British coroner says U.S. authorities will now allow inquest to see 'friendly fire' video

(AP) The United States has agreed to release a classified cockpit video showing the dismayed reaction of two American pilots after they killed a British soldier during a friendly fire incident in Iraq, a spokesman for the coroner said Tuesday.

In the video, a U.S. pilot is heard saying "I'm going to be sick," then "we're in jail, dude," after firing on the British convoy in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on March 28, 2003. Lance Cpl. Matty Hull was killed.

The U.S. military had previously refused to release the video to Hull's family, despite requests by British government officials and the coroner investigating the death. The video was leaked and published Tuesday by The Sun newspaper.

As a result, the U.S. had decided the video "can be shown to the coroner and the family in the presence of someone from the (Ministry of Defense)," coroner's officer Geoff Webb said.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. military's own investigation concluded that the firing was accidental; that the pilots "followed the procedures and processes for engaging targets," and that as a result no disciplinary action was taken against them.

British authorities initially claimed the recording 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.

The pilot can be heard in the cockpit trying to establish whether targets on the ground are coalition forces or insurgents.

One man asserts that orange panels on the vehicles could mean they are coalition forces _ most are equipped with bright markers to prevent such incidents.

Another man is heard saying the orange markers look like rockets.

"I think killing these damn rocket launchers, it would be great," a man on the recording is heard saying.

Two U.S. A-10 jets allegedly opened fire on Hull's tank, which was part of five-vehicle convoy engaged in combat outside of Basra. Four other soldiers were injured, including the convoy's leader, Capt. Alexander MacEwen.

The convoy _ three British Scorpion tanks and two engineering vehicles _ had come to a halt at the edge of a shantytown near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The soldiers were being approached by a crowd of civilians carrying a white flag when they were attacked.

The transcript printed in The Sun records the alleged exchange between the pilots after they realize what has happened.

Pilot 1: "I'm going to be sick."

Pilot 2: "Ah f---."

Pilot 1: "Did you hear?"

Pilot 2: "Yeah, this sucks."

Pilot 1: "We're in jail, dude."

The other pilot then weeps, according to the transcript.

The Defense Ministry said when the army told the family the findings of its investigation, "we did inform them that some classified material had been withheld, but we did not specify its exact nature."

The coroner investigating Hull's death has adjourned the inquest until Feb. 16.