Posted on 12/20/2015 6:14:55 AM PST by Timber Rattler
The American airstrike that may have killed a number of Iraqi soldiers on Friday seems to be "a mistake that involved both sides," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday. He called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to the USS Kearsarge in the Persian Gulf, Carter said the incident near the western Iraqi city of Fallujah was "regrettable."
"These kinds of things happen when you're fighting side by side as we are," Carter said. He said the airstrike Friday "has all the indications of being a mistake of the kind that can happen on a dynamic battlefield."
Carter, who spent two days in Iraq this past week, called Abadi from the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship supporting coalition missions in Iraq and Syria against militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The Kearsarge carries a Marine expeditionary unit and naval aircraft.
The Pentagon chief did not provide details about the airstrike, which the U.S. military headquarters in charge of the war effort in Syria and Iraq said was one of several it conducted Friday against ISIS targets. A U.S. military statement said the airstrikes came in response to requests and information provided by Iraqi security forces on the ground near Fallujah, which is in ISIS control, and were done in coordination with Iraqi forces.
CBS Radio News correspondent Cami McCormick reports that a senior U.S. defense official said that although an investigation was in its early stages the incident was likely due to the "fog of war" and actual fog. The official indicated that bad weather could have been a factor in the incident.
"The folks on the ground who we were communicating with were closer to the targeting area than we understood," the official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
The UN passes a resolution about the Paleostinian Arab's sandal, right?
What a friggin’ double standard the West has regarding the VERY moral IDF...stop the douible-standard world, every Army makes mistakes.
Some like the IDF go WAY OUT OF THEIR WAY to avoid civilian casualties or friendly fire, yet the US, Russia and every other nation can get away with murder and “accidents”...
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