Reuters April 06, 2003
'Friendly fire' plagues U.S., Britain in Iraq war
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Sunday pledged to examine whether changes are needed after a spate of "friendly fire" deaths in the Iraq war, but analysts said the incidents suggest the U.S. military failed to institute needed reforms after many similar tragedies in the 1991 Gulf War.
The latest incident took place on Sunday in northern Iraq when a U.S. warplane attacked a convoy of American special forces and Kurdish fighters near an area recently captured from Iraqi forces not far from the town of Kalak.
"I'm sure the Pentagon is concerned. I just don't think they've done a whole lot. They haven't really taken the steps necessary," said analyst Patrick Garrett of the GlobalSecurity.org defense think tank in Virginia.
Among the string of deadly incidents so far, a U.S. Patriot missile shot down a British Tornado jet, killing two crew members; another Patriot missile may have downed a U.S. F/A-18 Hornet fighter-bomber; and a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle bombed an American artillery position, killing three soldiers.
In addition, a U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt strafed a convoy of British armored vehicles; and two British soldiers died in an exchange of fire between two British Challenger tanks.
"It's not just a U.S. problem. It's a British problem as well," said analyst Mark Burgess of the Center for Defense Information think tank in Washington.
U.S. officials defend their record on "friendly fire."
"We are concerned about any incidents in which there's been a loss of life. And we look at all of those with an eye towards whether there's something that we need to change or improve upon," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
He did not cite any specific changes he thought were needed as a result of the experiences of this war.
"When things like this happen, you do step back and begin to investigate the process, the procedures, the tactics and the techniques. And you begin to look and see if we have hardware or people issues," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, commander of the air war against Iraq.
Whitman noted that while officials do everything they can to minimize risk, war is inherently dangerous, and there is always the risk of "friendly fire" incidents.
"In a modern battlefield, portions of the battle space are enormously complex. And people being people, bad things can happen," Whitman added.
Being killed or wounded mistakenly by troops fighting on the same side of a conflict is an age-old worry.
But some within the military were particularly alarmed after the Gulf War. Of the 148 U.S. troops killed in battle in that war, 35 died as a result of "friendly fire." That means a quarter of American war dead were killed by friendly forces.
TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS
Whitman said the Pentagon has moved since 1991 to improve "situational awareness" on the battlefield, one benefit of which is to let troops know the location of their colleagues to avoid fratricide. He also cited better communications and greater reliance on satellite technology.
Whitman pointed to the advanced digital command-and-control system used by the Army's high-tech 4th Infantry Division as an example of improvements made in "situational awareness." But the division, originally intended to invade northern Iraq through Turkey, has not yet gone into battle in the Iraq war.
Critics also note that the Pentagon in 2001 canceled as too costly an Army program to equip tanks and other military vehicles with electronic devices enabling troops to distinguish U.S. vehicles from those of the enemy. The Army currently is working to develop another similar system along with NATO allies, but it is only in the testing stages.
Garrett said "a software glitch" might explain the problems with the Patriot missile system, but added that technology alone cannot account for all the "friendly fire" incidents.
"The number of obviously negligent instances of friendly fire is really kind of disturbing, especially the story of the U.S. aircraft that attacked the British tanks. The Brits did everything right," Garrett said, adding that he thought there might be "a critical failure in training somewhere."
Burgess said the Pentagon needs to examine the issue of pilot use of energy-boosting amphetamines. These so-called "go pills" were used by the U.S. pilots involved in last year's accidental bombing of Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
"That could be an issue here," Burgess said. "Each incident will have to be investigated for its own peculiarities. But it's out there. It was a worry in Afghanistan. And it will probably be a worry now."
Copyright © 2003, Reuters
