UK given 14 days for US tape showing Iraq killing
Iraq-UK, Politics, 2/4/2007

Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) Friday was given 14 more days to obtain permission to show a video of US pilots opening fire on UK troops in Iraq after failing to produce the recording at an inquest into the death of a British corporal.

Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker said he was adjourning the inquest in Oxfordshire, southern England, until 16 February in order for the MoD to release the cockpit recording of the 2003 "friendly fire" incident in which 25-year-old Lance Corporal Matty Hull died.

According to Britain's PA news agency, sources say the recording is "incriminating" and includes the line: "Someone's going to jail for this." On Thursday, Walker criticized the delays and gave officials a 24-hour ultimatum to produce the tape, but according to the BBC, the MoD said it still did not have US authorization to lift its classified status.

The assistant coroner said he was "very sorry" his request had not been met and it was crucial the court saw the video before he took more evidence from witnesses.

MoD lawyer Leigh-Ann Mulcahy was quoted saying that high-level diplomacy between US and UK governments was needed to release the recording.

Hull died from multiple injuries inside his blazing Scimitar tank after two US A-10 Thunderbolt tankbuster planes reportedly opened fire on a British military convoy near Basra on March 28 2003.

Corporal Ashley Bell, who was also in the convoy, told the inquest on Wednesday that he was shocked when the US planes continued to bomb the tanks in front of him.

"We started to realize this was a friendly-on-friendly and I got onto the radio. I asked for a 'Stop Stop Stop, check fire', at which everyone in our forces is supposed to stop firing," Bell said.

But he added that he got no response from air controllers. The planes continued to attack and he got on the radio again and started to scream a "Stop stop stop" again.

More than 120 British soldiers have been killed in Iraq but inquests into scores have been delayed, including some that go back nearly four years.

Previous Stories:
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