People keep dismissing this as a mere "accident", as if its no big deal, not so much in this thread, but in the others on it as well. Contrast this "accident" and the events surrounding it with this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghani..._fire_incident
Quote:
Major William Umbach and his wingman Major Harry Schmidt were returning from a 10-hour patrol, at 23,000 feet, when they spotted what they believed to be surface-to-air fire. The fire was actually from a Canadian anti-tank and machine-gun exercise.
Schmidt's testimony at his Article 32 hearing was that he believed his flight lead Major Umbach was under attack. Schmidt requested permission from flight control (AWACS) to fire his 20mm cannons at what he believed to be an anti-aircraft or Multiple Launch Rocket System below. He received the response: "hold fire." Four seconds later, Schmidt said he was "rolling in, in self defense." He dropped a laser-guided bomb 35 seconds later. Schmidt then said "I hope I did the right thing" as the AWACS controller said: "Friendlies, Khandahar."
Factors that played in the decision to act in self-defence included a well-known incident of a US serviceman who fell out of a helicopter and was captured by enemy forces and tortured, before being killed; US aircrew were subsequently very wary of exposing themselves to risk. Major Schmidt's stated, in his official apology to the family and friends of the dead and injured Canadians: "My perception was that we had been ambushed, as we had been briefed that Taliban were expected to use ambush tactics in an around Kandahar...I believed that the projectiles posed a real and present danger to our flight and specifically to my flight lead...I believed at the time that my flight lead's transmission to 'check master arm, check laser arm,' indicated he concurred with my decision that the situation required self-defence."
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Aftermath:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/friendlyfire/
Quote:
In May 2005, the four soldiers were honoured with a granite memorial in Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the 187th Infantry Regiment, the American unit the PPCLI fought beside in Afghanistan. The soldiers' names were also engraved on a memorial wall in Fort Campbell, the first time the names of non-U.S. soldiers were included on the wall.
U.S. air force Maj. Harry Schmidt, one of the pilots involved in the "friendly fire" incident that killed four Canadians in Afghanistan, was found guilty of dereliction of duty on July 6, 2004, in what the U.S. military calls a "non-judicial hearing" before a senior officer. The maximum penalty he had faced was 30 days of house arrest.
He was reprimanded and forfeited more than $5,000 US in pay. The air force agreed to allow Schmidt to remain in the Illinois Air National Guard, but not as a pilot. Schmidt later appealed the verdict, but the appeal was rejected. He also filed a lawsuit against the air force, saying it released his letter of reprimand to the media, in violation of his privacy.
Schmidt had made a deal in June 2004 so he could avoid a full court martial.
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http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...idt040706.html
Quote:
n the reprimand, Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson, who handed down the verdict, wrote that Schmidt "acted shamefully...exhibiting arrogance and a lack of flight discipline."
"The victims of your callous misbehaviour were from one of our staunch allies in Operation Enduring Freedom and were your comrades-in-arms," he wrote.
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That was an accident. A tragic accident. The pilot was not aware of the training exercise, nor was he informed by the AWACS command center. He believed he was under fire and had to make a quick decision. He made the wrong decision, and it cost him career and nearly a court martial as well. The Judge said that his shameful, undisciplined, and arrogant actions had taken the lives of comrades-in-arms and a staunch ally, while the US Military took the unprecented step of honouring our Canadian soldiers lost that day on one of their Memorial walls.
That whole incident was a mistake, a tragedy, that happened in less than 60 seconds but it was not simply dismissed, it was taken seriously and justice was done and its since been set aside, one of the unfortunate things that sometimes happens in the fog of war.
However as regards the U.N. outpost that contained 4 unarmed observers ... it was shelled 14 times over a 6 hour period even as, at 10 different times while this was happening, the IDF was notified that this clearly marked U.N. Outpost was being repeatedly shelled, endangering the lives of those within, and were told each time that the firing would be stopped. Then it is bombed. Then the resue team is in turn shelled. And this is all just a mistake?
No, this is a war crime as Linton has said, and I suspect it is not the only one the IDF is perpetrating in Lebanon either.