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Well its almost over....any minute now the military hearing to decide the fates of the two pilots who mistakenly bombed 4 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will be over.
I am thankful that there at least has been an attempt to offer answers to the families and to the Canadian people for what happened. There are hundreds of other members of the military killed per year in strange circumstances and rarely do those incidents get the luxury of a high profile military trial.
Anger, resentment, feelings of outrage....everything that I felt towards those pilots who snuffed out the lives of 4 Canadians who had the rest of their lives to live.
I am satisfied with the apologies the pilots have offered and as a Canadian, I accept them. I hope the familes of the soldiers killed also accept them. I also understand the grief the pilots must be going through...as one of them said..."Since the seventeenth of April, not a day has passed that I have not thought of that night,"
It was a horrible and tragic mistake that was beyond the responsibility of any one person. The responsibility for this tragedy was beyond individual control and lies with the forces that brought both the Canadians and Americans to that specific point in time.
I find it amazing how quick these two pilots have become scape goats for the military.... and now that we've heard BOTH sides, rather than just the medias skewed vision, it is clear that those two American pilots may end up taking the fall....
"If found guilty of all charges, each pilot could face 64 years in prison."....shouldnt that also apply to the officers in charge of the mission? How about the president who ordered those pilots to go to Afghanistan...should he also be charged? Just some food for thought....
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U.S. pilots ask for forgiveness
'If I could turn back time, I would,' Major William Umbach, right, said Thursday. His wingman, Major Harry Schmidt, also expressed remorse. Photos: AP
'I appreciate your apologies, and they are accepted. They are very much appreciated and very much needed,' Marley Léger, widow of Sergeant Marc Léger, said after the hearing. Photo: Jessica Leigh/AP
By MIRO CERNETIG
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Barksdale Air Force Base, La. ? Hands shaking as they tried to avoid courts-martial for the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, two U.S. F-16 fighter pilots apologized publicly Thursday for the first time, asking for forgiveness but defending their decision to drop a 225-kilgoram bomb on troops they mistook for enemies trying to shoot them down.
"Since the 17th of April, not a day has passed that I have not thought of that night, in the sky, in the darkness and all that has happened since," Major William Umbach, the 37-year-old commander of the ill-fated combat mission, said on the final day of the military hearing into the friendly fire deaths.
"If I could turn back time, I would," he said, standing in his dress uniform, his shoulders held back. "But since I cannot, I want you to know that I am truly sorry."
He added that he and his wingman, Major Harry Schmidt, "were doing our best to protect ourselves in a situation where we honestly believed we were under attack."
The 47-year-old Major Schmidt, who released the laser-guided bomb that hit a unit of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, then strode to the witness stand to express his remorse.
Occasionally stumbling over his words, he said in an often-tremulous voice that he did what he thought was right when he mistook the night-time muzzle flashes from the Canadians as anti-aircraft fire directed at Major Umbach's jet.
"I was called upon to make a perfect decision in a rapidly unfolding combat environment," the veteran pilot, wearing his service decorations, said with his head bowed. "I had to make that decision with what I now know with the acuity of 20/20 hindsight, was imperfect information."
Emerging red-eyed and with their arms around each other, most of the Canadian family members who had travelled to this Louisiana Air Force base to observe the hearing accepted the apologies.
"I would just like to say thank you," said Marley Léger, wiping tears away, as the sun set behind her and the other families. Her husband, Marc, 29, was one of the four Canadians killed.
"I appreciate your apologies, and they are accepted. They are very much appreciated and very much needed," she said to the pilots through reporters.
But Claire Léger, Marc's mother, expressed disappointment with one of the pilots.
"Major Umbach, I thought, was very sincere," Mrs. Léger said. "Major Schmidt, I have to say, I felt he was offering a defence of himself, first. I know his job's on the line, but those are our sons' lives on the line. I'm sorry."
It was an unexpected finale to an extraordinary nine-day hearing; the event offered glimpses into the errors and fears that contributed to the tragedy that strained relations between the United States and Canada and embarrassed the U.S. Air Force.
