190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident

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190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident - March 28, 2003
Two A-10 Thunderbolt jets.
Date March 28, 2003 Location Iraq Result Two United Kingdom FV107 Scimitars destroyed, 1 British soldier killed, 5 British soldiers wounded

The 190th Fighter Squadron, Blues and Royals friendly fire incident was a "friendly fire" incident involving two United States Air Force Air National Guard 190th Fighter Squadron attack aircraft and vehicles from the United Kingdom's D Squadron, The Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry and took place on March 28, 2003 during the invasion of Iraq by armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom. The operation was known as Operation Telic in the UK and Operation Iraqi Freedom in the US. Whilst not the only fratricide incident during Operation Telic, the circumstances around the inquest into the death of one of the British soldiers, Lance-Corporal of Horse Matty Hull led to some media controversy related to the release of video evidence from the attacking aircraft and perceived levels of cooperation into the British inquest into the incident by government agencies of both the United States and United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Operation Telic — 28 March 2003 2 Boards of inquiry 3 Inquest into the death of L/CoH Hull 3.1 Discussion prior to the inquest 3.2 Conduct of the inquest 3.3 Unauthorised leak and subsequent de-classification of video evidence 3.4 Inquest reconvened 3.5 Inquest verdict 4 References 4.1 Notes 4.2 Web

[edit] Operation Telic — 28 March 2003

POPOV36 rolls in for an attack on the British vehicles Wikisource has original text related to this article: Transcript of the 'friendly fire' incident video

View from the A-10 Video of the 28 March 2003 'friendly fire' incident — 40MB Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Audio from the A-10s Audio of the 28 March 2003 'friendly fire' incident — 5.8MB Problems listening to the file? See media help.

The Blues and Royals were serving as a force element of 16 Air Assault Brigade, providing an armoured reconnaissance capability to the Brigade. Four vehicles from D Squadron, two FV107 Scimitars and two FV103 Spartans, were moving North of the main force, patrolling the Forward Edge of Battle Area. The area of the patrol had been declared as a no engagement zone to the allied forces and the vehicles were marked with the agreed co-alition Combat Identification markings including orange overhead canvas panels, thermal reflectors and Union Flags.

Two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft of the Idaho Air National Guard, 190th Fighter Squadron were completing a two-hour mission; engaging artillery and rocket launchers of Iraq's 6 Armoured Division, dug in 25 miles (40 km) north of Basra. The aircraft were guided to their targets by US Marine Corps Forward Air Controllers, embedded with British ground units and flown by a Major and Lieutenant Colonel on their first operational flight of the invasion. According to media reporting of the subsequent investigation, flight was commanded by the Major.^[1]

From an altitude of 12,000 ft (3,700 m), the aircraft spotted Iraqi vehicles 800 yards north, and the British patrol less than three miles (5 km) west. Following dialogue with the FAC and between the aircrew, the British convoy was engaged in a gun and rocket attack which left the vehicles disabled. The British soldiers exited the vehicles, taking cover underneath the hulls. The aircraft conducted a second attack, resulting in the death of L/CoH Hull, still within his Scimitar.^[2]

Trooper Christopher Finney, 18, driving the lead Scimitar^[3] re-entered his burning vehicle calling a Mayday report on his still-functional radio. Trooper Finney then dragged a badly wounded L/Cpl Tudball from the burning vehicle before attempting to recover Hull in the second Scimitar, but being beaten back by exploding munitions and heat. Trooper Finney was later awarded the George Cross for his actions.^[4]

As well as the death of Hull a further five troopers were injured.^[5]

[edit] Boards of inquiry

The U.S. Air Force conducted an investigation into the incident in 2003, but the results of that investigation were not publicly released and did not result in a court-martial.^[6] Subsequent reporting of the U.S. Air Force investigation states that the investigation found fault with both pilots' actions in the incident, including, "findings of cognitive and physical task overload, ineffective communication and failure to recognise identification panels by the two pilots." The investigation report recommended administrative or disciplinary action against both pilots. Higher United States Department of Defense officials, however, cleared both pilots of any wrongdoing.^[7]

A British Army Board of Inquiry (BoI) was held in 2004, the findings of which, among others, stated that the Major authorised the Lt Colonel to attack, but no authorisation was given by controllers on the ground.^[8],^[9] The report was released to the family of L/CoH Hull and later to the public. It has been alleged that certain classified material available to the BoI, was withheld from the family.^[10]

[edit] Inquest into the death of L/CoH Hull

Bodies of those servicemen dying overseas are repatriated to the UK via RAF Brize Norton leading to the responsibility for inquests being under the civilian jurisdiction of the Oxfordshire coroner. An inquest into the death of L/CoH Hull was convened in 2006, presided over by Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker.

[edit] Discussion prior to the inquest

The position of the government of the United States is that US servicemen do not attend non-US courts,^[11] written statements being normally provided.

