Two U.S. pilots charged with manslaughter in the deadly mistaken bombing of Canadian forces in Afghanistan last year had been warned before the mission that friendly forces might be on the ground, an Air Force intelligence officer testified Monday.
A hearing is in progress to determine whether Majs. Harry Schmidt and William Umbach should be court-martialed.
“We couldn’t speak with any degree of certainty who they were looking at,” said Capt. Evan Cozadd, an intelligence officer with the 183rd Fighter Wing.
But, as has happened often in the six days of this hearing, defense attorneys cross-examining Cozadd and other prosecution witnesses were able to bolster their contention that Schmidt and Umbach were victims of poor information and glitches in communication on the night of April 17.
