Fury at American contempt for British war dead

By SIMON WALTERS, Mail on Sunday

Last updated at 21:31pm on 18th November 2006
A diplomatic row erupted between London and Washington ght over George Bush's bid to cover up the way bungling US soldiers killed British servicemen in Iraq.

The President's envoy in the UK has been summoned to a humiliating dressing down in Whitehall tomorrow because of a White House refusal to make American troops answer in British courts for their mistakes on the battlefield.

• Dramatic video of British soldiers on the front line shot by the troops themselves.


WARNING: The footage shot by British soldiers in Afghanistan is graphic and the soundtrack includes strong language that is unsuitable for minors

The unprecedented move by Justice Minister Harriet Harman marks one of the biggest public rifts between the allies since Mr Blair came to power.

She will tell Deputy US ambassador David Johnson, one of George Bush's closest diplomatic advisers, that she is no longer prepared to accept America's excuses for refusing to send its servicemen to UK inquests.

Ms Harman says that in return for backing him in the Iraq war, the President has a duty to tell the truth to the families of British soldiers killed by Americans in friendly fire tragedies.

"The families want to know how their loved ones were killed," she told The Mail on Sunday. "They have got that right. I am hoping the Americans will give us full co-operation in the inquests because our special relationship demands honesty and openness.

"They are our allies in Iraq and should respect the grief of the families and not hide from the court. If any of our soldiers had been involved in American friendly-fire deaths we would expect them to attend hearings."

So far not one American serviceman has attended a friendly-fire inquest.

Ms Harman's comments come weeks before the latest inquest into the death of a British soldier killed by US friendly fire.

Lance Corporal Matthew Hull died when an American pilot attacked a British convoy near Basra. The White House has rejected pleas for the airman to attend the inquest.

The inquests row could strain Mr Blair's close relations with Mr Bush - and it comes at a critical time for the PM.

He was forced to admit yesterday that the Iraq war has been a 'disaster'.

It also emerged that loyal Labour Minister Margaret Hodge had privately disowned the war and condemned Mr Blair's 'moral imperialism'.

While Ms Harman has strong backing from Defence Secretary Des Browne, she did not inform Mr Blair in advance of her plan to haul the Americans over the coals, providing fresh evidence of the crumbling authority of the PM as he prepares to step down next year. But her initiative was warmly welcomed by the family of Lance Corporal Hull.

His widow, Susan Hull, said the US authorities had given her a heavily censored version of what happened - and had kept the pilot's name secret.

"There's been a lot of cloak and dagger," said Mrs Hull, of Shaftesbury, Dorset. "The people who are left behind want answers.

"I want the pilot involved to be at the inquest. I don't see how the coroner can establish all the facts unless everyone who was there is present. If the coroner requests their presence, they should go."

Lance Corporal Hull's mother, Mandy, said: "The American pilot should be made to come.

"We haven't heard anything for three-and-a-half years. I always thought that at least we would hear the truth at the inquest, but what's the point of going ahead with it if the pilot's not there?"

The provocative action of Ms Harman, a candidate in the race to succeed John Prescott as Deputy Labour leader, is supported by Oxfordshire Coroner Andrew Walker, who has conducted most of the inquests into British soldiers killed in Iraq.

He has privately voiced his anger with the Americans, accusing them of making it hard to do his job properly.

Ms Harman has been in talks with the Americans for nearly six months in an unsuccessful attempt to resolve the dispute. They refused to change their stance even after she guaranteed no risk of criminal prosecution or compensation.

She decided to go public after they rejected demands to send US service personnel to two recent friendly-fire inquests conducted by Mr Walker.

Earlier this month he ruled the deaths of two RAF Tornado pilots, Flight Lieutenants Kevin Main and Dave Williams, were 'entirely avoidable'. The fliers were shot down by an American Patriot missile.

And last month he criticised US Marines blamed for the 'unlawful killing' of ITN reporter Terry Lloyd after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Mr Walker conducts most of the inquests because bodies from Iraq and Afghanistan are flown home to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

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