INDEPTH: FRIENDLY FIRE
Harry Schmidt speaks
CBC News Online | June 6, 2005
Maj. Harry Schmidt was one of two U.S. National Guard pilots who attacked Canadian troops carrying out a nighttime, live-fire military exercise near Kandahar, Afghanistan, on April 18, 2002.
Maj. Harry Schmidt (AP photo)
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In June 2005, Schmidt told his side of the incident to Dateline NBC.
"Every time you go into combat you have to be prepared to destroy something or take a life. But you are never prepared for it to be someone from your own forces," Schmidt said. "I thought we had been ambushed at the time. If you witnessed a hostile act it is an order to defend yourself."
When he and Maj. William Umbach flew high over the Afghan desert, Schmidt saw flashes on the ground and thought they were enemy artillery fire.
He was under orders from the AWACS control aircraft to hold his fire until they checked out the situation.
The program aired previously released cockpit recordings of conversations between the pilots and ground control. The two pilots describe what they see, then Schmidt tells them he's "rolling in, in self-defence."
Against the orders of air controllers, he drops the 225-kilogram bomb that injured eight Canadians and killed Pte. Richard Green, Pte. Nathan Smith, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer and Sgt. Marc Léger.
"When the call came that there may be 'Friendlies Kandahar,' my heart sunk," Schmidt said.
And I said, 'Who was it?' And he said, 'They were Canadian Special Forces.' And I had to take a knee at that point, 'cause I couldn't stand up. I said, 'Did I kill anybody?' He said, 'Four.'
Schmidt continues to argue he never knew the Canadians were there and he told NBC, "I would say I did the right thing."
Still, the U.S. air force concluded his actions were reckless and it charged the former top-gun instructor with manslaughter.
Col. John Odom – who led the prosecution against Schmidt and Umbach – told NBC that the proper actions for pilots in that situation would have been to fly away and await orders.
"The evidence from the [cockpit] tape screams that this was not an individual who was truly defending," Odom said.
Schmidt rejects the assertion saying he is a scapegoat for the military's failure to notify him that there were Canadians in the area. "They didn't try to fix the problem, they fixed the blame," Schmidt said.
Schmidt has apologized for the accident, but never for his role in it. Asked about the families, Schmidt said, "There is a huge hole in those families. And I want to tell them I understand that. I hope they know that I am truly sorry that the accident happened."
But Richard and Claire Léger, who lost their son Marc in the "friendly fire" incident, couldn't quell a bit of anger as they watched the program from their home in Stittsville, Ont.
"You don't drop a 500-pound bomb just because you want to be a hero," Richard Léger told CBC News.
Schmidt was reprimanded. In the reprimand, Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson, who handed down the verdict, wrote that Schmidt "acted shamefully ... exhibiting arrogance and a lack of flight discipline."
He will never fly for the U.S. air force again. He will also retire from the military soon, saddled, he says, with hefty legal bills and guilt.
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