Death in Basra: the British under siege

[cal04]

A single shot, two hours of confusion. Our correspondent reports from southern Iraq
It was either remarkable marksmanship or a fluke.

Private Craig Barber was killed by a single shot through a crack in the driver’s hatch of his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle, open against the sweltering heat of the Basra night. He died immediately, hit in the head.

But because the Warrior had its engine running and the vehicle was stationary, no one realised that he had been killed. It was a further quarter of an hour before Private Barber’s Warrior commander gave word to move and, puzzled by his driver’s silence, jumped down to see what had befallen him.

(snip)
Once regarded as the model for post-invasion Iraq, Basra is now a logistical nightmare where even the simplest operation can turn deadly and soldiers frequently have to fight their way home. Private Barber, who was on his second tour of duty in Iraq with 2nd Battalion, The Royal Welsh, was due to return to South Wales within days to celebrate his first wedding anniversary with his wife Donna and son Bradley, 3.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2224987.ece

[msongs]

1. Another notch in the belts of Bush and the US Congress & Tony Blair nt

[Kagemusha]

2. I could tell these were Brits at paragraph 2, not because of hte Warrior AFV,

but because they were standing still.

Americans would never have done that, for fear of exactly this happening... whether fluke or remarkable marksmanship.

The thing is, if it was a fluke, er, why didn't they notice being shot at, if it was more than a single shot? Curious.