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 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 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.

As for the final verdict on who is to blame for that fateful evening
in the desert, only time will tell? The military is the master of
deception, duplicity and subterfuge and how the truth could
possibility come out is anyone's guess.

Regardless of the verdict, nothing brings back those brave Canadian
soldiers.