Posted on 06/19/2002 2:04:57 PM PDT by Clive
Opposition MPs demanded the Defence Minister release the details of a final report into a friendly fire incident in which four Canadian soldiers were killed, after leaked details of a U.S. report said the pilot acted too impulsively.
Progressive Conservative defence critic Elsie Wayne asked Defence Minister John McCallum to release the final report, which was completed Wednesday, immediately.
"All Canadians...need to know the facts about this horrible situation," Ms. Wayne said during Question Period.
Mr. McCallum said he has not yet received the report.
"I will receive it within hours. I have instructed my department to move heaven and earth...to get this information out at the very earliest possible moment, Mr. McCallum said.
Alliance defence critic Leon Benoit said that now that the information is out, that it's time get information from the Canadian board.
"We have to get the answers and we have to have full knowledge of what's happening there at some point," said Mr. Benoit outside the Commons .
Details of a U.S. report on the friendly fire incident in Afghanistan published in the New York Times said that the U.S. pilot acted too impuslively in dropping a bomb that killed four Canadian soldiers.
The information from a U.S. inquiry said that the pilot did not properly assess the situation.
The pilot has been identified by reports as career fighter pilot Major Harry Schmidt of the Illinois Air National Guard.
Two separate inquiries into the incident were launched after the deaths of the soldiers. Brigadier-General Marc Dumais of the Canadian Forces represented Canada on the joint U.S.- Canadian inquiry.
Captain Daryl Morrell, a spokesman for the Department of Defence, told globeandmail.com on Wednesday that the Defence Department wants to wait to see the final U.S. report.
"It's based on an alleged U.S. leak. The U.S. report is not finished," Capt. Morrell said.
He said the final report from the Canadian board of inquiry was handed over at 8 a.m. Wednesday to General Ray Henault, chief of defence staff.
Capt. Morrell said he does not know when Mr. McCallum will make the results public.
"There are privacy issues, operational security issues which must be addressed [before the report is publicized]," Capt. Morrell said.
The interim report from the Canadian board of inquiry found that Canadians acted properly in the incident. It was delivered to the Coalition Investigation Board.
Meanwhile, information from the leaked U.S. military report says a surveillance aircraft warned the pilot that the forces were friendly just seconds after he dropped the 225-kilogram bomb on Canadians conducting a nighttime, live-fire exercise, the newspaper said.
Quoting unidentified military officials, the story said the inquiry concluded in a classified report that the pilot thought he was under attack from the ground when he dropped the bomb.
Instead of leaving the area to assess the threat and plan a possible counterstrike, as procedures dictate, the F-16 pilot and that of a second plane rushed to attack before a radar plane could confirm that the target was hostile, officials told the Times.
The report said a surveillance aircraft alerted the U.S. pilot that "potential friendlies were in the area." The warning, however, came seconds after the pilot declared that he was firing in self-defence and dropped a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb, said the Times.
The eight-week U.S. inquiry, based on interviews with 70 people, also concluded that the pilot of the second plane, an Air National Guard squadron commander, failed to "exercise leadership" by allowing events to spiral out of control, officials said.
Military officials said the 1,500-page report recommended that the two F-16 pilots face an Article 32 hearing, often likened to a civilian grand jury.
Capt. James Key, a U.S. air force lawyer appointed to represent the pilot, refused to comment on the newspaper story. He said he has not heard that his client may face charges over the incident.
Joyce Clooney, whose grandson, Private Ricky Green, 21, was killed, said she wanted to think about the news report. "We just want to know why there was an accident."
Corporal Ainsworth Dyer, Sergeant Marc Léger and Pte. Nathan Smith all perished in the April 17 incident, which injured eight others. They were members of the 3rd battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
Professor Martin Rudner of the Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University told globeandmail.com that it's a shame Canadians have to hear about the results of the U.S. report through a leak.
"I would rather, in terms of procedure, that Canada could have made public our report," he said.
Canada is holding back its information as a courtesy to the U.S. report, to allow the Americans to go through their process first, he said.
The main findings of the report must outline how the incident happened and how to prevent such a thing from ever happening again, Prof. Rudner said.
U.S. controls set up to prevent the killing of an ally did not work in this situation, he said.
Mr. McCallum may issue the final report publicly earlier because of the leak, Capt. Morrell said. More information will be released by the department later Wednesday.
The final report by the U.S. board is due in late June or early July.
Mr. Benoit said he thinks Mr. McCallum will be able to release the majority of the information by next week.
With reports from Canadian Press
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