quote: A military investigation has found that a U.S. fighter pilot did not follow proper procedures when he mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four soldiers and injuring eight.
quote:The 1,500-page report recommends that Schmidt and a fellow F-16 guard pilot, Maj. William Umbach, face an Article 32 hearing that could lead to criminal or other charges against them. Such a hearing is the military version of a civilian grand jury.
In fact, it looks as though the US is also blaming some of their people farther up the chain of command.
The Canadians conducted their own study, and came to the same conclusions, although their report only mentions the pilots.
quote:Stogran said the incident hasn't soured relations with the Americans, who are leading the anti-terrorist coalition in Afghanistan. He said that if anything, the incident has brought the two groups closer together.
When the incident happened, efforts were made to separate Canadian and American soldiers to avoid any altercations. Soon afterwards, American soldiers routinely stopped their Canadian counterparts to apologize for the tragedy.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
"Sorry about the cancer.."?
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"A military investigation has found that a U.S. fighter pilot did not follow proper procedures when he mistakenly bombed Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four soldiers and injuring eight."
Well, imagine that...
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Apparently the pilot's callsign was 'Psycho'. Figures.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
The call from most of the families of the victims here is to not prosecute the pilot. Most feel that he is already in a prison. They would like to know why he did it though, neither report gives a satisfactory explanation of why.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
In the papers here it said that he mistook fire from the Canadian's training for hostile fire and droped a bomb on them.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
On a side note:
Canadians will be letting off fireworks tommorrow, please do not bomb us.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
Shit, now we have to call off the alert for Selfridge Air National Guard Base not to bomb Sarnia....
Damn you Kanadyans....
Posted by Thoughtchopper (Member # 480) on :
I can safely say that I had nothing to do with any bombings.
At least I won't until july 4th.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
One wonders what tack they'll take regarding the wedding bombing. . .
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Give it time, we're still trying to figure out how many people died (initial reports went kind of like this: "500! No, 250! No, 120! No, scores! No, 50! No, 30!") and from exactly what.
Last I heard, the 'B-52 Bomb' had been ruled out, and it was still considered possible that the fire didn't come from US troops at all, but rather from AA-fire.
Investigations take time.
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Read in the paper that the US was admitting the possibility of one bomb from a B-52 going 'astray'. Abdullah Abdullah (crazy name, crazy guy) says that multiple bombs hit multiple villages.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by First of Two:
Last I heard, the 'B-52 Bomb' had been ruled out, and it was still considered possible that the fire didn't come from US troops at all, but rather from AA-fire.
And what magical and non-biased source of information did you hear this? And why hasn't it been shared with everyone else?
[ July 04, 2002, 18:38: Message edited by: PsyLiam ]
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
I heard it on the radio, so posting a link is difficult, but since then I also heard that it may have been a bomb dropped by a B-52...
They only bombed a love shack, so I don't see what the big deal is....
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
I think it matters to the people in it at the time... 2000lb bombs cause one hell of a headache.
Posted by Ritten (Member # 417) on :
The reference was to a song by the B-52's....
Posted by Wraith (Member # 779) on :
Ah. Right.
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
quote:Originally posted by Grokca: On a side note:
Canadians will be letting off fireworks tommorrow, please do not bomb us.
Fireworks were cancelled for us for Prince Albert. I guess the raging forest fire only a little ways away sparked some kind of crazy fire-ban. So the fireworks were out.
As for the incedent, I don't blame the pilots that much. It was war, and accidents happen.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
This is where it was mentioned that they did not believe it was a B-52 Bomb, Liam.
Also, although it is not the source of my other statement about the AA fire being possibly responsible, the B-52 bomb is mentioned as being one of THREE possibilities (though the other two weren't mentioned, possibly because enemy AA fire as the cause wouldn't be sensational?) under investigation.
Sadly, the source of my other ststement has apparently disappeared, but it wasn't any more right-wing than CNN.