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.