Kill Box
Always useful to look from another perspective. Not much has been said about kill boxes in all this. This article questions the propriety of using target rich kill zones. I believe Matty Hull was in a kill zone at the time. In a vehicle not equipped with IFF because of the useless MoD. Was it an accident waiting to happen? What ere the ROE in kill zones?
Article form the first post, not sure of any political affiliation.
"With friends like these...
The attempt to hide footage of US pilots bombing British soldiers reveals a wider malaise in military thinking, says robert fox
The cockpit footage of the friendly fire incident in which two US A10 tankbusters shot up a British convoy of the Household Cavalry in Iraq in March 2003 is shocking. But it is hardly surprising given the record of 'blue on blue' incidents involving American A10s, which have run into the dozens over the past 20 years.
The first issue must be the poor fire control and engagement discipline of the pilots themselves. They nattered for what seemed minutes about what the orange-covered vehicles were, and did not refer their position - nor their doubts - to ground controllers.
Also, they did not know how to identify allied vehicles. This raises questions about the whole principle of laying out targets in 'kill boxes' of so-called 'target-rich' zones. This does not allow for human error, for the target
It is clear they did not want this evidence to come to public attention
zones cannot be guaranteed to be free of friendly forces or civilians at any time. Quite how many innocents have died in the kill zones of Iraq is an issue barely raised in public. That must change.
The second major issue is the conduct of the US and UK governments and their defence departments. It is clear they did not want this evidence to come to public attention. The family of L/Cpl Matty Hull were not given the full video evidence, and this seems to have been no accident. This is what appears to have so enraged the Oxford coroner Andrew Walker, now trying to conclude an inquest four years after the event.
After a similar incident on February 26, 1991, in which A10s shot up the battle group of the Fusiliers in the advance into Kuwait, killing nine and wounding 11, the Oxford coroner's inquest came to a stark verdict - that the fusiliers had suffered an act of unlawful killing. It is a charge the US military must answer to again, whatever Andrew Walker's verdict."
FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 6, 2006