'Communications breakdown' led to Marine's death

Inquest told how British soldiers fired missile at Marines' craft after being told it was enemy vessel
Nishika Patel

A ROYAL Marine was killed by friendly fire in Iraq following a "breakdown of communication", an inquest heard.
Christopher Maddison, 24, of Scarborough, died after his landing craft was hit by a missile fired by British forces on March 30, 2003.
Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Anthony told the hearing in Oxford that there had been a "communications breakdown" when soldiers operating a Milan attack missile were told that two enemy vessels were speeding towards them when they were in fact British Royal Marines.
It was initially thought Marine Maddison was killed by enemy fire, but months after his death, the Ministry of Defence admitted the vessel had been hit by his own side. The Plymouth-based soldier died of shrapnel wounds during the operation on the Al Faw peninsula, near Basra.
Captain Jeremy Waite, who was commanding the unit of four boats sent out to find enemy craft in a waterway, was in the landing craft with Marine Maddison and described the incident as "chaos".
He said: "I remember I
didn't hear a bang, I just remember being thrown across the wheelhouse, blinded in one of my eyes temporarily and could hear a really high pitched scream and a beat in both ears."
He said the boats should have been recognised as friendly, with infrared stripes, a white ensign and white chevrons painted on the outside and were posing no threat to a crossing point operated by the Royal Engineers.
He said: "If you're going to engage someone you need to clearly identify that particular craft, certainly if it's not threatening you."
Corporal John Hiscock, 38, received a Queen's Gallantry Medal for his actions dodging flying bullets to pull three Marines out of the burning wheelhouse and wrest back control of the spinning vessel.
"It was like being in a fish farm," he said. "There were that many rounds coming in that the water was being ripped to pieces around us."
Lt Col Anthony, commanding officer of Marine Maddison's 539 Assault Squadron, said: "We had been working eight to 10 days all on fighting operations. We were tired, and we were tense, there's no doubt about that.
"I think in the communications set-up we had there was clearly a failing at some point between various locations but I also think that people were doing their very best at the time in a very, very confusing situation."
He told the coroner that the Marines had been sent to flush out enemy boats thought to be hiding in marshland on the Khawr Az Zubayr river, close to a British Forces crossing point on the river which had become a key supply route.
He received a report of contact between the Marines and someone using small arms fire. He said he then heard that British forces operating Milan attack missiles had been told over a different radio network that two fast boats were moving towards them.
He said: "Decisions were needing to be made in split seconds."
He added that the boats themselves would have had no way of identifying themselves by radio to the Royal Engineers although operational information had been shared at a briefing the night before, attended by the engineers, who were responsible for knowing whether friendly forces were in the area.
But according to Captain Philip Scott, operations officer for 23 Amphibious Engineers Squadron and in charge of the crossing, he had no prior knowledge of 539 Squadron's plans.
The hearing continues today.

21 November 2006

Ellie