Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jan 2003
Source: Richmond News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2003, Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.richmond-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1244

JUST SAY YES TO DRUGS?

With the U.S. and its determined president poised for war with Iraq, it is 
more than a little discomforting to learn that the pilots involved in the 
friendly-fire accident that killed four Canadians in Afghanistan last 
spring were taking amphetamines.

Maj. Harry Schmidt's lawyer said in an interview that his client was 
coerced into taking the pills by the U.S. Air Force on the night the 
Canadians were killed outside Kandahar. They had been conducting a 
live-fire exercise and the U.S. pilots believed they were being fired on.

Amphetamines, sometimes called "go pills," are stimulants with a wide range 
of side effects. The air force says they were used as "fatigue management" 
to keep pilots alert. Apparently this is a common practice. While the 
pilots may have been alert, or overly so, they certainly exhibited bad 
judgment in ignoring orders to wait - and dropping the bomb that killed 
Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith.

Lawyers for the pilots will argue that the two men, who are not career air 
force members but Illinois reservists, are being scapegoated by the U.S. 
military, which doesn't want to own up to its role in the death of the 
Canadians.

But isn't it ironic that the U.S., which has long pushed a "zero tolerance 
on drugs" policy, may be pushing pills on citizens who - subject to 
military discipline - have little say in the matter?

And we're not American-bashing here. If it's common practice for one 
country, it's probably happening in many places. Maybe it's time we lifted 
that camouflage curtain a little higher and looked into just what rights 
soldiers in so-called democracies, including our own, really have.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart