cannabisnews.com: Friendly Fire Pilots 'Pressured' to Use Uppers










  Friendly Fire Pilots 'Pressured' to Use Uppers

Posted by CN Staff on January 02, 2003 at 10:14:49 PT
By AP-CP 
Source: Toronto Star  

New Orleans --  A lawyer for one of two U.S. pilots who dropped a bomb killing four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan last April says the U.S. air force had pressured the pilots to take amphetamines that may have impaired their judgment during the mission.Majs. Harry Schmidt and William Umbach face a possible court-martial for dropping the laser-guided bomb near Kandahar on April 18. A U.S. air force investigation determined the pilots ``demonstrated poor airmanship" and ignored standard procedure by not making sure there were no allied troops in the area.
But Umbach's lawyer, David Beck, said he will prove at a Jan. 13 hearing on whether to court-martial the pilots that the U.S. air force routinely pressures pilots to take dexamphetamine, a prescription drug also known as "go pills." He said the drug can impair judgment and is not recommended for people operating heavy equipment.The U.S. air force prevents pilots from flying if they refuse to take the pills, Beck said.U.S. air force spokeswoman Lieut. Jennifer Ferrau acknowledged the pills are used as a "fatigue management tool" to help pilots stay alert through long missions. But she said the use of the pills is voluntary, and that their effects have been thoroughly tested."There have been decades of study on their efficacy and practicality," she said. "The surgeon general worked very closely with commanders on this."On Dec. 20, ABC News 20/20 reported that at the time of the mistaken bombing, Schmidt and Umbach had been under the influence of Dexedrine, also called "go pills" which are regularly distributed to U.S. air force pilots. ABC said they are known on the street as speed or uppers and are illegal narcotics."This is speed," Dr. Robert DuPont, former White House drug czar, told ABC. "This is where we got the phrase, `speed kills."' Beck and Charles Gittins, Schmidt's lawyer, said the U.S. air force's investigation of the friendly-fire incident is full of errors. Beck said the pilots were not told in advance that allies were holding combat exercises, and that Schmidt dropped the bomb in self-defence after seeing gunfire on the ground."What happened was a terrible tragedy. You don't honour (the victims) by wrongfully prosecuting these pilots," Beck said. "This is political appeasement of Canadians who are angry."Ferrau said U.S. air force officials would not comment on specifics of the case.On the night of the bombing, 15 Canadian soldiers were practising anti-tank attacks with live ammunition at Tarnak Farm, a former Al-Qaeda training camp.A Canadian report released last June said the soldiers were using firearms ranging from sidearms to shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons.Schmidt and Umbach were flying F-16s toward their base after six hours of a mission in which "no significant events occurred," the air force report said.Just after midnight, they spotted gunfire on the ground and reported it to flight controllers. One of the pilots asked for permission to fire his 20-millimetre cannon and was told to wait, according to the air force investigators' report.Sixteen seconds later, Schmidt reported surface-to-air fire and said he was going to "roll in," or attack the shooters."I've got some men on a road and it looks like a piece of artillery firing at us," Umbach said, according to the report. "I am rolling in, in self defence."Schmidt released the bomb, which landed about one metre from a Canadian machine gun crew. Killed instantly were Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pvt. Richard Green and Pvt. Nathan Smith. The U.S. air force report said Schmidt soon asked controllers, ``Can you confirm that they were shooting at us?"The controller did not answer, but said "friendlies" could be on the ground nearby, the report said. The controller told Schmidt and Umbach to return to their base.Air force investigators concluded that Schmidt and Umbach should have left the area when they spotted gunfire to allow time to determine its source. Remaining in the area led to the pilots' misperception that they were under attack, the investigators said. The pilots' lawyers said Schmidt and Umbach had good reason to believe they were being attacked.Beck said it's unusual for troops to conduct night exercises in a combat zone."How dare you do a training exercise at night in a combat zone?" Beck said. "And how dare you not tell the pilots?"The deaths were Canada's first combat fatalities since the Korean War and were mourned publicly for months across the country. They sparked a national debate about the country's role in the U.S.-led war on terror and became the top news story of 2002, as voted by newspaper editors and broadcasters in an annual survey by The Canadian Press and Broadcast News. Beck said air force officers should take the blame for the bombing, because their communications system did not inform the pilots that the gunfire came from allies.After the hearing, a recommendation on whether to court-martial the pilots will be delivered to Lt.-Gen. Bruce Carlson, commander of the 8th air force, who will make the final decision.Schmidt and Umbach face charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty. If convicted of all charges, they face a maximum of 64 years in military prison. Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)Published: January 02, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Toronto Star Contact: lettertoed thestar.com Website: http://www.thestar.com/ Related Articles:U.S. Pilots 'Guinea Pigs,' Lawyer Sayshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15039.shtmlNeed for Speed - ABCNews.com http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15028.shtml'Go Pills' Tied To Bombing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15027.shtmlMilitary Looks To Drugs for Battle Readinesshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13695.shtml 

