American-british Friendly Fire Incident

[Patrick]

So all over the British news right now is the video released of these two American fighter pilots accidentally firing on a British convoy in 2003 and killing one troop. The video is being used in court. The general attitude towards the fighter pilots is sickening... they seem to be taking the blame, even though the incident was mostly due to faulty intelligence and communication. These things always happen in war, they can't be avoided. Human error should be forgiven. The poor pilot in the video was obviously very very distressed after hearing of his mistake. I feel more sorry for him than the dead soldier. Does anyone know if the pilots would have been punished in any way? Because that would really suck. An incident like this could easily destroy these guys' lives, which they don't deserve to have happen. They were just doing their job. And at least they had the decency to be obviously upset about it.

[Ynot]

Transcript of tape http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6334231.stm News of US officially releasing tape to inquest http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6334769.stm The Pentagon said no disciplinary action had been taken towards the two American pilots involved in the incident. It said an official US investigation in 2003 concluded the pilots' actions were not reckless and that they reasonably believed they were engaging an enemy target.[/b]

[Oneironaut Zero]

I just saw this on the news and made a note to bring it up. Log on, and I see this thread. But yeah, that's pretty messed up. I just saw the tape and can't imagine what must have been going through those pilots' heads, when they realized what happened. It showed that they asked HQ numerous times whether or not to fire, and they were given the all clear that "no friendlies were in the area" each time. I don't believe that any blame should rest on the pilots, but sufficient action should be taken to, at least, evaluate those that gave the order when questioned. Also, abcnews said that the mother(?) of one of the pilots was officially told by the British government that the tape didn't exist, at first. She only learned about the tape after it was released.

[ben k]

i reckon pilots dont feel that bad because by the time they have dropped the bomb there already speeding off so they cant see the destruction and are rmpved from the action. a sniper would feel much worse as they can see there man up close and they see him die

[Kaniaz]

I wonder how pilots feel when they drop bombs on iraqis?[/b] Wow. Seems like you got the point.

[juroara]

judging by what the boys in my family did before they joined the army, it must be like playing a video game