Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Air Force Times
January 21, 2008
Pg. 10
Held responsible for airmen's deaths for more than a decade, general feels vindicated
By Erik Holmes
Terry Schwalier has lived in the shadow of Khobar Towers for more than 11 years.
The June 25, 1996, terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 airmen under Schwalier’s command remains a defining moment in his life and career. “It’s deeply embedded in my mind,” Schwalier said from his home in Knoxville, Tenn. “Every moment, every second is very, very clear.”
Perhaps now the retired fighter pilot can finally put those memories to rest.
The Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records ended a long-running dispute Dec. 20 by deciding that holding Schwalier responsible for the bombing by effectively stripping him of his second star back then amounted to an injustice. The board ordered that his second star be reinstated, and found that he should have been promoted to the rank of major general effective Jan. 1, 1997.
After years of maintaining he had done all he could reasonably have been expected to do to protect his airmen — a conclusion shared by three of the four government investigations into the attack — Schwalier said he feels that justice has finally been done.
“Yeah, sure, I feel vindicated,” he said. “I would have preferred to have this all take place while I was still wearing Air Force blue, but it didn’t. Based on where we’re at ... I do feel vindicated. I feel relieved. There’s as much vindication as I think there can be at this time.”
But Schwalier insists that his quest for redemption was about more than his good name or his second star. The issue was the standard to which commanders ought to be held, and the precedent set by making him the scapegoat for the attack.
“When the government tells a commander to take troops into harm’s way, there’s a risk that precious lives are going to be lost,” Schwalier said. “To me the standard [should be] how can the commander be reasonably expected to perform with the information he has at hand.”
The board agreed.
In a Nov. 19 memo obtained by Air Force Times, the board wrote: “He implemented all identified force protection steps that he could, took steps to resource those that required resourcing and acted ... to have the remaining addressed.”
‘This stinks’
No one could have predicted this result back in July 2005, when Schwalier ran into attorney Michael Rose at a conference at the Air Force Academy. The men had both graduated from the academy in 1969, and they knew each other through the lacrosse team.
Schwalier had recently received what he thought was a final rejection from the board in his request to have his promotion to major general reinstated. He was disappointed and thought that was the end of it.
Rose said that as Schwalier explained the strange twists and turns of his quest for vindication, he knew something wasn’t right.
“I just knew that this stinks,” he said.
Three months before the Khobar Towers bombing, Schwalier had already been nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to receive his second star.
Four investigations were conducted after the bombing, in which a sewage truck packed with explosives blew up near the dormitory, which housed around 100 airmen. Three of the investigations exonerated Schwalier, according to the board’s Nov. 19 report, but the first one made public said the general was at least partially to blame.
In response to that report, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen removed Schwalier’s name from the list for promotion to major general.
Many in the Air Force thought Schwalier was unfairly made the scapegoat. In fact, then-Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman resigned in protest over Cohen’s decision. But Schwalier’s career was effectively over, and he retired from the Air Force on Sept. 1, 1997.
The landscape changed after the Sept. 11 attacks, when most Americans began to grasp the extent of the threat of Islamic terrorism. Schwalier said he felt the time was right to take another look at commanders’ culpability in terrorist attacks.
In April 2003, he petitioned the corrections board, arguing that Cohen had violated promotion procedures by removing him from the promotion list, and that holding him accountable was unjust.
The board found in August 2004 that “an administrative error was made” and Schwalier had, in fact, been promoted to major general on Jan. 1, 1997, even though he never pinned on the rank. Joe Lineberger, director of the Air Force Review Boards Agency, approved the decision on October 2004, acting on the authority of then-Air Force Secretary James Roche.
But more than 10 months later, Lineberger reversed his own decision. He wrote that his action was based on civilian Defense Department lawyers’ advice that the board’s decision was outside its authority and that the Defense Department had the final say.
‘Abuse of authority’
As Schwalier recounted his tale to Rose during that chance meeting at the academy, Rose was dumbfounded. “I didn’t know exactly why this was illegal,” he said, “but I was immediately confident it was.”
Rose offered to look into the case and represent Schwalier free.
During the next two years, he spent hundreds of hours in his Summerville, S.C., law office researching the relevant regulations, statutes and case law. He came to a startling conclusion.
“This was the first time in history a Defense Department lawyer had ever interfered with a decision of the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records,” he said. “This is abuse of authority. ... It’s not fair to the entire United States military to have civilian political lawyers interfering in a process that’s been clearly set up by Congress to give relief to people in the military.”
Rose submitted Schwalier’s second application for correction of his records Sept. 24, arguing that civilian lawyers have no authority to overrule the Air Force board, and again making the case that holding Schwalier responsible for the attacks was an injustice.
