UK coroner attacks US Defence Department

[Judi Lynn]

Source: AAP

UK coroner attacks US Defence Department
22:26 AEST Wed Oct 22 2008 ago
By Belinda Tasker

An English coroner has attacked the US Defence Department for banning two soldiers from giving evidence at an inquest into the death of the first Australian serviceman killed in Iraq.

Two US Army soldiers saw the Hercules transport plane carrying Victorian flight commander Paul Pardoel shot down by insurgents near Baghdad in January 2005, killing all 10 people on board.

~snip~
Written statements by the two soldiers provided to the inquest described how they saw the Hercules aircraft hit by a massive fireball fired from the ground and then explode mid-air, shortly after it took off from Baghdad International Airport on January 30, 2005.

Mr Masters branded the US Defence Department "unhelpful" for not allowing the soldiers to be questioned at the inquest because they were the only two witnesses to the tragedy, aside from one Iraqi farmer.


Read more: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=651712