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LONDON - The widow of a soldier mistakenly killed by a US air strike in Iraq pleaded today for Washington to declassify a page of a US report into his death.
A coroner is reaching the end of an investigation into the death of Lance Corporal Matty Hull, killed by a US air strike in March 2003 after pilots mistook orange panels on British vehicles for Iraqi missile launchers.
The case has exposed apparent differences in the two allies' procedures, and provoked indignation in Britain.
A US probe exonerated the American pilots, but a British military board of inquiry concluded that procedures were not followed because the pilots did not seek clearance from ground controllers before opening fire.
Both the family and the coroner have complained that Washington has withheld evidence needed to work out precisely what happened.
Coroner Andrew Walker suspended the inquest when Washington initially refused to allow him to see a cockpit video of the incident, but the inquest resumed after a copy of the video was leaked to the Sun newspaper and Washington later released it.
Widow Susan Hull said a single page of the transcript of the US inquiry into Hull's death had also been blacked out, and asked Bush to release it before the inquest closed.
Speaking to reporters, she said she had met Bush in 2003.
"He asked me if there was anything he could help with and assured me that he would do all he could to help. US President George W. Bush, this is the last day you can help us. We ask that you give the coroner just one single page," she said.
"To US President George W. Bush and the US Government -- we implore you to release the 11 lines and let the coroner have these today, so that our family can feel more satisfied with the transparency of this inquest."
- REUTERS
