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CNN Live Today

Military Hearing on Friendly Fire Continues

Aired January 15, 2003 - 11:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of a military hearing for a pair of F-15 fighter pilots. The proceedings will determine whether the men face court-martial for a friendly fire bombing in Afghanistan.
Our Ed Lavandera is watching events -- he is once again at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, we're getting a glimpse this morning of the view that Major Harry Schmidt had as he was flying over Kandahar April 17th last year and the -- what he was seeing and what he and his wingman were seeing from the ground -- coming from the ground, which they thought was groundfire from Al-Qaeda forces they were told were to be in that area. They say they were never told that a Canadian army troop would be practicing a live-fire exercise training session while that was happening.

Videotape images, partial videotape images of the camera view from his F-16 fighter jet have been played here this morning -- it shows the major talking about how he sees a tank rolling on the road below him and then at some point -- at one point describing how he's going -- "rolling in, in self-defense" were his words and that is when the 500-pound laser-guided bomb was dropped on the area. Of course, this is only a partial glimpse of this entire videotape.

This is a tape that has a lot more to it and will be played later on and we're hoping that we'll be able to show you that tape as soon as the military officials here at Barksdale Air Force Base release it to us. Of course, very moving video and moving stories being told here, especially for the families of the Canadian soldiers. And we had a chance last night to speak with one of the wives whose husband was killed in this attack last April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARLEY LEGER, VICTIM'S WIFE: We're in the right stage for where we need to be. We've gone through the two investigations, the Canadian and the American investigation. This is a step in the right direction, definitely -- where we need to be at this point in time.

LAVANDERA: What your husband was doing and the role that he played and that sort of thing -- when you hear those sorts of things, I think it has to make you proud too, given what he was doing. LEGER: Oh, of course. Always proud of Mark, no matter what he was doing, but it was rough -- you know it's one thing to read through a report and read the information, yes, he was here and he was standing or he was -- you know, this is what he was doing that evening, but to actually hear it come out of the captain's mouth and him speaking, Marc Leger. The minute that you hear the name -- very, very emotional. It was really a hard day and I didn't quite expect it to be, to be honest with you. I thought, I've heard this 100 times before, I'll be fine and, no, it was rough.

LAVANDERA: Do you think it needs to go to a court-martial trial?

LEGER: Do you know what? I don't think I'll have the answer to that until we've gotten through this Article 32 hearing. I've come into this very open-minded, just wanting to find out what happened. I want the truth to come out and I want steps to be taken to make sure that this doesn't happen anymore, and I know that we can't do that for sure, but it should happen less often. But regardless of how he died, I lost my husband and nothing is going to bring him back no matter what happens in this hearing.

LAVANDERA: Can you describe the day you found out what happened? I guess it would be April...

LEGER: Seventeeth.

LAVANDERA: Seventeeth.

LEGER: Just finished working out, so hair up in a ponytail and in my sweats, and the doorbell rang at about 10:10 and when I answered the door there were three soldiers with their berets in hand looking quite somber, and I said, "Is Marc okay?" And they said, "No, he's not," and I lost it. I was walking backwards trying to get away from the information. My everything was gone. I lost everything, every hope, every dream, my plans for the future, my best friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: That is Marley Leger, her husband Sergeant Marc Leger, one of the four Canadien soldiers killed last April in this friendly fire bombing. And as I mentioned just a short while ago, the headline here from this morning on the second day of this Article 32 hearing is the videotape, the view from the cockpit of Major Harry Schmidt being partially played so far and officials here at Barksdale Air Force Base saying that possibly at some point later today, the rest of that videotape might be released and might be able to see it publicly for the first time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed, you're talking about the videotape -- isn't there also an audiotape from the pilots talking in the cockpit that might be incriminating to the pilots?

