War sucks…….for so many reasons. R.I.P. Lance Cpl. Matty Hull

LONDON - A leaked video in which an American pilot is heard saying “we’re in jail, dude,” after U.S. troops killed a British soldier during a friendly fire incident in Iraq was released by The Sun newspaper Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Matty Hull died when troops fired on his convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on March 28, 2003.

A coroner investigating Hull’s death had demanded the video be released and presented as evidence in the inquest but U.S. authorities refused. The leak means that the material is now in the public domain, his office said Tuesday, suggesting it may be shown when in the inquest resumes Feb. 16.

U.S. military officials conducted their own investigation but the findings have not been made public.

British officials also had asked their U.S. counterparts to release the material to the family but had been rebuffed.

“The main thing to stress is that we have always had a very clear view that what matters is the information should be available to the family and - whilst the Americans cannot be legally obliged to help - they should do so, bearing in mind they are our allies,” said Constitutional Affairs Secretary Harriet Harman, who has had several meetings with officials in the U.S. Embassy.

The defense ministry said it was unable to persuade the U.S. to declassify the footage - a recording British authorities initially claimed did not exist.

The Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday it had not tried to deceive Hull’s family. It said the army’s Board of Inquiry used a copy of the video in its investigation of the incident, but it was U.S. government property and it was not authorized to release it.

Read more at Chron.com

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat as he drove through central Baghdad, officials said Tuesday. Tehran condemned the abduction and blamed U.S. forces in Iraq.

One Iraqi government official also said the diplomat was detained Sunday by a special Iraqi army unit that reports directly to the U.S. military. But a military spokesman denied any U.S. troops or Iraqis that report to them were involved.

“We’ve checked with our units and it was not an MNF-I (Multi-National Forces - Iraq) unit that participated in that event,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said, adding he could not confirm the diplomat was seized.

Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad was seized Sunday by gunmen who “operate under the supervision of the American forces in Iraq,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this aggressive act which is in violation of international law,” IRNA quoted Hosseini as saying. “Iran holds American forces in Iraq responsible for the safety and life of the Iranian diplomat.”

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