The defence lawyers entered evidence Thursday that U.S. fighter pilots in Afghanistan were terrified of being shot down and tortured, after a Special Forces soldier plunged from a crippled helicopter in a pitched battle and was killed by Taliban troops.
"You have to keep in mind," F-16 pilot Lieutenent-Colonel Mark Coan says in written expert testimony, "that we all knew what happened to the Special Forces operator who was tortured and killed while the Predator [unmanned aircraft] videotaped the whole thing. What's going to be in your mind is that you're going to be tortured or killed."
As U.S. military lawyers aggressively mounted their case to have both pilots face courts-martial for manslaughter, dereliction of duty and aggravated assault, senior commanders' testimony condemned their troops.
The military's star witness was Brigadier-General Stephen Sargeant, who co-wrote the investigation report into the incident and recommended the pilots be charged.
Rarely looking at the pilots, he spent two days of testimony repeatedly chastising both for breaking the rules of engagement, showing "reckless disregard" and flying into danger that they should and could have avoided.
The only point the general conceded is that Major Schmidt had made so many errors that by the time he was over the Canadians, he might have believed ? incorrectly ? that he needed to act in self-defence.
The two pilots, however, had the last word. A hush fell over the hearing room when Major Umbach read the names of the four Canadians killed and the eight wounded who were taking part in a nighttime target practice the pilots were never told about.
"I hope and pray for your understanding and forgiveness," he said, "and that all of the factors that contributed to this tragedy will be made known and fixed so that neither pilots, nor their brave brothers in arms on the ground, are ever in this situation again."
The pilots' defence team attempted to portray their clients as two heroes who were being turned into scapegoats to shield senior commanders from being blamed for command mistakes. They offered evidence that communication delays and poor maps had created "the fog of war," keeping the pilots from knowing the Canadians were below.
Investigating officer Colonel Patrick Rosenow must consider all of the information to recommend whether the charges against the pilots should go to courts-martial, be waived or be handled administratively.
Eighth Air Force commander Lieutenant-General Bruce Carlson will decide what to do with the recommendation, a decision that could take several months.
If found guilty of all charges, each pilot could face 64 years in prison.
Well its almost over....any minute now the military hearing to decide the fates of the two pilots who mistakenly bombed 4 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan will be over.
I am thankful that there at least has been an attempt to offer answers to the families and to the Canadian people for what happened. There are hundreds of other members of the military killed per year in strange circumstances and rarely do those incidents get the luxury of a high profile military trial.
Anger, resentment, feelings of outrage....everything that I felt towards those pilots who snuffed out the lives of 4 Canadians who had the rest of their lives to live.
I am satisfied with the apologies the pilots have offered and as a Canadian, I accept them. I hope the familes of the soldiers killed also accept them. I also understand the grief the pilots must be going through...as one of them said..."Since the seventeenth of April, not a day has passed that I have not thought of that night,"
It was a horrible and tragic mistake that was beyond the responsibility of any one person. The responsibility for this tragedy was beyond individual control and lies with the forces that brought both the Canadians and Americans to that specific point in time.
I find it amazing how quick these two pilots have become scape goats for the military.... and now that we've heard BOTH sides, rather than just the medias skewed vision, it is clear that those two American pilots may end up taking the fall....
"If found guilty of all charges, each pilot could face 64 years in prison."....shouldnt that also apply to the officers in charge of the mission? How about the president who ordered those pilots to go to Afghanistan...should he also be charged? Just some food for thought....
*******************
U.S. pilots ask for forgiveness
'If I could turn back time, I would,' Major William Umbach, right, said Thursday. His wingman, Major Harry Schmidt, also expressed remorse. Photos: AP
'I appreciate your apologies, and they are accepted. They are very much appreciated and very much needed,' Marley Léger, widow of Sergeant Marc Léger, said after the hearing. Photo: Jessica Leigh/AP
By MIRO CERNETIG
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Barksdale Air Force Base, La. ? Hands shaking as they tried to avoid courts-martial for the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, two U.S. F-16 fighter pilots apologized publicly Thursday for the first time, asking for forgiveness but defending their decision to drop a 225-kilgoram bomb on troops they mistook for enemies trying to shoot them down.
