US friendly fire pilots escape charges
The US Air Force has dropped criminal charges against two fighter pilots who mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan last year, killing four.
Harry Schmidt and William Umbach had been charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty and faced up to 64 years in prison if convicted in a court martial.
Lt Gen Bruce Carlson, commander of the Louisiana-based 8th US Air Force, decided that both pilots should receive non-judicial punishment.
Carlson recommended that commanders should decide whether Schmidt, who released the 500lb bomb from an F-16, should be punished for lesser criminal offences, including failure to ensure that the troops he attacked were not allies.
A flying evaluation board also will determine whether Schmidt should be able to fly for the US Air Force again.
The maximum non-judicial punishment for him would be forfeiture of a month’s pay, confinement to quarters for one month and restriction on travel for two months.
Umbach was issued a letter of reprimand. He has requested that he be allowed to retire, and the general recommended that his request be granted.
The two members of the Illinois Air National Guard had been the first pilots to face homicide charges as a result of a friendly fire incident during combat.
Schmidt, 37, blamed the “fog of war” for the mistake, saying he believed he and Umbach, 44, were being ambushed by ground forces.
The pilots said they were never told the Canadians would be conducting live ammunition exercises that night.
Defence lawyers suggested US Air Force-issued amphetamines had clouded the pilots’ judgment.
A joint US-Canadian investigation into the bombing concluded that the pilots were at fault for the deaths, and the head of the probe said they showed “reckless disregard” for standing orders against attacking, ignored briefings about allied troop locations and should have simply flown out of the area.
But a US Air Force judge who presided over a military hearing in January recommended all criminal charges be dropped and that the pilots instead face internal Air Force discipline.
Carlson followed that recommendation.
The case had been closely watched in Canada, where many were outraged by the bombing and the two days it took President George Bush to publicly apologise.
Claire Leger, whose son Sgt Marc Leger died when the powerful explosive detonated next to him, said of the decision, announced last night: “I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.”
Speaking from her home near Ottawa, she said that she wanted both pilots to lose their authorisation to fly.
The April 17, 2002, bombing near Kandahar also killed Pte Richard Green, Cpl Ainsworth Dyer and Pte Nathan Smith. They were the first Canadians to die in combat since the Korean War.
