thedrifter
04-16-07, 08:18 AM
U.K. coroner reopens probe of CH-46 crash
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 16, 2007 8:22:28 EDT
OXFORD, England — A coroner on Monday reopened an inquest into the deaths of eight British service members at the start of the Iraq war, and criticized the U.S. for refusing to cooperate.
The servicemen died when a Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait on March 21, 2003, the second day of the war. Four Marines also died.
A British inquiry concluded that technical failure was responsible for downing the aircraft. But senior British officials rejected that finding and accepted a U.S. investigation which blamed pilot disorientation.
Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker, who has previously criticized U.S. officials, said that his request for American evidence on the helicopter crash had been denied.
He said an infrared tape taken by the air mission command aircraft, which he believed held radio transmissions before and after the crash, had not been made available.
Footage filmed by a crew from Fox News was also being withheld, Walker said.
Philip Spencer, a lawyer for one of the helicopter crash widows, said the U.S. refusal to cooperate was “inexplicable.”
“It gives the impression of a cover-up,” Spencer said.
In a previous clash with U.S. officials, Walker sought a cockpit video capturing an exchange between two American pilots when they realized that a British soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident in Iraq.
Walker agreed to a U.S. government request not to show the video in open court, although the video had already been leaked and broadcast in Britain.
Last month, Walker ruled that the Briton, Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25, was the victim of a criminal assault. The ruling had no immediate legal consequences.
Ellie
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 16, 2007 8:22:28 EDT
OXFORD, England — A coroner on Monday reopened an inquest into the deaths of eight British service members at the start of the Iraq war, and criticized the U.S. for refusing to cooperate.
The servicemen died when a Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed in Kuwait on March 21, 2003, the second day of the war. Four Marines also died.
A British inquiry concluded that technical failure was responsible for downing the aircraft. But senior British officials rejected that finding and accepted a U.S. investigation which blamed pilot disorientation.
Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker, who has previously criticized U.S. officials, said that his request for American evidence on the helicopter crash had been denied.
He said an infrared tape taken by the air mission command aircraft, which he believed held radio transmissions before and after the crash, had not been made available.
Footage filmed by a crew from Fox News was also being withheld, Walker said.
Philip Spencer, a lawyer for one of the helicopter crash widows, said the U.S. refusal to cooperate was “inexplicable.”
“It gives the impression of a cover-up,” Spencer said.
In a previous clash with U.S. officials, Walker sought a cockpit video capturing an exchange between two American pilots when they realized that a British soldier was killed in a friendly fire incident in Iraq.
Walker agreed to a U.S. government request not to show the video in open court, although the video had already been leaked and broadcast in Britain.
Last month, Walker ruled that the Briton, Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25, was the victim of a criminal assault. The ruling had no immediate legal consequences.
Ellie