Only One Piece in a Puzzle of Tragedy

Tuesday’s verdict by an Air Force tribunal absolving Capt. Jim Wang in the tragic chain of errors that led to the downing of two U.S. Army helicopters does not absolve the Pentagon of responsibility to fully disclose the circumstances in this case of so-called friendly fire.

However, given the stubborn refusal of the military to reveal what it knows, it now appears to be up to Congress to address the issue. An independent inquiry should be conducted on Capitol Hill.

Air Force investigators reportedly amassed 21 volumes of evidence detailing mistakes at every level by those who took part in the 1994 operation, in which two Air Force F-15 pilots mistakenly fired on two Blackhawk helicopters in the no-fly zone in northern Iraq. Twenty-six people, including 15 Americans, were killed.

In the months leading up to Wang’s court-martial on charges of dereliction of duty, charges against five other participants were dropped. Curiously, only Wang, a supervisor on an AWACS radar surveillance plane that helped to guide the F-15s, was singled out for prosecution. Air Force officials say that at this time they have no plans to charge anyone else in the case.

Following the not-guilty verdict, a somber Capt. Wang put the incident in proper perspective. “There are still two helicopters shot down and 26 lives lost,” he said. “This court-martial is one small piece in the puzzle.”

For the grieving families of the victims and the American public, Congress must put the rest of the pieces in place.