Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 9, 1994 TAG: 9409090078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON NOTE: ABOVE LENGTH: Medium
In addition, five officers on board the AWACS radar plane that oversaw the action will face dereliction-of-duty charges, the announcement said. Twenty-six people were killed April 14 in one of the military's deadliest ``friendly fire'' incidents.
Lt. Col. Randy W. May, of the 53rd Fighter Squadron based in Spangdahlem, Germany, was charged with dereliction of duty in addition to the negligent homicide charges. If he is found guilty of the negligent homicide counts, he could be sent to prison for up to 26 years, a Pentagon spokesman said.
May was the most senior of the two fighter pilots involved in the incident. No announcement of charges was made against the other pilot, nor against more-senior officers who were in charge of the operation in northern Iraq. The second pilot has not been identified by the Air Force. Officials said more charges still could be brought.
Gen. John Shalikashvili, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in July there were ``a shocking number of instances where individuals failed to do their jobs properly.''
Still, the number of charges and their severity shocked many inside the Pentagon. Officials said they could not recall any fratricide cases with more charges against officers.
Fifteen U.S. citizens were killed in the downing of the two Army Black Hawk helicopters. In addition, military officers from Britain, France and Turkey and five Kurdish workers employed by the United States were killed.
The aircraft were ferrying members of an international group that had been working with the Kurds in northern Iraq since the end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Doug Kennett said May was the squadron commander, but he said he did not know if May was the pilot who shot first during the incident or if he was the pilot who misidentified the choppers as being Iraqi.
The maximum punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for negligent homicide is dismissal, forfeiture of pay and allowances and confinement for one year for each charge, the spokesman said. For dereliction of duty, the maximum punishment is dismissal, forfeiture of two-thirds of pay for three months and confinement up to three months.
Kennett said that the charges against the individuals mean that they will face proceedings equivalent to a grand jury, known as an ``Article 32.''
A Pentagon study of the tragedy suggested that the controllers on board the AWACS radar plane knew the two Black Hawk choppers were in the area but failed to warn the F-15 pilots when they reported that they had sighted the helicopters.
The two F-15 pilots, believing the Black Hawks were Iraqis, shot the choppers down one after the other.
by CNB