Posted on 01/16/2003 7:01:55 AM PST by Clive
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Officials in charge of air operations in Afghanistan did not have enough time to do anything to protect Canadian soldiers killed in an accidental bombing, a member of the team testified yesterday.
Col. Larry Stutzriem was part of the Coalition Air Operations Centre, or CAOC, based in Saudi Arabia last April 18 when he heard a distressing transmission over the radio.
Stutzriem said he heard an air controller advising a U.S. pilot to hold fire while they checked into reported surface-to-air fire.
The pilot, Maj. Harry Schmidt, was requesting permission to use a 20-mm cannon on ground forces he thought were attacking him and his lead pilot, Maj. William Umbach.
"Then right after that, there was a call from the AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) that the air crews had declared self-defence," Stutzriem said at a hearing looking into the friendly fire deaths of four Canadians.
"There was nothing CAOC could do for them, nothing there to start the process."
Less than three minutes elapsed between Schmidt first seeing the ground fire and his dropping a 225-kilogram laser-guided bomb on the Canadian forces conducting live-fire training exercises near Kandahar.
CHILLING DETAIL
Two video displays portrayed in chilling detail the final seconds before Schmidt deployed the bomb.
As he passed over the training site at an undisclosed altitude, Schmidt said he saw men on a road below. After asking to fire on them, he is told by a controller to "just make sure that it's not friendlies."
Seconds later, he says he thinks the troops are firing on him and Umbach, who is flying alongside in another F-16.
Schmidt makes a decision and, breathing heavily, says "I am rolling in, in self-defence." Then, "bombs away, breaking left."
A large plume of white smoke is seen on the infrared images as the bomb explodes on the Canadians below.
Controllers on the AWACS plane respond almost immediately with a haunting message: "Disengage. Friendlies, Kandahar."
Schmidt complies, but then asks, "Can you confirm that they were shooting at us?"
Stutzriem, who was stationed at the Prince Sultan Air Base, said the request to fire on the ground troops was "extremely unusual, something you wouldn't expect" at night.
Stutzriem said the air crew "was in complete control of the situation," implying the pilots should have relied on more instruction from the controllers.
Families of some of the dead Canadian soldiers watched the video via closed-circuit TV in a room on this base in Bossier City, La. They were not available for comment.
Defence lawyers said they would respond to Stutzriem's testimony today.
PILOTS CHARGED
The pilots have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty. The hearing will determine if there is enough evidence to court martial them.
The two pilots maintain a communications breakdown left the air crew unaware of the coalition training exercise.
The soldiers, all members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were using mostly small arms to practise on targets on the range once used by al-Qaida terrorist forces.
The six-member legal team defending the pilots argue the ground flashes and airborne fire made the pilots believe they were being attacked.
Military lawyers showed a still picture of grainy video footage taken from Umbach's cockpit that displayed Schmidt locking on the men as they practised below.
Cpl. Brett Perry, who was involved in the anti-tank exercise, started searching the arid terrain for survivors. He came across the bodies of Sgt. Marc Leger, Pte. Nathan Smith and Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, but realized someone was missing.
The area, a rock-strewn expanse, was so dark that he "tripped over Pte. (Richard) Green," who was thrown from the blast.
Schmidt and Umbach could face up to 64 years in prison if the case goes to a court martial and they are convicted.
It's like the cop that shots and kills an armed robber, only to find out the robber only had a water pistol. How was he to know before hand, the threat was perceived to be real at the time and training kicked in for survival.
We push our pilots and other combat troops to be the best at what they do. We work and train them for long hours each day and pump them up mentally as we increase movements to prepare for war against Iraq and Afghanistan. Charging these pilots with a crime is a crime within itself.
Why weren't they briefed of the Canadian presence ahead of time? Someone else dropped the ball on this point, and those responsible for that minor piece of briefing material should be the one's held accountable for dereliction of duty.
This politicization of events happening during a war is a dangerous thing. It will have an effect on our pilots and other troops morale.
If I were a pilot flying patrols and I feel that I am taking enemy fire, the last thing I should have to do is to call in, ask for permission to engage (especially when engaged in a war) and then wait for permission to come back. Certainly the article indicates that less than two minutes elapsed between the first call and the second call to notify command that they took "defensive" action.
Exactly how long does it take for a SAM to lock on and take you out while you wait for permission to engage?
The story reports what went on during the days' proceedings.
The proceedings are taking place in the United States, it was United States officers testifying before a United States board, playing radio traffic between United States fighter pilots and a United States AWACS and showing United States fighter gun camera tapes.
Don't try to make this a Canadian witch hunt. If anything, I am hearing more sympathy for the pilots from the casualties and their relatives than I am hearing from US media and US military personnel.
Tarnak farm wasn't just picked ad hoc by the Patricias so that they could hear their weapons go rat-tat-tat.
It was a pre designated and continually used live fire training area used mainly by US forces, principally the 101st. It was near Kandahar and the Lord Strathcona Horse had been making patrols that showed no sign of organized Taliban irregulars in the vicinity.
The existance of this training area had to have been, at the very least, te subject of a NOTAM.
This is not an international incident, it is a fratricide accident, nothing more. Fratricide often happens in combat.
It should not happen and when it happens the investigation should be rigorous to see how it happened so that policies and procedures can be changed to guard against future similar happenings.
If the pilots were too ready to roll and did not take due care in the circumstances, that has to be proven and they may have to be held accountable. My personal opinion is that they have merited no more than a letter of reprimand and what used to be called "a posting as NOIC Aden" .
But they should not be made the scapegoats for command-and-control screw-ups.
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