"Since the 17th of April, not a day has passed that I have not thought of that night, in the sky, in the darkness and all that has happened since," Major William Umbach, the 37-year-old commander of the ill-fated combat mission, said on the final day of the military hearing into the friendly fire deaths.
"If I could turn back time, I would," he said, standing in his dress uniform, his shoulders held back. "But since I cannot, I want you to know that I am truly sorry."
He added that he and his wingman, Major Harry Schmidt, "were doing our best to protect ourselves in a situation where we honestly believed we were under attack."
The 47-year-old Major Schmidt, who released the laser-guided bomb that hit a unit of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, then strode to the witness stand to express his remorse.
Occasionally stumbling over his words, he said in an often-tremulous voice that he did what he thought was right when he mistook the night-time muzzle flashes from the Canadians as anti-aircraft fire directed at Major Umbach's jet.
"I was called upon to make a perfect decision in a rapidly unfolding combat environment," the veteran pilot, wearing his service decorations, said with his head bowed. "I had to make that decision with what I now know with the acuity of 20/20 hindsight, was imperfect information."
Emerging red-eyed and with their arms around each other, most of the Canadian family members who had travelled to this Louisiana Air Force base to observe the hearing accepted the apologies.
"I would just like to say thank you," said Marley Léger, wiping tears away, as the sun set behind her and the other families. Her husband, Marc, 29, was one of the four Canadians killed.
"I appreciate your apologies, and they are accepted. They are very much appreciated and very much needed," she said to the pilots through reporters.
But Claire Léger, Marc's mother, expressed disappointment with one of the pilots.
"Major Umbach, I thought, was very sincere," Mrs. Léger said. "Major Schmidt, I have to say, I felt he was offering a defence of himself, first. I know his job's on the line, but those are our sons' lives on the line. I'm sorry."
It was an unexpected finale to an extraordinary nine-day hearing; the event offered glimpses into the errors and fears that contributed to the tragedy that strained relations between the United States and Canada and embarrassed the U.S. Air Force.
The defence lawyers entered evidence Thursday that U.S. fighter pilots in Afghanistan were terrified of being shot down and tortured, after a Special Forces soldier plunged from a crippled helicopter in a pitched battle and was killed by Taliban troops.
"You have to keep in mind," F-16 pilot Lieutenent-Colonel Mark Coan says in written expert testimony, "that we all knew what happened to the Special Forces operator who was tortured and killed while the Predator [unmanned aircraft] videotaped the whole thing. What's going to be in your mind is that you're going to be tortured or killed."
As U.S. military lawyers aggressively mounted their case to have both pilots face courts-martial for manslaughter, dereliction of duty and aggravated assault, senior commanders' testimony condemned their troops.
The military's star witness was Brigadier-General Stephen Sargeant, who co-wrote the investigation report into the incident and recommended the pilots be charged.
Rarely looking at the pilots, he spent two days of testimony repeatedly chastising both for breaking the rules of engagement, showing "reckless disregard" and flying into danger that they should and could have avoided.
The only point the general conceded is that Major Schmidt had made so many errors that by the time he was over the Canadians, he might have believed ? incorrectly ? that he needed to act in self-defence.
The two pilots, however, had the last word. A hush fell over the hearing room when Major Umbach read the names of the four Canadians killed and the eight wounded who were taking part in a nighttime target practice the pilots were never told about.
"I hope and pray for your understanding and forgiveness," he said, "and that all of the factors that contributed to this tragedy will be made known and fixed so that neither pilots, nor their brave brothers in arms on the ground, are ever in this situation again."
The pilots' defence team attempted to portray their clients as two heroes who were being turned into scapegoats to shield senior commanders from being blamed for command mistakes. They offered evidence that communication delays and poor maps had created "the fog of war," keeping the pilots from knowing the Canadians were below.
Investigating officer Colonel Patrick Rosenow must consider all of the information to recommend whether the charges against the pilots should go to courts-martial, be waived or be handled administratively.
Eighth Air Force commander Lieutenant-General Bruce Carlson will decide what to do with the recommendation, a decision that could take several months.
If found guilty of all charges, each pilot could face 64 years in prison.
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