LONDON – A British coroner investigating the “friendly fire” killing of a British soldier by a U.S. warplane during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 ruled Friday that the death was a “criminal” act.
“I don’t think this was a case of honest mistake,” said Oxfordshire assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker, concluding his probe into the death of Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25. Walker, who had earlier blasted an “appalling” lack of cooperation from the U.S. military, said he believed the pilots who fired on Hull’s convoy did not take steps to identify their target that they “could easily have taken.”
“We’re disappointed in the language used in the decision,” said David Johnson, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Johnson said that separate investigations by the U.S. and British militaries had concluded that the pilots did not violate any military procedures or regulations.
Susan Hull, the soldier’s widow, said the verdict proved that “Matthew’s death was entirely avoidable.”
Last month a British tabloid newspaper posted the cockpit video, which it had obtained from unidentified sources, on its Web site.
In the video, the U.S. pilots are heard reacting with horror and disbelief when they realized they had killed a friendly soldier. One of the pilots, from the 190th Fighter Squadron of the Idaho Air National Guard, is heard saying, “I’m going to be sick” and “We’re in jail, dude.”
Hours after the video was posted, the Pentagon agreed to release the video to the coroner and the family, who later viewed it.
Hull on Friday said she and her family would “move on” from the incident and said she hoped the pilots involved “are at peace with themselves” and can “move on with their lives.”
“I’m sure they are full of remorse for what they did – I hope so, anyway,” Hull said.
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