UK asks U.S. for Iraq friendly fire death details
Source: Reuters
(adds quotes, background) JERUSALEM, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Britain's Foreign Secretary said on Tuesday London was working with the United States to get as much information on a "friendly fire" incident in which U.S. warplanes in Iraq killed a British soldier in Iraq. "Obviously, both we and the U.S. are keen to understand what has happened here," Margaret Beckett said during a visit to Jerusalem, after British media showed clips of a classified cockpit video recording from one of the U.S. warplanes involved. Lance Corporal Matty Hull was killed near the southern Iraqi city of Basra in March 2003 when two U.S. A-10 tankbusters twice fired on the British convoy. An inquest into Hull's death was adjourned last week after the coroner said he had no choice but to delay his verdict until the recording of the incident was produced by Britain's Ministry of Defence. The MoD said it did not have the right to release the video without the permission of the U.S. government. "We want as complete an inquest as possible," Beckett said. "We want the coroner to have access to as much evidence as possible. We are working with the U.S. to achieve that." Beckett added that the relationship between Britain and Washington -- often criticised at home because of Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for the war in Iraq -- remained strong. "The matter is important and needs to be resolved but we are confident it will be kept in proportion," she said. The recording showed how before firing on a British convoy the U.S. pilots concluded that the orange panels on top of their armoured vehicles -- designed to show allied planes a convoy was friendly -- must be rocket launchers. Realising afterwards that they had hit the convoy one pilot said: "We're in jail, dude."
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