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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject: Friendly Fire, Pentagon Cover Up? |
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I don't know, I haven't read the book (yet, and I sure as hell won't pay for it- I'll wait until the library has a copy).
Plausible enough though, I suppose, but of course the flip side is he has a lot of incentive to find somebody else to blame... as does the Pentagon.
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'Friendly fire' pilot's book released
Friday, October 28, 2005 Posted at 3:57 PM EDT
Associated Press
The U.S. fighter pilot who dropped the bomb that killed four Canadian soldiers three years ago says he's the fall guy in a Pentagon cover-up aimed at hiding a dysfunctional command-and-control system.
In a new book, Major Harry Schmidt, who has been assigned to desk duty for the balance of his air force career, is quoted as saying the whole incident would have been shoved under the carpet had it involved U.S. troops instead of Canadians.
In Friendly Fire: The Untold Story, author and journalist Michael Friscolanti said the air force realized soon after the air strike southwest of Kandahar that its entire command-and-control system could be opened to scrutiny.
In the first extensive interview with the F-16 pilot since the April 18, 2002, incident, Mr. Friscolanti says Maj. Schmidt believes a cover-up was the only way the military could protect the status quo going into the Iraq war.
"I think I'm a victim of the fact that it was an international accident," Maj. Schmidt told him, adding it would have been the same if the victims were Danish or French or anyone else in the U.S.-led coalition.
The Pentagon could have kept the whole thing relatively quiet if the troops taking part in the live-fire exercise that night were Americans.
But, given that they were Canadians, U.S. generals had two options, Mr. Friscolanti writes: admit their command-and-control structure was severely flawed or find a scapegoat.
"You're going to put America's command-and-control structure on trial?" Schmidt said during a series of interviews. "It's not going to happen.
"My situation is not unique as far as the accident is concerned," Maj. Schmidt adds. "The circumstances are what's unique, and that's what ended up burying me. They didn't want to fix the problem. They wanted to fix the blame."
Private Richard Green, Pte. Nathan Smith, Corporal Ainsworth Dyer and Sergeant Marc Leger were killed in the air strike. Eight other members of Edmonton's 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry were wounded.
U.S. air force officials had no idea the Canadians were conducting a live-fire exercise near their base that night, even though the Canadians informed proper American authorities.
Mr. Friscolanti writes they had never even heard of Tarnak Puhl, the former al-Qaeda training centre where the exercise took place.
Maj. Schmidt, a veteran pilot, was convicted in July 2004 of dereliction of duty. He was reprimanded, lost a month's pay and barred from flying U.S. air force jets again.
He now serves as a logistics officer with the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield, Ill., counting the days until his retirement in 2007.
Maj. Schmidt and his wingman, Maj. Bill Umbach of the Illinois National Guard, thought they were being fired upon.
"The bottom line is I pushed the button," Maj. Schmidt said. "So if you want to look at the fault, I'm the one who did this.
"However, if you backtrack to the point of why I did this, I did this in accordance with the rules of engagement and the command-and-control structure that I was working under."
Maj. Schmidt says he would talk to the families of the dead soldiers if they asked him to, adding that until now his lawyers have told him to keep his mouth shut.
"I can tell them that I'm terribly sorry that the accident happened," he said. "I can't even begin to feel their pain.
"I don't take it lightly, and I just truly hope that in their heart of hearts they understand that it was an accident, that it was nothing malicious.
"There was no glory involved in that. There is no glory in war. Glory is what historians make of wartime acts. You don't think of that while you're out there in the heat of the moment." |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051028.wffire1028/BNStory/National/ |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Thats a nice article but anyone that knows about military culture is not surprised. They don't celebrate disasters and the higher ups have progressed by pushing others in front of them. Even the coalition concept is to blame. Coalitions bring their own dynamic liabilities as well. Yes it stinks. What did you expect? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| dulouz wrote: |
| What did you expect? |
Accountability.
A sign that lessons have been learned and processes changed.
And you? |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| There is accountability, the guy that dropped the bomb got nailed. What else do you want? I bet you really want GWB. Thats not gonna happen. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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GWB? I might want it if I knew what the hell it was...
Bush?
I'm going to blame Bush for a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan?
Are you feeble-minded or something?
There are a whole of things to nail Bush for, things that he deserves to be nailed for, without pinning wierd stuff on him. |
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EFLtrainer
Joined: 04 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 4:31 am Post subject: |
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| dulouz wrote: |
| There is accountability, the guy that dropped the bomb got nailed. What else do you want? I bet you really want GWB. Thats not gonna happen. |
If, as he says, the accident was not due to his decsions, or he acted completely correctly given the information and orders he had, then he is not responsible. It would then be command-and-control in error. That is not accountability, that is cover-up. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 7:15 pm Post subject: |
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Are you feeble-minded or something?
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Is this an example of a rhetorical question? |
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