During World War II a humourous, if unkind saying went something along these lines …

“When the British opened fire the Germans ran for cover.

 When the Germans opened fire the British ran for cover.

 When the Americans opened fire everyone ran for cover.”

A little cruel? Yes, certainly, but it does seem that when some of our American cousins go to war, their … ‘Gung Ho!’ … ‘Kick Arse’ … ‘Trigger Happy’ …  actions sometimes lead to the deaths of many of their own men as well as those of their allies. (Not to mention TV reporters). This was certainly true in Vietnam, the first Gulf War (when eight American and nine British soldiers were killed by fire from a US – A10 aircraft)  and is just as true today in Iraq.

In the case of the two ‘tank buster’ pilots who are the subject of  the video released by the ‘Sun’ newspaper, it would seem to me that sloppy communications and poor training were more to blame, rather than ‘macho’ behaviour, although the men did seem a bit eager to ‘have a go’ at the ‘enemy’ before returning to base. It seems hard to believe, but it’s been alleged that the pilots were inexperienced part-time National Guard officers who had never been in combat before, and had not been fully trained for this type of action. If this is true, who can say what was going on in their minds when flying over hostile territory for the first time ?

I have been reading the American reaction to this incident on a number of US websites and I can understand why many people feel  sorry for the pilots as well as for their victims, although I’m not sure that I go along with … “GOD BLESS THOSE TWO WARTHOG PILOTS!”

As long as Presidents and Prime Ministers send men to their deaths, some are going to die as a result of so called ‘friendly fire’, and we British should not feel complacent when we see the Pentagon hiding the facts from the public; for our government does the same thing by witholding from their families details of the exact circumstances surrounding the deaths of soldiers killed in action. (Remember the case of Sgt. Roberts.)

The conduct of the American and British governments in this sorry affair has been a disgrace, and today ‘Yo!’ Blair has had the nerve to stand up in the House of Commons and say …

“We deeply regret the distress caused to Lance Corporal Matty Hull’s family by the delay in concluding the inquest into how he died  …  I can assure you that we will do everything we can to co-operate with the coroner and also make sure the additional distress, that’s now been caused to the family, is minimised.”

…     It’s only taken him four bloody years !