British military vehicles are to be fitted with devices to combat friendly fire incidents.
No word as yet whether American forces will get the same system, or even know to look out for vehicles using it before destroying anything that doesn't have a US flag painted on the side.
I hope they do, as in every recent conflict, American forces have ended up killing British troops.
Even the dubious Fox News reports it (although the story was buried deep, and took a bit of finding):
"Five suspected incidents of "friendly fire" deaths ? involving attacks by U.S. and British troops ? have accounted for as many British fatalities as enemy action in Iraq. "
Funnily enough, I've found no reports of British troops killing US ones. It must be that famous 'British restraint' we hear about.
Posted by Max at April 04, 2003 10:39 AM | TrackbackWe're still probably training our forces to not shoot until they can "see the whites of their eyes". Even the pilots ;)
Posted by: John in Brizzle on April 5, 2003 04:18 PMI'd say it probably has more to do with the number of US soldiers vs the number of UK soldiers involved in the theatre. The chance of any given US contingent causing friendly fire is quite small - the chance of any given UK contingent causing it is even smaller as they are few and far between (although I thought I read they might have been involved in one that killed a reporter, but I'd have to go check).
Posted by: andy on April 6, 2003 02:29 PM