What is the meaning of “friendly fire”?
(P. Ramani, Hyderabad) Thanks to the war that is going on in Iraq, we get to hear this expression very often on CNN and BBC. This is an expression mainly used by the military. During the first week of the war, we heard that several American soldiers had been killed in a “friendly fire”. How being shot at or having bombs dropped on you can ever be called “friendly” is beyond me. But when someone dies in a friendly fire what it means is that they were accidentally killed by their own troops! So when a British helicopter gets blown up by the Americans, the soldiers who die are not killed by the enemies, but by friendly fire. But the result is the same they die! *** *** *** “When I was growing up, there were two things that were unpopular in my house. One was me, and the other was my guitar.” Bruce Springsteen S.
