'I Think They're Rocket Launchers'

Connor, the U.S. military spokeswoman, said an investigation had determined that "appropriate procedures for engaging targets" were followed. She said no disciplinary action was taken against the pilots or other U.S. personnel involved in the incident. None has been publicly identified.

She also said that just before this incident, the two pilots, from the 190th Fighter Squadron of the Idaho Air National Guard, had "engaged enemy targets" nearby.

David Johnson, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in London, said in an interview that the recording makes clear the pilots' reaction of "revulsion and horror" after "this extraordinary tragedy."

Being attacked by one's own forces or allies has always been a problem in warfare, but it has intensified with the technological advances of the last century. An estimated 75,000 French soldiers were killed by their own artillery during World War I, according to the Oxford Companion to Military History. The advent of air power added to the problem: The highest-ranking U.S. casualty of World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie J. McNair, was killed by an American bombing in France.

Just five days before Hull was killed, A-10 fire was mistakenly directed against Marines near the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. A Central Command report a year later said that of the 18 Marines killed, eight were hit by Iraqi fire and it could not be determined conclusively how the others died.

British officials say the mistaken attack near Basra targeted a convoy of five reconnaissance tanks and wounded four soldiers in addition to killing Hull. One soldier in the convoy, Trooper Christopher Finney, was given the British award for gallantry, the George Cross, for pulling a wounded soldier from a burning tank and then, despite being wounded, trying to rescue Hull.

Mike Hull, Matty Hull's grandfather, said in a telephone interview that he believed "some disciplinary action" should have been taken against the U.S. pilots. He said that while it is "disheartening" to watch the video, "it is time the truth came out." The family has said that British officials told them no such video existed.

Matty Hull's wife, Susan, said she was glad the recording was now in the open.

The British Defense Ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying that "there has never been any intention to deliberately deceive or mislead" Hull's family and that it had informed them that "some classified material had been withheld, but we did not specify its exact nature."

Staff writer Thomas E. Ricks in Washington and special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.