British media reported that the UK Government had pressured the US government, via the Embassy in London, to release all evidence related to the fratricide. A meeting between Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman and Deputy Head of Mission, David Johnson, was reported on 20 November 2006^[12] where assurances were given that concerns of the UK over the US policy on attendance were to be relayed to Washington.

Harman reiterated this position on 1 February, highlighting the request for evidence and indicating that the US personnel could not be compelled to attend the inquest.^[13]

[edit] Conduct of the inquest

The inquest took oral testimony from the various British personnel associated with the incident, including those in the convoy and a FAC who expressed the opinion that the aircrew were acting independently.^[14] Walker commented on the actions of L/Cpl Finney GC, stating: “You are a brave man. You are to be commended for what you did.”^[15]

It was publicly acknowledged during the inquest that a cockpit video of the Head-up display from one of the aircraft existed. Media reports indicate that this video had been shown to the BoI,^[16] but not released to Hulls family with the findings.

The video was shown to the Coroner in private however permission to use it in public was refused by the Ministry of Defence, citing international agreements related to the release of classified information and the US classification of the tape as SECRET. This adherence to international protocols led to significant criticism in the British media leading to a public statement by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram^[17] which reiterated the requirement for US de-classification of the video and highlighting ongoing engagement to achieve that.

Media reporting indicated claims that the MOD had denied the existence of the video.

On 2 February Walker opted to adjourn the inquest until the video could be displayed in open court.

[edit] Unauthorised leak and subsequent de-classification of video evidence

The video was leaked to The Sun tabloid newspaper and reported on 6 February 2007, as well as published on the newspapers website.^[18] The newspaper indicated that the leak had come from a US military source. The US government subsequently announced that the video would be declassified however noted that the leak was likely to be a criminal offense.^[19]

Media reporting also indicated that the pilots were both from reservist units, the 190th Fighter Squadron, on their first action; a lieutenant colonel and a major commanding the patrol.^[20].

The video released was 19 minutes long, and was accompanied with recordings of cockpit audio and radio communications.

British media allege six errors on the part of the aircrew:^[21]

1. The pilots asked the Forward Air Controller ("Manila Hotel") if friendly forces were around the Iraqi vehicles — not to the west.
2. Neither pilot gave the precise grid references for the Household Cavalry patrol to double check its identity.
3. The pilots convinced themselves that the orange identification panels were in fact orange rocket launchers.
4. POPOV36 decided to attack, saying he is “rolling in” without permission from the Forward Air Controller.
5. POPOV35 asked for artillery to fire a marker round into the target area to clear up confusion, but POPOV36 attacked without waiting for it.
6. POPOV36 strafed the column for a second time, but still doubted its identity.

The audio track includes debate around the identity of the targets and the order, from the FAC, to disengage identifying a likely blue-on-blue incident. The audio track also includes notification of one death and several injuries with the order to return to base.^[23] Subsequent audio indicates frustration and crying with the comment: We're in jail, dude.^[24] Upon viewing the video, Matty Hull's widow, Susan, stated that the pilots were, "more concerned for themselves than their victims."^[25]

A statement released by the Oxfordshire coroner's office later confirmed that Walker was of the view that, being in the public domain, the video could now be presented as evidence without the approval of the US Government and that the inquest would resume on 12 March.^[26].

On February 6, 2007 the Sun named POPOV36 as Colonel Gus Kohntopp, a commercial pilot for Southwest Airlines and member of the Air National Guard (photo at right).^[27][28][29] The British inquest was set to resume on March 12, 2007. As of February 9, 2007, Kohntopp was reported to be, "in hiding."^[30]

[edit] Inquest reconvened

The Oxfordshire inquest resumed as scheduled on March 12 with testimony from a British Forward Air Controller (FAC) involved in the incident who stated that the incident wouldn't have happened if the two U.S. pilots involved had followed the same procedures that UK pilots must follow in the same type of situation.^[31] On March 13, the same British FAC testified that POPOV36 committed a "catalogue of serious failures" when he shot at the British vehicles in the incident, including "ignoring crucial warning signs, attacking without permission, and failing to wait for an artillery shell marker on a proposed target."^[32] After the inquest revealed that portions of relevant evidence from the U.S. investigation into the incident were blacked out in the copy of the report given to the inquest, Matty Hull's widow made a personal appeal to U.S. president George W. Bush for the information to be released to the inquest.^[33]

[edit] Inquest verdict

On 16 March, coroner Andrew Walker returned a narrative verdict, stating that the killing of Hull was "unlawful". Walker said: "The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal." Neither of the two U.S. pilots involved nor any other representative from the U.S. government appeared at the inquest or co-operated in any other way, despite numerous requests from Walker, Harman, and Hull's family to do so.^[34]

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Web

• British Army (2005). Board of Inquiry Report Into the Death of the Late 25035018 Lance Corporal of Horse Matthew Richard Hull (PDF). Official British investigation of the incident. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.