Lone Officer Still Facing Friendly Fire Court-Martial Judge Won’t Dismiss Charges In Attack That Killed 26 People

A federal judge has refused to dismiss charges against the only officer who faces a court-martial in the friendly fire attack that killed 26 people in two helicopters over Iraq.

Air Force Capt. Jim Wang is charged with three counts of dereliction of duty in the April 14 shooting down of two U.S. Army helicopters carrying an international delegation.

On Friday, military judge Lt. Col. Howard R. Altschwager at Tinker Air Force Base denied a request from Wang’s lawyers to drop the charges.

Wang was in charge of officers aboard a radar plane who were monitoring the no-fly zone over northern Iraq when two fighter jets mistakenly shot down the helicopters.

He is accused of failing to warn the fighter pilots that the helicopters were in the area and of not ensuring the helicopters properly identified themselves. He also is accused of not properly supervising the controllers under his command.

Charges were dropped against crew members aboard the AWACS radar plane. Charges also were dropped against one of the fighter pilots after hearings last fall. The other pilot never was charged.

Wang’s court-martial is scheduled to begin March 13.

If convicted, Wang could be sentenced to up to two years and three months in prison while losing two-thirds of his pay. He then would be dishonorably discharged.