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Comment #5 posted by knox42897 on January 03, 2003 at 00:48:16 PT:
Mo Money Mo Money Mo Money
"It's really alarming," Ramsey told The Washington Times in December. Translation = Marijuana doesn't seem to be scaring anyone anymore. ust be the Liberal media and the Cannadians decriminially doing smething."We are seeing PCP use on the rise, and when you couple that with the number of weapons on the streets, we are seeing an increased number of homicides." 
Translation = All my men are transferred to terrorist assignments and I need to raise taxes for new "PCP" emergency Patriot act to "secure" American citizens because "It's really alarming," 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 02, 2003 at 22:46:31 PT
I Didn't Know Where To Post This Article on PCP
So I think here should work fine.Killer DrugsIs PCP guilty of homicide? By Jacob SullumJanuary 3, 2003"Everything people used to say about marijuana is true of angel dust." So claimed Robert DuPont, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 1977. DuPont's comment is worth revisiting now that Washington, D.C.'s police chief is citing "angel dust"—the veterinary anesthetic phencyclidine (PCP)—as an explanation for his city's rising homicide rate. End-of-the-year figures show that homicides in D.C. jumped 12 percent between 2001 and 2002, and Police Chief Charles Ramsey says increased PCP use is one reason. "It's really alarming," Ramsey told The Washington Times in December. "We are seeing PCP use on the rise, and when you couple that with the number of weapons on the streets, we are seeing an increased number of homicides." Copyright: 2003 The Reason FoundationComplete Article: http://www.reason.com/sullum/010303.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on January 02, 2003 at 20:15:29 PT
Cannadian unrest over the over zealous southerners
http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/editorials/letter.htmlLet’s just hope U.S. doesn’t set its sights on us (LTE)
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on January 02, 2003 at 17:28:33 PT
Cannada's decissions
may be taking into account that America wants Cannada to cage its citizens for using cannabis yet America forces fighter pilots to use a drug not recomended for using heavy equipment. The political outcome is a country more willing to distance themselves with what proves to harm them. An F-16 is HEAVY EQUIPMENT Hypocrisy, is working in Our favor and may just now be starting to screw the urine sucking cannabis prohibitionists.
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Comment #1 posted by knox42897 on January 02, 2003 at 12:27:09 PT:
GO GO GO
U.S. air force routinely pressures pilots to take dexamphetamine, a prescription drug also known as "go pills." He said the drug can impair judgment and is not recommended for people operating heavy equipment.The U.S. air force prevents pilots from flying if they refuse to take the pills, Beck said.U.S. air force spokeswoman Lieut. Jennifer Ferrau acknowledged the pills are used as a "fatigue management tool""There have been decades of study on their efficacy and practicality," she said. "The surgeon general worked very closely with commanders on this."Some people use "go pills" responsibly to aid them in "celebrations" in combination with "no go pills" or substituted with "medical marijuana".
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