So we believe the US were right to hold an inquiry and to hold their own personnel accountable. As for the absence of a UK Service Inquiry you get the first quote from CJO, supported by the 2nd quote from CoS PJHQ:
If your question is about service inquiries and all that, there are specific reasons why you conduct service inquiries. First, I cannot disburse a service inquiry. I am not empowered to conduct a service inquiry, because that is a single service issue.
There are certain circumstances in which, by statute, a service inquiry has to be conducted, such as following the death of a serviceperson. They can be convened in circumstances not mandated by statute or policy at the discretion of the convening authority. The CJO does not have the authority to convene a service inquiry.
So that's ok then, the UK has decided that nobody is empowered to convene a service inquiry in such circumstances. Are we really that incompetent that we have no ability to conduct inquiries on joint ops or is this a convenient fib to Parliament?
As for this bit:
Q69 Ms Stuart: My memory may be playing tricks on me, but when you made your opening statement, I think that you concluded with some personal remarks, and then you went on to say that you gave the advice to your superiors and the Secretary of State that there was no fault, and you stand by that. At that moment, I thought, "Here’s a man who is about to fall on his sword." Was I wrong to think that?
Lieutenant-General Capewell: Was I about to fall on my sword? Oh goodness me, no.
Ms Stuart: Okay. I just thought that I would check.
I'm glad she checked….