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Grieving Canadians stunned U.S. pilots took drugs
Last Updated Sat, 21 Dec 2002 23:27:01 TORONTO - The family of a Canadian soldier killed in a U.S. bomb
attack is dumbfounded by reports that American commanders let their pilots fly
warplanes while on drugs.
"I was surprised to hear that the military would allow people to be on
narcotics," said Joyce Clooney, the grandmother of Pte. Richard Green, one of
the four soldiers who died. Eight other Canadians were injured.
"You know, they tell people not to drink and drive, and then they give
someone a pill like that and send them off in an airplane," she told CBC News on
Saturday.
Word of the drug use surfaced Friday, when the lawyers were interviewed on
the ABC News program 20/20.
The U.S. military sometimes gives a stimulant to pilots to keep them alert on
long flights, according to the lawyers. They suggested the drug Dexedrine –
often called "speed" – may have been a factor in the decision to drop a bomb on
allied soldiers.
Some analysts doubt the theory, pointing out that other pilots have flown
hundreds of patrols over Afghanistan without such tragic results.
"Those missions went off without a hitch," said David Rudd of the Canadian
Institute of Strategic Studies. "That suggests that even if amphetamines had not
been present in this situation, unfortunately the accident still might have
happened."
U.S. Maj. Harry Schmidt and his senior wingman, Maj. William Umbach, have
both said they thought they were under attack after spotting flashes of gunfire
beneath them. Military investigators concluded that they should not have dropped
the bomb.
Both men have been charged with assault and involuntary manslaughter, and
face up to 64 years in prison if convicted. Their preliminary hearing begins at
Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Jan. 13.
Written by CBC News Online staff The Mulindwas
communication group
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