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US Pilots Charged With
Manslaughter In Friendly Fire
By Charles Aldinger
9-13-2


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. F-16 fighter pilots have been charged with manslaughter and assault in the April "friendly fire" bombing of Canadian troops in Afghanistan that killed four soldiers and injured eight, the Air Force said on Friday.
 
The highly unusual criminal charges by the Air Force against Illinois Air National Guard pilots Maj. Harry Schmidt and Maj. William Umbach followed a long joint investigation of the April 18 bombing.
 
Schmidt, who launched a 500-pound laser-guided bomb on Canadian troops conducting a night live-fire exercise near Kandahar, and flight leader Umbach each faced four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of assault.
 
Schmidt was also charged with failing to exercise flight discipline and not complying with the military "rules of engagement" in the area. And Umbach was charged with negligently failing to exercise appropriate flight command and control and ensure compliance with the rules of engagement.
 
The charges were the first criminal accusations against pilots in the year-old Afghan war against the al Qaeda and Taliban in which a number of friendly fire attacks killed U.S. and allied troops and Afghans. The pilots said they thought they were under attack from ground fire.
 
In 1999 a U.S. Marine Corps pilot aboard an assault jet that clipped an Italian gondola cable was sentenced to six months in jail on charges of conspiring to obstruct an investigation into the accident that sent 20 people on the gondola plunging to their deaths.
 
BOTH 'PRESUMED INNOCENT' -- AIR FORCE
 
President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien ordered investigations by their countries into the April attack on soldiers of the Third Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, who had been firing only on surface targets in a recognized training ground.
 
If convicted of all the charges, the two pilots could face prison terms and other punishment.
 
The Air Force said on Friday that the charges, brought by the 8th Air Force based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, were only accusations and that "both officers are presumed innocent."
 
A joint U.S.-Canadian investigation concluded that Schmidt and Umbach, who thought they were being fired at failed to use proper procedures and exercise caution.
 
Investigators said Schmidt did not check properly before he dropped his bomb and Umbach, an Air National Guard squadron commander, let things get out of control.
 
Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Sargeant who led the investigation brought the charges.
 
The long investigation report released in June said Umbach got permission from a nearby U.S. AWACS (airborne warning and control system) radar plane to determine the precise location of what the flight thought was surface-to-air fire. While the lead pilot was trying to get those coordinates, the pilot of the second F-16 requested permission to fire on the location.
 
The radar plane told the pilots to stand by, investigators said, but Schmidt provided the coordinates and then radioed that he was "rolling in, in self-defense."




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