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Articles: U.S. justice fails Canadian troops

Posted by admin on Thursday, July 08, 2004 - 12:40 AM

Major Harry Schmidt, an elite American military pilot, "flagrantly disregarded a direct order" to hold fire in Afghanistan. Then he dropped a 220 kg. bomb from his F-16 warplane that killed four Canadian soldiers and wounded eight.
He acted "shamefully," with "arrogance." He chose to wage his own private war in defiance of all orders. He never expressed heartfelt remorse. And he lied to excuse his fatal actions. That's how U.S. Air Force Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson summed up the case against Schmidt this week, as he officially reprimanded him for the "friendly fire" bombing on April 17, 2002 when the pilot mistook the Canadians for Taliban fighters. And having rendered this scorching verdict, what penalty did the U.S. military impose? Schmidt loses $5,672 (U.S.) in pay. The reprimand will go on his military record. And he will not fly warplanes again. This is justice, of sorts, but it falls well short of what this case deserved. "Is that what the boy's life is worth? $5,000?" Dyer's mother Agatha asked, voicing the disgust of many Canadians. By any reasonable standard, Schmidt should have faced a jail term. Initially, he and fellow pilot Maj. William Umbach faced tough charges of manslaughter and assault as well as dereliction of duty that could have sent them to prison for 64 years. However, the U.S. military found a "strong" but insufficient case for conviction. So Carlson dropped those charges a year ago. For the military bureaucracy, that was a relief. It avoided a court-martial process in which the pilots' defence lawyers would have tried to discredit flawed command-and-control systems that played a role in the tragedy. Those flaws were glossed over in a Canada/U.S. military probe. In the end, Schmidt and Umbach faced only administrative censure. Umbach accepted a letter of reprimand, and retired. Now Schmidt has been dealt with in like fashion, though he can still serve in the Illinois Air National Guard. Even so, he says he plans to appeal. This is a dismal outcome for Canada/U.S. military relations. All of Carlson's rhetoric notwithstanding, the U.S. Air Force has taken care of its own by opting not to prosecute pilots for recklessly endangering fellow troops. It will hardly reassure Canadian soldiers serving overseas in American-led operations that our allies place much value on our lives. If Canadians are wary of joining such missions, there's reason. For the families of Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green, Sgt. Marc Léger and Pte. Nathan Smith, this is closure, though of a bitter sort. They should know that Canadians honour their sons who died protecting us from Al Qaeda terror, as brave men who loved their country, and who knew their duty. And to the eight Canadian soldiers who emerged from the bombing injured but alive, this nation owes a continuing debt. As for American military justice, it has let down comrades-in-arms in the war on terror.

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