convoy -which if I recall correctly also had members of press with them- and they receive abort mission -signal.
On the tape one can hear the pilot cursing, repeating we’re going to jail and weeping.
I don’t want to sound cynical or anything (or, well…) but I honestly don’t understand the controversy here. Ok, that the US has refused to release the video to the British is awful, but ‘friendly fire’ incidents are quite common if I’m not misinformed, and surely there have been worse things happening during TWAT (The War Against Terror)? Like when the US bombed an Afghan wedding party, for instance. Or the Haditha massacre.
This seems to have been a mistake, an awful one, and there seems to be no penalties for anyone. Just a tragedy, which is hardly even news these days. I think the English should just bomb the US back and then leave the whole thing be.