[not_apathetic_anymore]

It sure seems like we hear about friendly fire a lot. I wonder if it's happening more often than in past wars (if so why) or if it's just getting reported more.

I know we can never be perfect with targeting, but it seems like there would be some way to make its occurrence a rare thing.

Prayers for the casualties and for the one pulling the trigger.

[ArneFufkin]

I'd like to teach the world to sing.

[Samurai_Jack]

This investigation will be brutal.

But here are some of the questions that come to mind:

- I hope these Special Forces guys arent thinking they would be able to travel through north western iraq with impugnity?
- Dont they know that there are terrorists travelling by caravan from Iran?
- Arent they calling for authorization to travel this route?
- Didnt the pilot know that there would be a convoy?
- Isnt this the same kinna thing that happened in afghanistan with the canadians?
- Are our pilots too tired?
- Are these people communicating?

[MARTIAL MONK]

As bad as this sounds it is minimal compared to past wars. One statistic that sticks in my mind (was it from Lew Walt?) is that 25% of U.S. casualties in WWII and Korea were from accidents and friendly fire. That's a bunch. It took a lot of headknocking and a lot of unnecessary deaths to get the Generals to coordinate communications between services.

In the past incidents like this took hundreds or even thousands of lives per incident. In many cases it was kept quiet so as not to disturb homefront morale. Improving communication has significantly reduced the problem.