Letter: Questions remain on 'friendly fire' deaths

Sir: May I ask the Minister for the Armed Forces, Nicholas Soames, three supplementaries after his somewhat muffled response (letter, 31 August) to my questions of 30 August in your columns, on the US offer of compensation to the families of the British victims of the helicopter shoot-down in Iraq?

1. Have the US authorities completed their inquiries or not? Mr Soames says they have. You, Sir, (and the International Herald Tribune) report today that they have not. Who is right?

2. Mr Soames says it is 'a matter for the US authorities' whether they prosecute those held to be responsible for the deaths. I asked if the British families will remain entitled to sue the US authorities (or those who may be found guilty in a court martial) if they accept the dollars 100,000. Will the minister now answer that question? It is certainly a matter for the British authorities.

3. That the payments are being offered only to non-US victims' families suggests something may not be quite above board. Why have the offers been made before the decision about the court martials has been taken?

Yours etc,

KENNET

House of Lords

London, SW1

31 August