THERE’S A GOOD, CRITICAL POST ON “FRIENDLY FIRE” INCIDENTS over at Samizdata, suggesting that the British are beginning to get a bit peeved at what they see as American nonresponsiveness to their concerns.

It’s true, of course, that “shit happens” in combat, but the fact that so many of these incidents involve British troops suggests to me that there’s a systematic communications problem that needs to be addressed here. Either that, or American troops are experiencing even more of these incidents (as their proportionate numbers would suggest) and we’re just not hearing about that. I doubt that’s the case, but if it is, then there’s a really big systematic communications problem.

Either way, there’s a genuine management problem that needs to be resolved. And the concerns of the British need to be listened to very carefully, very respectfully, and very politely since they’re, you know, our best allies and everything.

UPDATE: A reader points out that one reason why “friendly fire” losses loom so large in this war is that they’re a major fraction of total losses — because the Iraqis, so far, have been unable to kill very many coalition people. If Iraq were downing allied aircraft by the dozens, and blowing up tanks by the scores, we’d barely notice these events.

That’s true, I suppose — it’s neck and neck between “enemy action” and “accidents” as a cause of death for our guys, and that’s a good thing. But nonetheless, the British have been superb allies in a trying time, and they’re doing a terrific job. We owe them every consideration.