U.S. Stiffs Brits in Friendly Fire Investigation

The British government is taking aim at the U.S. military for its role in covering up the 2003 friendly-fire death of a British solider in Iraq. A coroner’s report Friday ruled Lance Cpl. Matty Hull’s death at the hands of American pilots avoidable—and criminal—but the U.S. refuses to release the full military report on the incident.

The coroner's inquest revealed a tragedy of errors leading up to the American attack on a British convoy. "Things were not checked, the coordinates were not checked, identification of the British armored convoy was not checked, and if this had been checked in such a way as the rules of engagement state that they should be, then this could have been entirely avoidable," the coroner said. (More Iraq stories.)