By PAUL KORING
From Thursday’s Globe and Mail
Washington Major Harry Schmidt will appeal the verdict docking him a month’s pay for dereliction of duty in the bombing of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, and regards the scathing judgment against him as an unwarranted personal attack, his lawyer said yesterday.
Charles Gittins, who represented the U.S. pilot during the disciplinary hearings, said the Air Force is attempting to cover up command failures and said the case could wind up in civilian courts because of the way Lieutenant-General Bruce Carlson handled the administrative punishment.
Major Schmidt dropped a 250-kilogram bomb on a Canadian live-fire training exercise near Kandahar on April 17, 2002, killing four Canadian soldiers and seriously injuring eight others. The pilot and his flight leader, Major William Umbach, who were nearing the end of a long patrol, said they believed the fire was directed at their F-16s.
Gen. Carlson, who found Major Schmidt guilty of a single count of dereliction of duty, issued a toughly worded reprimand Tuesday in which he said the veteran combat pilot had acted shamefully, rashly and used the inherent right of self-defence as an excuse to wage his own personal war, and accused the pilot of lying. The punishment will cost Major Schmidt $5,672 (U.S.).
The Air Force should have had the courage to charge Harry with murder if it believed that Major Schmidt used self-defence as a pretext, Mr. Gittins said yesterday. He said the assurances that Major Schmidt would get a fair hearing from Gen. Carlson proved to be a big fat lie.
Major Schmidt was originally charged with four counts of manslaughter and aggravated assault. But all except a single charge of dereliction of duty were dropped a year ago, and the Air Force offered to proceed by administrative review rather than trial.
Major Schmidt initially refused and demanded his day in court but changed his mind last month, Mr. Gittins said, after receiving assurances that Gen. Carlson had not prejudged the outcome.
Major Schmidt played golf yesterday and wasn’t upset by the verdict, according to Mr. Gittins.
He kind of dismissed it as a rant, the lawyer said.
Some relatives of the Canadians killed or wounded said the punishment was fair Gen. Carlson imposed the toughest punishment possible under the administrative process and the wording of the reprimand was unusually harsh. But others were less charitable, and Sergeant Lorne Ford, who lost an eye and suffered other wounds in the bombing, made a rare comment yesterday after learning about the planned appeal.
It doesn’t surprise me the little weasel is going to try to get out of it again, Canadian Press quoted him as telling Edmonton television. I hope somebody reads the reprimand word for word to that remorseless prick because I don’t think he would read it. I think he would just shove it aside and he doesn’t care.
But Mr. Gittins said there are a number of grounds for the appeal, which must be filed by Monday and will be heard by Gen. Hal Hornburg, commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
Under certain circumstances, the case could wind up in the U.S. federal Court of Appeals.
Major Schmidt had enjoyed considerable support among combat pilots and communities in Illinois, where his squadron is based. More than $200,000 has been raised for his legal expenses.
The Air National Guard has supported him, but he has no use for the Air Force, Mr. Gittins said.
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It’s the latest salvo from the Me Generation. Dodging responsibility will be the hallmark of this era, ranging from politics and Big Business all the way down to which roomate was supposed to take out the garbage.
It’s somehow fitting that the immortal words come from pop star Shaggy, “It Wasn’t Me”.
All Harry had to do was follow orders and not engage. Just keep flying. His state-of-the-art aircraft surely informed him that he was not taking fire. All he had to do was mosey onward, a mile above this supposed hostile ground fire. Instead he killed four people.
One of Harry Schmidt’s primary complaints during this process has been that we civilians don’t get it: the storm and confusion of combat. My response is simple: you are, Mr Schmidt, claiming to be a bastion of defense for this pretty thing we call civilization. If you abandon civilized rules for any reason then I say you cannot really claim to be preserving anything. What right have you to expect leniency in the face of your lack of remorse? If you don’t care then why should we? Civilization means so little to you that you were prepared to open fire on an unconfirmed target (against orders) on an otherwise uneventful patrol in controlled airspace. Why should you expect sympathy from the civilization you so easily shrugged aside? You even disobeyed orders so you could launch. Sounds like a cowboy to me.
And after all is said and done I am willing to accept that accidents happen. People are killed in the crossfire, and friendly fire, all the time. I’ll give you that. It’s stupid, but people are stupid so what can you expect.
What bothers me, Schmidt, is your attitude. You killed four people. Have the grace to act like it matters.
killing four and getting a month of wages docked as punishment. this is beyond my comprehension.