I just heard on the news that the US F-16 pilots who bombed the Canadians in Afghanistan are being charged with criminal charges.

I am a former US military and from what information I have thus far (they were not cleared to attack and were specifically told not to) these clowns deserve the death penalty.

I will be curious to see the opinions from our Canadian Totse members. Be careful, Nox is advocating the death penalty.

Nox

For negligence, sure, they do deserve it.

i just find its funny that these dumbos dropped a bomb on their allies. i mean how in god's name can a professional pilot do as such?

american forces do seem to have a high rate of friendly fire incidents. does anyone know how we compare to other countries? if i remember correctly, in the first gulf war we lost more people to FF than to enemy fire.

After flying countless hours without doing anything, I could see how they would get trigger happy and anxious for some action. That's no excuse and they should be held accountable. They are after all dealing with people's lives.

No need for the death penalty. A lengthy period of incarceration should be enough. Being a dumbass isn't the same as being a war criminal.

I don't expect they'll be flying hang gliders in future, let alone F-16s.

Didnt American attack British soldiers in the Gulf ?

Peace Renegade,

quote:

---

Originally posted by FuckOffandDie:
No need for the death penalty. A lengthy period of incarceration should be enough. Being a dumbass isn't the same as being a war criminal.

---

True. But flagrantly disobeying a direct order is...especially when folks get killed/wounded. That is why the military has a command structure. Even more repugnant is the fact that one of those charged was the Squadron Commander. This goes way beyond mere dumbass and/or "the fog of war" which is a true (but poor) rationalization of what happened to the Brits in the Gulf War.

Nox

Let the Canadian families shoot at their heads with potato guns. That would be some way to die.

Yeah it�s a disgrace that this could have ever happened, I would assume it would be bad enough finding out your son had been killed in battle with the enemy never mind killed by rogue allied pilots who should be protecting them and have been entrusted with power over them. I could think of a few good reasons to try to explain why these pilots chose to do what they did but at the end of the day no excuse is good enough, if you join the military you hand over power to someone one else these pilots decided to disobey this fundamental rule of the military with deadly consequences for innocent allied soldiers. I do think their sentence should be light though depending on there service history to their country, I probably sound soft but I wouldn�t want to see them doing above ten years assuming they have a good history and this was a one off fuckup that went so wrong for them.

v i p e r 2 0 0 2

quote:

---

Originally posted by Viper2002:
I do think their sentence should be light though depending on there service history to their country, I probably sound soft but I wouldn�t want to see them doing above ten years assuming they have a good history and this was a one off fuckup that went so wrong for them.

---

If these clowns were a couple butter bars right out of UPT I might agree. These were both Majors- One was the Squadron Commander. And yes, they will not get the death penalty...but a light sentence...I hope not.

I am surprised at the lack of outrage expressed in this topic. It is a far cry from what was said when the initial topic was posted. Back then, I wanted the facts out before I reacted. Well, now the facts are out, I'm reacting, and it appears everyone else is calling for calm. Not me.

The responsibility of command is awesome. We do not have Lt William Caley or Capt Ernest Medina (ordinary ground grunts following orders). We have two Majors, one of whom is a decision maker and who FAILED to follow orders (as opposed to the Lt and Capt who were FOLLOWING orders).

I am not over-reacting here. And both those clowns can thank Allah I won't be on their Court Martial Board.

Nos

I would agree with them getting the death penalty if only I supported such a thing. Did any of them offer a public apology?

quote:

---

Originally posted by ScrewThirdHeartbeat:
Did any of them offer a public apology?

---

You jest.

Nox

I don't know military rules, but what they committed seems to be manslaughter, which is criminally different by definition from murder. I think the death penalty would be a bit harsh, but life in prison with the knowledge of the innocent men they killed would be punishment enough.

quote:

---

True. But flagrantly disobeying a direct order is...especially when folks get killed/wounded. That is why the military has a command structure. Even more repugnant is the fact that one of those charged was the Squadron Commander. This goes way beyond mere dumbass and/or "the fog of war" which is a true (but poor) rationalization of what happened to the Brits in the Gulf War.

---

Actually, disobeying a direct order in times of war is/can be considered treason, and as such is most definitely grounds for the death penalty.

If they did bomb us purposely then I would agree with a trip to the gas chamber (not all of us are opposed to the death penalty) I doubt that was the case, if they did, it would piss off alot more countries then mine.