Posted on 06/29/2002 4:39:16 AM PDT by Clive
TORONTO and OTTAWA - Four Canadian paratroopers were killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan because of a catastrophic communications breakdown that stretches to the highest levels of the United States command structure, a U.S. military official said last night.
The F-16 pilot who dropped the bomb, the official said, should not have been flying anywhere near the Canadian troops, but U.S. Central Command failed to tell his superiors that allied forces were training in the area.
"There should have been an invisible wall in the sky that all command control structures knew about," said the official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity. "When [the Canadians] were firing, there should have been an announcement on multiple frequencies to avoid the area. That's the way it's done. It wasn't done."
The revelation adds another level of confusion to what went wrong on the early morning of April 18, when Sergeant Marc Leger, Corporal Ainsworth Dyer, Private Richard Green and Private Nathan Smith, all members of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were killed by a U.S. bomb while they conducted a live-fire training exercise at a former al-Qaeda compound.
Yesterday, the Canadian and American governments released the findings of separate investigations. Both blamed the bombing on two American fighter pilots, but the U.S. report also "found that failings within the pilots' command structures, while not causing the incident, were contributing factors."
The U.S. military would not elaborate on what might have gone wrong within the command structure, but the senior U.S. official said crucial pieces of information are not being properly shared by the various units working in Afghanistan.
"Never in the history of warfare do you have a live-fire range underneath active airplanes flying," he said. "You've got to be kidding me? That's a mistake. To enable that to happen, that's a mistake."
The official, who believes both the Canadian and U.S. militaries are "doing the easy thing" by shifting the blame away from themselves and on to the men who actually unleashed the attack, said the error is endemic of the way the allied command structures have been communicating with one another since Operation Enduring Freedom began.
"CENTCOM has never let the reins out," the source said. "They are very controlling over this thing."
So controlling, he said, that it may only be a matter of time before another misinformed pilot drops a bomb on friendly troops.
"There are a lot of operations that the guys don't know are going on," he said.
Retired General Maurice Baril, who headed the four-man Canadian board of inquiry, said the paratroopers properly informed the Americans about their training exercise, and as far as he is concerned, the pilots are the only ones at fault.
"There is one cause of the accident here, and there is others that may be," Gen. Baril said. "So you can drag all kind of secondary factors [into this], but ... I said it very clearly that the decision of the pilot to engage at that time was his sole responsibility, and he is the cause of the accident."
The continuing perplexity surrounding the deadly sequence of events is compounded by the Canadian military's decision to keep Gen. Baril's 14- volume final report secret. An eight-page executive summary of the report, which was released publicly, is censored in several key areas.
"I have seen more than I can talk about today," said John McCallum, the Minister of National Defence. "It is a balancing act. On the one hand, for the sake of the families, we want to provide maximum release of information. On the other hand, I don't think anyone in this country would want us to release information that puts our people in danger."
Citing ongoing concerns about operational security in Afghanistan, the Canadian military deleted one paragraph that explains if anyone other than the pilots are to blame for the deaths.
Also censored is a section explaining "the nature and quality of the co- ordination between ground and air forces" surrounding the bombing.
Gen. Baril said he could not discuss details about how ground troops communicate with air forces because "the mission in Afghanistan is ongoing and we cannot jeopardize the safety and security of the Canadian Forces or coalition members involved in these operations."
Asked if he felt the families of the Canadian victims would want that information, Gen. Baril said: "I think the families will understand."
Arthur Coolen, Pte. Green's stepfather, said he did.
"We can say a lot of what-ifs," he said. "It's time to move on."
According to both reports, the two F-16 pilots, who were nearing the end of a long mission over Afghanistan, believed they were under attack.
The flight leader, Major William Umbach, requested co-ordinates of the ground fire from a surveillance aircraft. His wingman, Major Harry Schmidt, requested permission to fire on the location with a 20-millimetre cannon, but he was told to stand by, and later, to "hold fire."
Moments later, Maj. Schmidt declared he was "rolling-in in self-defence" and released a 225-kilogram laser-guided bomb.
Neither Canadian nor American investigators interviewed the pilots during the course of their inquiries, so Gen. Baril said it is still not exactly clear why the bomb was dropped. But he said the lack of direct testimony from the pilots did not prevent investigators from determining the sequence of events because they had access to flight records and transcripts.
