For those who didn't watch, here's some of what the neighbor said:
Eldon Anderson is a Vietnam War veteran and neighbor of an Idaho Air National Guard A-10 pilot thought to be involved in a 2003 friendly-fire incident in Iraq that left a British soldier dead. Anderson, interviewed in front of his West Boise home, told ITN television that his neighbor-pilot is a "hero and it's a damn good thing we have heroes like him in the United States to do the fighting that we've got to do against terrorists around the world. And you guys better get on board and that whole damn country of yours along with the rest of Europe.Needless to say, the Brits were somewhat perturbed by the comments (as was Idaho blogger Adam). Now, Idahoans are starting to apologize to the British (as I would if I saw one, given that the Brits did a lot of Nazi-killing and no thumb-sucking in WWII) -- but this could end up causing more problems, given the stereotypical provincialism of some Idahoans. Here's what a Boise city councilman had to say:
"You are going to go merrily sucking your thumb like you did in World War II," Anderson continued. "We don't need your damn help. We need your cooperation, that's all we need out of you guys. It's hard even to get that. We know you can't shoot, move and communicate, but we'd sure as hell like to have your cooperation anyway."
"As a Boise City resident and elected official, I want to personally apologize to the English people for the inane and insensitive remarks given to the British press by Mr. Eldon Anderson regarding the ‘friendly fire' incident in Iraq. ... I can promise you that the people of this fine city are embarrassed by his tirade."There's no word if the city councilman would also personally apologize to the Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish people who are also British who may have been offended.
Bell-ringer 2343 13 February: Here's a video of the follow-up story that has an explanation and apology from Mr. Anderson.
