Report: U.S. deaths in drone strike due to miscommunication

[chill_wind]

U.S. deaths in drone strike due to miscommunication, report says

The Pentagon says Marines in Afghanistan and the crew controlling the drone in Nevada were unaware analysts watching the firefight via live video in Indiana had doubts about the targets' identity.

By David Zucchino and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times

October 14, 2011, 9:15 p.m.

Reporting from Washington—

A Marine and a Navy medic killed by a U.S. drone airstrike were targeted when Marine commanders in Afghanistan mistook them for Taliban fighters, even though analysts watching the Predator's video feed were uncertain whether the men were part of an enemy force.

Those are the findings of a Pentagon investigation of the first known case of friendly fire deaths involving an unmanned aircraft, the April 6 attack that killed Marine Staff Sgt. Jeremy Smith, 26, and Navy Hospitalman Benjamin D. Rast, 23.

The 381-page report, which has not been released, concludes that the Marine officers on the scene and the Air Force crew controlling the drone from half a world away were unaware that analysts watching the firefight unfold via live video at a third location had doubts about the targets' identity.

(snip)

The analysts in Indiana told investigators that they did not believe they should intervene to block an airstrike if U.S. troops were possibly in danger, even if they had doubts about the targets.

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/afghanistan/la-fg-pentagon-drone-20111014,0,6272924,full.story

[RC]

1. At least they still notify the next of kin that their father, son, mother, daughter was accidentally

blown up. You know, shit happens in war. They could of been killed by the local enemy. That they weren't is good, right? :sarcasm:

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[Hydra]

3. It may be the first(I doubt it)

But it will certainly not be the last.