The U.S. official, however, emphasized that every soldier has the right to defend himself if he feels he is under attack.
"If you feel threatened ... and you can eliminate that thing that is threatening you -- that's risking your life and others among you -- you use every means available to stop that," he said.
Leon Benoit, the Canadian Alliance defence critic, said he also fears the pilots are being hung out to dry while others responsible are being protected.
"The pilots may well share blame for this, but there may be others in the American chain of command who didn't do their job as well," Mr. Benoit said. "The pilots should face the consequences, but so should others in the command."
Central Command's chief, General Tommy Franks, said disciplinary action might be appropriate for the pilots, but Lieutenant-General Michael DeLong of Central Command did not elaborate on the possibility during a press conference yesterday.
"The disciplinary [recommendations] will go through the appropriate service chain," Lt.-Gen. DeLong told reporters. "We don't have a time period. It could be four months, six months."
The U.S. official said the military should be focusing its efforts on improving its communication, not laying criminal charges.
"Hanging two guys is not going to fix anything," he said.
Once while pinned down after an ambush by the North Vietnamese, an air strike was called in, just in front of our position. The pilot was skilled enough to drop the bombs on the enemy, but we were close enough to have the sharpenel whiz over our heads. If the pilot was a little less skilled, or we were a little closer, some in my outfit would have been killed. If the Air Support was not available, then I suspect most if not all of us would have been killed.
If it was necessary for me to go into combat again, would I want agressive air support, or have someone second guessing that friendly troops may be too close and drop their bombs a little further away, missing us, and most likely missing the enemy. I want an agressive air support.
Oh, I should note I understand that in this case the Canadians were on a training mission and there was a break down of communications. My concern is by trying to find blame (other than as a way to prevent future accidents) may come back and bite them in the butt when they are pinned down and want close air support and the pilots are too concerned about what would happen if they were not just perfect.
Proper response to the incident would be a joint evaluation and effort to improve communication. Done within the services and away from news sensationalism and the need of the public to feel warm and fuzzy - or to lay blame.
I think this report attempts to assign blame onto the system rather than to identify the actual point of break down. That suggests that someone (probably Canadian) left out a step in the process and no one is willing to identify the error because one or the other public might get all insulted.
That's a lousy way to run a war on anything.
The first reports I recall about the incident, there was fire from the ground to the general direction of the aircraft. My opinion is that they should have been practicing in Canada as it was a combat zone they chose to have a "live-fire excercise". It was an accident, and the pilots aren't renegades who were derelict in duty. That is a myth propigated by liberal press who like to tear down anything American. Blame our soldiers first before knowing all the facts. I stand behind the pilots.
Today, CNN gave Arafat a gift he could never buy...a puff-piece similar to the AP/Castro puff-pieces, complete with touching soundtrack and childhood photos from Arafat's farming days.
Was CNN sleeping when Arafat had 11 of his own inner circle murdered simply because these men expressed some sympathy for the Israelis?
Canadian and the other G-8 nation's leaders all cowered last week as our President stood against Arafat, alone. Every accident, every war casualty is a tragedy. Our President and all of our military certainly understands and appreciates the sacrifices of our allies in this war. What isn't clear is whether these allied nations appreciate the courage and sacrifice of America. We're locating and wiping our terrorist cells...Canadian, German, French, British, etc., neighborhood thugs and bullies, while the neighborhood "leaders" complain. Perhaps if the people of these nations were armed, their leaders would be more helpful, confident...and courageous. The free world could use less whining and a good deal more willingness from these "civilized" allies.
Life in Wartime,(we, not the terrorists, are winning).
Like the US, every Eurpopean nation now has Muslim terrorists in their midst...PC, multiculturalism, refusing to define right and wrong, have turned too many leaders into appeasers.
We have no choice but to fight these terrorists. Closing our eyes and appeasing them won't make them go away...it will make them stronger, and our job more difficult. The ICC, like its UN counterpart, will be filled with anti-Western Muslim pirates and envious and ambitious thugs. There's too little wisdom and too much of other peoples' money. That's reality. The Disney version painted by the left is an unworkable and deadly fraud.
Resistance is not futile.
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