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Blame Pilots in 'Friendly Fire' Killings: Baril

Leaked data doesn't tell whole story, he says

Thursday, July 25, 2002
(5:20 AM ET)
By Allan Thompson
The Toronto Star

"Through the evaluation of the massive amount of information that we had, (the pilots') reaction was not according to rules and regulations," he said. "They (the pilots) did not exercise caution, they did not follow the rules and regulations and rules of engagement to ascertain what was on the ground. This is a case for the pilot to explain."

OTTAWA -- TS
Retired Gen. Maurice Baril broke his silence yesterday to defend forcefully his inquiry's finding that U.S. pilots were solely to blame for the "friendly fire" killings of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Baril said he was disturbed by the "partial" release of information -- leaked to the Washington Times -- that in his view is incomplete and wrongly casts doubt on his findings.

The report has also outraged families of the Canadians killed when an F-16 pilot in April accidentally dropped a 500-pound bomb on soldiers engaged in a nighttime training exercise.

And Baril suggested that the evidence he had access to -- including the "complete" tape recording of communications between the pilots and air controllers -- shows that if the pilots had exercised more caution that night and waited a short period of time for more information, rather than swooping down and dropping a bomb, the Canadian soldiers would be alive today.
(More: TheStar.com News Source)
2002 © The Toronto Star.

I seem to recall an early article stating the pilots had been told about Canadian troops in the designated training area during their pre-flight briefing.

Dan