# Fuck You Harry Schmidt you piece of Crap! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 7, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942 "2004-07-07T13:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/1 "2004-07-07T13:59:21Z")
[Background](http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/friendlyfire/) So A life is worth roughly 1,200 these days! And now I hear you are going to appeal even that. Poor you, so hard done by for a teeny little mistake. Great, you are a real hero you fucking dirtbag! Drop a bomb on friendlies after being ordered to stand by. Swing around and drop a bomb and claim you were under fire and in immediate danger. You could have easily flown from any danger especially at approximately 20 000 feet. No, you couldn’t could you, you wanted to drop that bomb! You wanted to rack up a kill and you got it buddy. Worse now you think you did nothing wrong and you are spitting in the face of five families who lost their sons. You are a fucking murdering scumbag who doesn’t even want to admit you fucked up! Also a hearty Fuck you to those folks in his home town who act like he’s a hero. Yeah, a Big Fucking balless cowboy hero. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/2 "2004-07-07T15:19:33Z")
I don’t know which is worse - the incident itself or the stonewalling by the USAF that got the charges reduced from manslaughted to dereliction of duty and the sentence from 64 years to six months. Your views, **Mr. Moto**? ---
**Author:** ![cdnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@cdnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdnguy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/3 "2004-07-07T15:55:58Z")
I agree wholeheartedly. Schmidt is a complet and utter asshole, coward piece of shit. In fact I was foing to start a similar thread with a similar point. The complete dismissal of the deaths of Canadian soldiers from friendly fire is disgusting and insulting. And its not just Schmidt who is an asshole. The whole US military should be ashamed of themselves for these actions, and other such friendly fire incidents. I guarentee if Canadians had dropped a bomb on US soldiers, that pilot would be in Cuba now. This is just another example of America treating their neighbours like shit, then getting all up in arms when we refuse to join you in Iraq. Why the hell should we be there? You kill our guys and basicaly say oh well? Fuck 'em was just Canadains anyway. Screw you and this unjust decision. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/4 "2004-07-07T16:15:17Z")
> [@cdnguy](#): > > I guarentee if Canadians had dropped a bomb on US soldiers, that pilot would be in Cuba now. This is just another example of America treating their neighbours like shit, then getting all up in arms when we refuse to join you in Iraq. Why the hell should we be there? You kill our guys and basicaly say oh well? Fuck 'em was just Canadains anyway. Screw you and this unjust decision. Oh Fuck off. What is with the Canadian persecution complex? **CheeckyMonkey** even came damn near to blaming the US for mad cow disease a few months back. There is a problem here. Schmidt’s an ass, but he isn’t being let off easy because the victims were Canadian. The problem is that the military is loathe to agressively prosecute friendly fire incidents, even when they should. The nationality doesn’t matter and far more Americans have died by friendly fire than any other nationality, anyway (it’s estimated as causing one in five US casualties.) If a Canadian plane had bombed American troops, it wouldn’t even make page one of our newspapers. British friendly fire incidents don’t, so you can stop your histrionics. ---
**Author:** ![cdnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@cdnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdnguy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/5 "2004-07-07T16:29:13Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Oh Fuck off. What is with the Canadian persecution complex? **CheeckyMonkey** even came damn near to blaming the US for mad cow disease a few months back. > > There is a problem here. Schmidt’s an ass, but he isn’t being let off easy because the victims were Canadian. The problem is that the military is loathe to agressively prosecute friendly fire incidents, even when they should. The nationality doesn’t matter and far more Americans have died by friendly fire than any other nationality, anyway (it’s estimated as causing one in five US casualties.) If a Canadian plane had bombed American troops, it wouldn’t even make page one of our newspapers. British friendly fire incidents don’t, so you can stop your histrionics. Americans killing other americans in friendly fire incidents don’t really concern me. They are terrible incidents, and if your military does nothing about it I would be royally pissed. And maybe it wouldn’t make the front page of your newspapers but it sure would make ours. And our government/military would gladly send that pilot to Cuba or do whatever was necessary to prove that we are sorry, that it shouyldn’t have happened, and that it is a sad disgusting event. Do you even know the specifics of the event? This wasn’t in Iraq, bu in Afghanistan, the US militarty had been informed that canadian troops were in the area conducting live fire exercises, there was no reports of enemy troops in the area. The only fire was from small guns, nothing that could harm a plane unless it was on the ground. He was told NOT to bomb them and he did it anyway. That si wrong and he should go to jail for it. My country would have apologized and tried to make things better, rather then attempt to sweep it under the rug. The fact that it wouldn’t have made the newspapers says more about the lack of journalistic integrity in America then it does about this issue. The Mad Cow issue has NOTHING to do with this. Who gives a shit what Cheeky Monkey had to say about it? To the persecution complex, we aren’t the ones invading others countries because of supposed threats, the arabs are coming! the arabs are coming! A Monkey with a Gun, wow your American? Couldn’t tell from your nick. So in short, fuck you. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/6 "2004-07-07T17:08:11Z")
Don’t get me started on the lack of journalistic integrity in America. I’m dealing with that right now in a set of threads of my own. THe military doesn’t prosecute crimes as heavily as civilian authorities would. There’s a real “look after your own” mentality going on in the military justice system. A similar case, several years ago, involved Marine pilots who accidentally severed the cable of an Italian gondola, killing several people. I recall that the Italians weren’t happy at all with the sentence given in that case either. I can’t say I especially defend it. I think military justice is too light in general. However, I can’t say that the penalty should be greater if interest is higher from a foreign government or population. I don’t know enough details about this case to comment, but in any case, the accused should always get a fair trial under the laws of his justice system. If there’s cause to try him somewhere else, then that’s what should be done. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/7 "2004-07-07T17:14:02Z")
