With 20:20 hindsight we now know some things that anyone mounting such a mission could not. What I find most disturbing about this case is that for over 48 hours it was generally given that insurgents had let off a vest bomb and the hostage was killed. Surely the moment that grenade was thrown and people were found dead the truth was more obvious? Why the story about the vest bomb?

Now I can accept that in some blind battle panic and with mayhem going on all around that someone maybe can pull the wrong type of thing off their kit and throw it. It's not what is supposed to happen but I imagine it could. It's not good, but I can hardly judge a situation I have never been in nor, heaven hope, ever will be. But why the smokescreen story before the truth be known? Those parents must have been devastated and now have had to deal with a double body blow. What this hostage has done and achieved deserves the highest level investigation to get to the real truth so that something like this cannot happen again. Whatever happened is one thing. How it has been handled since it happened entirely another.

They have shown great reserve and dignity in keeping their comments until later and maybe we should too until the truth - and the whole truth - is known.

She was one of our own. We have probably the most respected special ops troops in the world. My own feelings is that it should have been them who tried the rescue. Judgement over what has happened and what went wrong will come from a far higher authority than any of us. The truth would be a good place to start on that process...

mp