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Widow of British friendly fire victim appeals to Bush

"To President Bush ... we implore you to release the 11 lines ... so that our family can feel more satisfied with the transparency of this inquest."

Susan Hull, widow of Lance Corporal Matty Hull

The widow of a British soldier killed by US pilots in a friendly-fire incident in Iraq begged US President George W. Bush on Thursday to help her find out the truth of the circumstances that led to her husband's death.

Susan Hull, 30, whose husband, Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull, was killed in March 2003, said that when she met Bush on a visit to Westminster Abbey some months after the death, he told her he would do all he could to help the investigations into the attack on her husband's convoy by two A10 Warthog planes.

The coroner at the inquest into the soldier's death has become increasingly infuriated by the US refusal to assist his inquiry. He has repeatedly called for cooperation.

On Thursday, he condemned the behavior of the US as "appalling."

Mrs Hull believes it is crucial that the coroner sees key passages in the US Friendly Fire Investigation Board Report which have been blanked out.

"The coroner has asked twice for this document. He still does not have it. We have 1,110 lines of evidence from this document -- but 11 are blanked out. To President Bush and the US government, we implore you to release the 11 lines and let the coroner have these today, so that our family can feel more satisfied with the transparency of this inquest," she said standing on the steps at the court in Oxford on Thursday beside her husband's parents.

The family believes that the deleted lines relate to an interview with a US air controller -- code-named Manila Hotel -- who was in radio contact with the pilots of the two aircraft. He was reported to have been stunned when he learned that the A10s had fired on a coalition convoy.
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