Charges in Iraq ‘Friendly Fire’ Incident Are Dismissed : Military: Twenty-six died in two downed helicopters. U.S. pilot cleared. Air Force now faces PR problem.

An Air Force major general on Tuesday dismissed all charges of dereliction and negligent homicide against Lt. Col. Randy W. May, the F-15 fighter pilot involved in the fatal downing of two U.S. Army helicopters over Iraq last spring in one of the worst “friendly fire” cases in U.S. military history.

Maj. Gen. Eugene D. Santarelli, the 17th Air Force commander who has final authority in the case, based his decision on a recommendation made last month by the lead investigating officer. The dismissal ends the possibility of criminal disciplinary actions against any of the Europe-based U.S. Air Force personnel who were involved in the incident.

May, 41, a decorated pilot with almost 20 years of service with the Air Force, had been charged with 26 counts of negligent homicide for his role in the shoot-down, in which 26 people--everybody in the two helicopters--were killed. He was also charged with two counts of dereliction of duty.

A member of the Germany-based 53rd Fighter Squadron, May had been assigned to patrol the air space over northern Iraq in an effort to enforce a U.N.-ordered ban on Iraqi military flights there.

On April 14, he and his lead pilot, Capt. Eric A. Wickson, spotted two U.S. Blackhawk helicopters, mistook them for Iraqi Hinds and shot them down.

In addition to the 15 Americans on board, five Kurds working for the United States and six military officials from Britain, France and Turkey were killed.

Initial investigations suggested that May had failed to respond correctly when lead pilot Wickson asked him to confirm that the helicopters were Iraqi.

But the Air Force said Tuesday that Santarelli dismissed the charges because May had “followed proper procedures in yielding control of the action to his lead pilot.”

Throughout the investigation, May has stated that Wickson had told him there were two enemy helicopters in the “no-fly” zone, and that he saw nothing to indicate that this was incorrect.

The action Tuesday left one relatively low-ranking officer, a U.S.-based captain, as the only official to face a court-martial over the shoot-down, which authorities have conceded resulted from a series of blunders reaching far up into the chain of command.

The captain, Jim Wang, had headed the Airborne Warning and Control System plane crew that was supposed to have kept track of all aircraft in the region and to have warned the patrolling F-15s that the helicopters were American, not Iraqi.

The Air Force announced on Monday that Wang will face a court-martial on three counts of dereliction of duty but dismissed similar charges against two majors and two lieutenants who were also aboard the AWACS plane. All of these decisions were in line with investigators’ recommendations.

In addition, the Air Force a few weeks ago dropped similar charges against Wickson, who was also later given immunity in return for his testimony in the investigation involving May.

The round of decisions, made in accordance with longstanding Air Force procedures for such incidents, has left the service--and its leaders--in something of a public-relations quandary over the way it has handled the incident.

While many insiders support the dismissals of charges as justified, on grounds that the deficiencies were in Air Force procedures more than in the conduct of one or two officers, they fear that the public may perceive the decisions as a whitewash.

As a result, Pentagon officials said Tuesday that the Air Force was considering the unusual step of making public the administrative punishment that several of the officers involved have received in place of a court-martial.

The Pentagon already announced in June that Brig. Gen. Jeffrey S. Pilkington, who had been in charge of the operation in northern Iraq at the time of the shoot-down, had been relieved of his command in the wake of the accident.

Pointedly, the Air Force also issued a news release Tuesday stating that the dismissal of the charges against May “does not preclude administrative action” against any of the individuals involved in the incident.

“Some kind of announcement is going to be worked out,” one Air Force officer said.

Walsh reported from Berlin, Pine from Washington.