Friendly Fire - isn't.

[khaosworks]

After a few entries of thespian's righteous indignation (and rightly so, I point out) that this isn't receiving higher attention in the US media, I present to you the following:

U.S. Probes Canadian Bombing Deaths

An American F-16 pilot in Afghanistan apparently mistook Canadian soldiers for enemy forces and thought he was acting in self-defense when he dropped a 500-pound bomb, killing four and wounding eight, U.S. officials said Thursday.

As an investigation began, a key question was why the Americans didn't know the Canadians were training in the area.

President Bush conveyed his nation's regret to Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said U.S. and Canadian officers at Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., would work together to piece together what happened and why.

At least, that's the official story so far. However, note this, sports fans:

Pilot ignored orders: sources

The pilot of an American F-16 fighter jet who dropped a 250-kilogram laser-guided bomb on Canadian troops in Afghanistan, killing four and wounding eight, had ignored orders not to fire, sources say.

There's no link to the story in question at Canada.com because the story's "no longer available". It's been yanked. Why? Maybe the sources were found to be less than reliable, maybe they were going to check it out further before publishing something like this, maybe American pressure made them do it. Maybe all three or something else I've missed.

But that's not really the point here. The point is, why isn't this getting more coverage in the U.S.? Why is the arrest of actor Robert Blake, for example, getting more press time than a potential international incident? I can only surmise that it's because it's only fucking Canada. America, Jr. Land of the "Eh".

This is important, folks, because somewhere along the way, someone fucked up. If the pilot thought he was under fire, how come he wasn't told that the Canadians were doing exercises? If he wasn't told, did Command know the Canadians were having exercises? If the pilot was ordered not to open fire, then why did he do so? Was one of the Canadians screwing his wife (actually, it'd be kind of understandable if it was)? This isn't just an ordinary friendly fire incident, in the fog of war, boo hoo, these things happen kind of way. This shows a serious defect somewhere in the chain of communications, if not the chain of command.

But of course, to question the conduct of the war is treason.

Isn't it?

We return you to our coverage of Ally McBeal's cancellation.

Comments

[kyrielle]

*blinks* Huh. Must vary from place to place - I was surprised by your statement it wasn't getting much coverage, since I've seen bits of it everywhere, and heard it on the morning radio, including that bit about the orders.

Definitely means -something- is screwy, somewhere, and ought to be looked at.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. the story is still available through the link I posted this morning and from the canda.com main page on the incident, http://www.canada.com/national/features/friendlyfire/
So it hasn't been yanked (and it still seems to be the same content it was when I linked to it earlier)

additionally, the story claims this:

General Ray Henault, the Chief of Defence Staff, said, "We are not pointing fingers," but he added that Canadian commanders had provided American brigade commanders with detailed information about the live-fire night training.

One of the earlier articles that I read, on CNN, that I can't find now, specified that the area in question was being used for live-fire exercises routinely by all the involved infantries at various times. I would be curious to see anything about that again.

CNN is now leading with a story about the Al Qaeda threats against US banks. After a full 24 hours of Robert Blake.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

IMO, anyone who DOESN'T question the reasons for what their government is doing and the prosecuting of a war is more likely engaging in Doing The Wrong Thing.

I can't see the point in "someone fucked up" coverups. If they did, then they should be punished appropriately, if it was an accident, it should still be noted. And if he had orders not to fire, he should be locked up in Leavenworth.

I'm not surprised that the Shrub would try and gloss it over, though.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

The reason it is getting less press than it deserves is someone in the government is bearing down on the various press agencies to squelch the story or give it lower priority.

The news business is a business. Sometimes upper management will send word that they want a particular story played up; other times you'll see a memo saying, "Don't run this kind of story." I know; I've gotten a couple over the years. If you don't go along with it you lose your job, and then where are you? It's hard to have a voice if you've been stifled.

Also remember that some of the folks running our news organizations are not exactly the "cream of the crop," intellectually speaking. Journalism doesn't pay well, so many really bright people do other things for a living.