Sorry **cdnguy** , but I think you’re off base here. There is no indication and no reason to believe that the nationality of the victims has _any_thing to do with the fact that this guy seems to have been able to avoid potential serious culpability for his alleged crime. If you want to sit here and make this into an “Evil US hates Canada” thread, go right ahead, but you’re not going to find any basis for that argument in this story. ---
**Author:** ![cdnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@cdnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdnguy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/8 "2004-07-07T17:52:17Z")
Bah, maybe your right. Maybe the nationality of the victims had nothing to do with it. Schmidt is still a piece of crap. I wish we could prosecute him. He’d get a lot stiffer of a penalty then a weak ass fine. I’m still disgusted by the approach of the US military in this case, and any other case such as this. In my mind he should be tried for war crimes. He was told that didn’t have clearance to drop the bomb but he did it anyway. How could a military possibly condone this? I don’t want to make this into a US hates Canada thread, because I don’t think that is the truth. I suppose I’m just pissed off, and think something should be done about this. I know Canada takes issues such as these, the military acting irresponsibly, seriuosly. We disbanded a whole regiment because of it. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/9 "2004-07-07T18:59:05Z")
> [@cdnguy](#): > > Bah, maybe your right. Maybe the nationality of the victims had nothing to do with it. Schmidt is still a piece of crap. I wish we could prosecute him. He’d get a lot stiffer of a penalty then a weak ass fine. I’m still disgusted by the approach of the US military in this case, and any other case such as this. In my mind he should be tried for war crimes. He was told that didn’t have clearance to drop the bomb but he did it anyway. How could a military possibly condone this? > > I don’t want to make this into a US hates Canada thread, because I don’t think that is the truth. I suppose I’m just pissed off, and think something should be done about this. I know Canada takes issues such as these, the military acting irresponsibly, seriuosly. We disbanded a whole regiment because of it. On the other hand, cdnguy, none of the officers involved in the Somalia incident were punished. One lowly private was used as a fall guy; the officers who encouraged their men to murder Somalis got off scot free. There’s no doubt that this is a travesty of justice but we’re hardly perfect in this regard ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/10 "2004-07-08T04:39:08Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > A similar case, several years ago, involved Marine pilots who accidentally severed the cable of an Italian gondola, killing several people. I recall that the Italians weren’t happy at all with the sentence given in that case either. It’s kind of hard to be happy about absolutely nothing at all. > [@](#): > > CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) – A military jury acquitted a Marine pilot today of all charges that he recklessly flew his jet into an Italian gondola cable, killing 20 people more than a year ago. > > A whoop went up in the courtroom at the Camp Lejeune Marine base when the verdict was announced. Family members of the victims wept and hugged. > > … > > [Capt. Richard] Ashby, 31, was charged with 20 counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count each of destroying government property, destroying private property, dereliction of duty and failure to plan the flight properly. The crash and its aftermath strained relations between the United States and Italy, a NATO ally. > > … > > ``Captain Ashby is certainly free to go,’’ said the judge, Lt. Col. Robert Nunley. > > … > > Prosecutors accused Ashby of ``flat-hatting’’ – reckless flying. They said he violated the mission’s 517-mph speed limit and 2,000-foot altitude restriction. His jet, traveling at 621 mph, cut the cable about 370 feet above the valley floor, prosecutors said. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/gondola4.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march99/gondola4.htm) March 4, 1999. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/11 "2004-07-08T05:04:15Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > The military doesn’t prosecute crimes as heavily as civilian authorities would. There’s a real “look after your own” mentality going on in the military justice system. With Schmidt, there was also the question of whether he was too hopped up on government supplied pep pills [to exercise proper judgement.](http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2002/021222-gopills01.htm) I’m sure the military didn’t really want to push too hard on opening _that_ can-O-worms. ---
**Author:** ![Denis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5e9695/32.png) [@Denis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Denis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/12 "2004-07-08T05:52:38Z")
This is the first I’ve heard of this. I am so sorry. I know it does nothing to help the families and friends of your brave soldiers, but I am so sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-harry-schmidt-you-piece-of-crap/253942/13 "2004-07-08T12:59:31Z")
I appreciate the link, **Sublight**. I was operating from memory, and couldn’t remember the outcome of the case, except that the Italians were royally pissed.