Posted on 06/20/2002 11:39:28 AM PDT by Clive
Media - News Releases
Board of Inquiry Presents Its Final Report
OTTAWA – The Tarnak Farm Board of Inquiry (BOI) presented its Final
Report this morning to General Ray Henault, the Chief of the Defence Staff. The Board was investigating the April 17 fratricide accident that killed four, and injured eight, Canadian soldiers serving with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI) Battle Group in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
“Since the presentation of our Interim Report, we have focussed much of our attention on what had transpired in the air and on writing the Final Report,” said General Maurice Baril (Retired), the President of the BOI. “I am satisfied that we were able to conduct a full investigation within the allocated 60 days and to provide in our Final Report conclusive results on all of the finding objectives. After hearing about a potential leak yesterday evening, I decided to present the report now so as not to have its integrity and findings compromised. We had a superb working relationship with the American Coalition Invest
The BOI was convened in Ottawa on April 19 and assembled on April 22 to begin its investigation. The Minister of National Defence, acting upon recommendations from the Prime Minister, had asked General Baril to be the President of the BOI. Colonel Mark Hodgson, Colonel Gregory Matte, and Chief Warrant Officer Denis Levesque were appointed as members. The Board was also provided with legal, medical and air operations advisors, as well as with administrative support, including public affairs and military police representatives. During the last months, the BOI travelled to the Arabian Gulf region, Afghanistan and Edmonton to interview key witnesses and to inspect the area where the incident took place. It presented its Interim Report on May 13. Throughout its investigation, the Board maintained regular contact with Brigadier-General Marc Dumais, the Canadian co-president of the CIB. The BOI members and support team will soon return to their home units and resume their regular duties.
Note to Editors: General Baril, the BOI members, and the special advisors will not answer any queries from the media until the Final Report is released to the public. The Minister of National Defence, with advice from the Chief of the Defence Staff, is the approving authority for releasing the Final Report to the public.
"Friendly fire," the U.S. term, is far more accurate.
Sounds pretty dangerous,
maybe the Princess Pattis should run along home now.
Agreed.
Both the US and Canada use the term fratricide.
For example, see the article by a US navy officer, posted in the Canadian Department of National Defence web site, in the web page for this BOI The article is "Fratricide: Can It Be Stopped?", Author: LCDR William Ayers, III, United States Navy.
I am not being pejorative in using the term, merely pedantic.
And certainly I don't intend to imply intent.
Someone must have screwed up to some significant degree, just like has happened in every war or dog-fight since time began.
If the Canadians have gone so far over the edge as to impute some national slight, or an individual's intent or disconcern into this sad accident, I wouldn't want them on my flank in any other circumstance.
Is the political value of allowing a nice quiet little backwater neighbor to take part in the current military expedition worth the strain and costs of their little snits when it goes terribly wrong in one small corner of the "war"?
My conclusion is negative; send 'em home until they figure out that people really can get hurt when there are lots and lots of dangerous objects being tossed about, even by your friends.
There were a couple idiots on a thread last night that said "Well, so what if the pilot didn't check things out like he was supposed to, he killed SOMEBODY, he should get a medal!"
It is usually used together with the word "accident".
It does not imply intent.
I do not imply intent, and you would know so had you read my previous posts on this accident.
I don't see Canadians going over the edge, except possibly some far left liberals who usually go over the edge no matter what their nationality.
In fact, as shown in a prior report posted by me under the title "Families don't want pilot punished", the relatives of the casualties are generally sympathetic to the pilot and the most damning criticism of him is coming from Yanks rather than Canucks.
This is not an occasion for Yank bashing.
Neither is it an occasion for Canada bashing.
Fratricide is a chronic problem in war and in peacekeeping operations. Every effort has to be made to find out why any incident has occurred and how it can be prevented in future. That is the primary purpose of a BOI.
If you look at the Canadian DND site page for this BOI, you will see several articles in which "fratricide" is used in a non-pejorative context, as I am using it. Look also at the bibliographies to those articles.
The majority of these articles are by Yanks.
I honestly do believe that Canada needs to take a more aggressive stance in this thing, if only to illustrate how miserable Mexico continues to behave and how lame our own defenses are.
(there is also the recent dust-up over Canadian para's and a general sense that the military in Canada is running scared.)
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