LAVANDERA: That's all part of the same tape and you will be able to hear the communication between Major Harry Schmidt and Bill Umbach, the other major who was flying the second F-16 fighter jet in that area. So you'll be able to hear the exchanges between them. We've heard a portion of that this morning and as I mentioned, you hear Harry Schmidt on the portions that we've heard this morning saying that he saw tanks rolling in, in the area on the ground below and that he was rolling in, in self-defense. There's portions before that and portions after that, that are also very critical and central to this hearing.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera in Barksdale at the Barksdale Air Force Base in northern Louisiana. Ed, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 15, 2003 - 11:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is day two of a military hearing for a pair of F-15 fighter pilots. The proceedings will determine whether the men face court-martial for a friendly fire bombing in Afghanistan.
Our Ed Lavandera is watching events -- he is once again at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Ed, good morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

Well, we're getting a glimpse this morning of the view that Major Harry Schmidt had as he was flying over Kandahar April 17th last year and the -- what he was seeing and what he and his wingman were seeing from the ground -- coming from the ground, which they thought was groundfire from Al-Qaeda forces they were told were to be in that area. They say they were never told that a Canadian army troop would be practicing a live-fire exercise training session while that was happening.

Videotape images, partial videotape images of the camera view from his F-16 fighter jet have been played here this morning -- it shows the major talking about how he sees a tank rolling on the road below him and then at some point -- at one point describing how he's going -- "rolling in, in self-defense" were his words and that is when the 500-pound laser-guided bomb was dropped on the area. Of course, this is only a partial glimpse of this entire videotape.

This is a tape that has a lot more to it and will be played later on and we're hoping that we'll be able to show you that tape as soon as the military officials here at Barksdale Air Force Base release it to us. Of course, very moving video and moving stories being told here, especially for the families of the Canadian soldiers. And we had a chance last night to speak with one of the wives whose husband was killed in this attack last April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARLEY LEGER, VICTIM'S WIFE: We're in the right stage for where we need to be. We've gone through the two investigations, the Canadian and the American investigation. This is a step in the right direction, definitely -- where we need to be at this point in time.

LAVANDERA: What your husband was doing and the role that he played and that sort of thing -- when you hear those sorts of things, I think it has to make you proud too, given what he was doing. LEGER: Oh, of course. Always proud of Mark, no matter what he was doing, but it was rough -- you know it's one thing to read through a report and read the information, yes, he was here and he was standing or he was -- you know, this is what he was doing that evening, but to actually hear it come out of the captain's mouth and him speaking, Marc Leger. The minute that you hear the name -- very, very emotional. It was really a hard day and I didn't quite expect it to be, to be honest with you. I thought, I've heard this 100 times before, I'll be fine and, no, it was rough.

LAVANDERA: Do you think it needs to go to a court-martial trial?

LEGER: Do you know what? I don't think I'll have the answer to that until we've gotten through this Article 32 hearing. I've come into this very open-minded, just wanting to find out what happened. I want the truth to come out and I want steps to be taken to make sure that this doesn't happen anymore, and I know that we can't do that for sure, but it should happen less often. But regardless of how he died, I lost my husband and nothing is going to bring him back no matter what happens in this hearing.

LAVANDERA: Can you describe the day you found out what happened? I guess it would be April...

LEGER: Seventeeth.

LAVANDERA: Seventeeth.

LEGER: Just finished working out, so hair up in a ponytail and in my sweats, and the doorbell rang at about 10:10 and when I answered the door there were three soldiers with their berets in hand looking quite somber, and I said, "Is Marc okay?" And they said, "No, he's not," and I lost it. I was walking backwards trying to get away from the information. My everything was gone. I lost everything, every hope, every dream, my plans for the future, my best friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: That is Marley Leger, her husband Sergeant Marc Leger, one of the four Canadien soldiers killed last April in this friendly fire bombing. And as I mentioned just a short while ago, the headline here from this morning on the second day of this Article 32 hearing is the videotape, the view from the cockpit of Major Harry Schmidt being partially played so far and officials here at Barksdale Air Force Base saying that possibly at some point later today, the rest of that videotape might be released and might be able to see it publicly for the first time -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Ed, you're talking about the videotape -- isn't there also an audiotape from the pilots talking in the cockpit that might be incriminating to the pilots?

LAVANDERA: That's all part of the same tape and you will be able to hear the communication between Major Harry Schmidt and Bill Umbach, the other major who was flying the second F-16 fighter jet in that area. So you'll be able to hear the exchanges between them. We've heard a portion of that this morning and as I mentioned, you hear Harry Schmidt on the portions that we've heard this morning saying that he saw tanks rolling in, in the area on the ground below and that he was rolling in, in self-defense. There's portions before that and portions after that, that are also very critical and central to this hearing.

KAGAN: Ed Lavandera in Barksdale at the Barksdale Air Force Base in northern Louisiana. Ed, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com