Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada) June 20, 2003
U.S. pilots exonerated; Families of friendly fire victims bitterly disappointed in decision
By Tim Harper
Two United States military pilots have escaped criminal penalties for their roles in the so-called "friendly fire" deaths of four Canadian soldiers, heaping more heartbreak on the families of the victims who say their quest for justice was not met.
Neither man will likely fly for the U.S. military again following the April 2002 tragedy in Afghanistan. But they will not have to face a tribunal which could have sentenced them to up to 64 years in prison.
The decision, released by the U.S. Air Force yesterday, appears to close a black chapter in Canadian military history, one which not only snuffed out four young lives and left eight other soldiers injured, but also struck a nerve in Canada because of a perceived lack of contrition from American leadership following the incident.
Lieutenant-General Bruce Carlson, the commander of the 8th Air Forces in Barksdale, La., released a decision which backed the recommendation of the officer who presided over a nine-day hearing into the case held last January.
At that time, Colonel Patrick Rosenow ruled that, although there was enough evidence to send the case to a court martial, there was no reasonable expectation that the two men could have been convicted based on what he had heard.
Military analysts and a lawyer for one of the Americans said the tragedy showed there were problems within the Air Force chain-of-command which must be addressed.
By moving the case into the administrative forum and out of the criminal realm, the two Illinois National Guard F-16 pilots escaped what could have been the harshest penalties ever imposed by the American military in such a case.
Major Harry Schmidt, 37, the Top Gun pilot who dropped the fateful, 227-kilogram laser-guided bomb on the Canadians could have faced up to 64 years in prison under a court martial proceeding. Now, he could be docked a month's pay and confined to the base for 30 days.
Canadian Sergeant Marc Leger, Corporal Ainsworth Dyer, Privates Richard Green and Nathan Smith were killed and eight other Canadians injured when Schmidt unleashed his payload as the soldiers took part in a live-fire training drill at an abandoned al-Qaeda base near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Caire Leger, whose son died in the inky blackness so far from home that night, said she was bitterly disappointed in the decision
"(Major Harry Schmidt's) going to be given a month's pay and walk off with a big smile on his face," she said.
His commander, Major William Umbach, 44, flying alongside Schmidt, had been told by an air controller to "hold fire." But 39 seconds later, thinking he was facing incoming fire, Schmidt unleashed his infamous payload.
Umbach will receive a letter of reprimand for his "leadership failures as the lead pilot" and Carlson will recommend that his request to retire from the military be accepted.
Schmidt, who misinterpreted the fire from the ground, will proceed to a non-judicial hearing, known as an Article 15 proceeding.
There he will face allegations that he failed to ensure his target was the enemy, not allies, failed to acknowledge and follow the direction of his flight leader to make sure his target was not a friendly before dropping the fatal bomb and failed to heed a "stand by" order by an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.
They were each facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter, eight charges of aggravated assault and one charge of dereliction of duty.
Schmidt faces the loss of the month's pay, confinement to quarters for 30 days, restriction to specific geographical limit for 60 days and a reprimand. He will also face an evaluation board to determine whether he should again be allowed to fly a U.S. Air Force aircraft.
"I hope steps will be taken by the (U.S) government to compensate the families," said Dave Beck, Umbach's lawyer. "I know we can't bring their loved ones back, but I hope they will try to fix all the problems to lessen the chances of this ever happening again.
"Like all accidents, there is a chain of contributing factors. I think all of those need to be fixed."
An Air Force public affairs outline released with the decision warned about media sensibilities and polarized views of the tragedy on either side of the border.
"Emotional level will be moderate to high among the Canadian and Illinois-St Louis media," the memo says.
"Canada is seeking vindication; Illinois-St Louis are hoping for exoneration."
In the wake of the Canadian deaths, there was no official statement of apology or regret from the United States government and it took two days -- and prodding from a Canadian reporter -- for U.S. President George W. Bush to offer regrets.
In some eyes, the friendly fire tragedy was the catalyst for the ensuing slide in relations between Ottawa and Washington.
The decision for Carlson came down to whether he believed the tragedy was the result of human error or a byproduct of the "fog of war," an all-encompassing phrase used to explain away friendly fire deaths, civilian deaths in precision bombing sorties, erroneous fatality counts, even the much-hyped and ultimately incorrect account of the rescue in Iraq of U.S. prisoner of war Private Jessica Lynch.
In March, Rosenow, who had presided over the pilots' Article 32 military hearing, recommended against the court martial, saying there was not enough evidence against the men to reasonably expect a guilty verdict.
Although Carlson had the power to ignore the recommendation, Rosenow's determination was expected to lead to yesterday's decision.
Beck offered a blanket apology to the Canadians and said his client wanted to speak to the families of the Canadian victims to personally offer his condolences.
"These who lost their lives, those who were injured are heroes," Beck said. "They were over there putting their lives on the lines for freedom for all of us."
He said Umbach and Schmidt have been in "a living nightmare."
"It's tough. Every day for the rest of Bill's life, he has to live with this."
But others pointed to another reason for the light penalty.
"This would appear to be the lightest penalty to the fewest number of people from the lowest rank in the chain of command that it could go," said U.S. military analyst John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org.
"There is a real disinclination here to investigate a chain-of-command failure. If you impose the lightest penalty possible, it eliminates the risk of those penalized screaming bloody murder about the breakdowns above them."
Pike said the families of the Canadian victims have every right to feel puzzled that something of this magnitude could happen without any inquiry into the air force brass. At the January hearing in Louisiana, Umbach showed remorse over the incident.
GRAPHIC: Photo: Jonathan Hayward, the Canadian Press; The decision not to prosecute the two U.S. pilots responsible for the death of their son, Sgt. Marc Leger, did not please his parents, Richard and Caire Leger.; Photo: Hamilton Spectator File Photos; Major Harry Schmidt, left, and Major William Umbach have escaped criminal penalties in the April 2002 friendly fire deaths of four Canadian soldiers.; Photo: Smith; Photo: Green; Photo: Leger; Photo: Dyer
Copyright © 2003, Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