The board, in its Nov. 19 memo leading to the official Dec. 20 decision, did not decide on the issue of Defense Department authority, but ruled in Schwalier’s favor based on the claim that holding him responsible was an injustice.
“To me,” Schwalier said, “the decision now kind of sends the message to commanders [who] are sent into harm’s way that their performance will be measured against a firm but a fair standard, and that their Air Force leadership will uphold that process.”
Schwalier stands to receive a substantial amount of back pay, in part, because his retirement date was retroactively changed from Sept. 1, 1997, to Feb. 1, 2000. He said he does not yet know how much he will receive, but it is safe to say it will be six figures.
Schwalier said he is trying to process his emotions now that his story has such an unexpectedly happy ending.
“At this point, it’s still a little overwhelming,” Schwalier said.
“Over such a long time you spend so much time thinking about that tragedy and what we felt was unfair and unjust, and now we’re just looking forward to seeing what’s next.”
January 21, 2008
Pg. 10
Held responsible for airmen's deaths for more than a decade, general feels vindicated
By Erik Holmes
Terry Schwalier has lived in the shadow of Khobar Towers for more than 11 years.
The June 25, 1996, terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 airmen under Schwalier’s command remains a defining moment in his life and career. “It’s deeply embedded in my mind,” Schwalier said from his home in Knoxville, Tenn. “Every moment, every second is very, very clear.”
Perhaps now the retired fighter pilot can finally put those memories to rest.
The Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records ended a long-running dispute Dec. 20 by deciding that holding Schwalier responsible for the bombing by effectively stripping him of his second star back then amounted to an injustice. The board ordered that his second star be reinstated, and found that he should have been promoted to the rank of major general effective Jan. 1, 1997.
After years of maintaining he had done all he could reasonably have been expected to do to protect his airmen — a conclusion shared by three of the four government investigations into the attack — Schwalier said he feels that justice has finally been done.
“Yeah, sure, I feel vindicated,” he said. “I would have preferred to have this all take place while I was still wearing Air Force blue, but it didn’t. Based on where we’re at ... I do feel vindicated. I feel relieved. There’s as much vindication as I think there can be at this time.”
But Schwalier insists that his quest for redemption was about more than his good name or his second star. The issue was the standard to which commanders ought to be held, and the precedent set by making him the scapegoat for the attack.
“When the government tells a commander to take troops into harm’s way, there’s a risk that precious lives are going to be lost,” Schwalier said. “To me the standard [should be] how can the commander be reasonably expected to perform with the information he has at hand.”
The board agreed.
In a Nov. 19 memo obtained by Air Force Times, the board wrote: “He implemented all identified force protection steps that he could, took steps to resource those that required resourcing and acted ... to have the remaining addressed.”
‘This stinks’
No one could have predicted this result back in July 2005, when Schwalier ran into attorney Michael Rose at a conference at the Air Force Academy. The men had both graduated from the academy in 1969, and they knew each other through the lacrosse team.
Schwalier had recently received what he thought was a final rejection from the board in his request to have his promotion to major general reinstated. He was disappointed and thought that was the end of it.
Rose said that as Schwalier explained the strange twists and turns of his quest for vindication, he knew something wasn’t right.
“I just knew that this stinks,” he said.
Three months before the Khobar Towers bombing, Schwalier had already been nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate to receive his second star.
Four investigations were conducted after the bombing, in which a sewage truck packed with explosives blew up near the dormitory, which housed around 100 airmen. Three of the investigations exonerated Schwalier, according to the board’s Nov. 19 report, but the first one made public said the general was at least partially to blame.
In response to that report, then-Defense Secretary William Cohen removed Schwalier’s name from the list for promotion to major general.
Many in the Air Force thought Schwalier was unfairly made the scapegoat. In fact, then-Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman resigned in protest over Cohen’s decision. But Schwalier’s career was effectively over, and he retired from the Air Force on Sept. 1, 1997.
The landscape changed after the Sept. 11 attacks, when most Americans began to grasp the extent of the threat of Islamic terrorism. Schwalier said he felt the time was right to take another look at commanders’ culpability in terrorist attacks.
In April 2003, he petitioned the corrections board, arguing that Cohen had violated promotion procedures by removing him from the promotion list, and that holding him accountable was unjust.
The board found in August 2004 that “an administrative error was made” and Schwalier had, in fact, been promoted to major general on Jan. 1, 1997, even though he never pinned on the rank. Joe Lineberger, director of the Air Force Review Boards Agency, approved the decision on October 2004, acting on the authority of then-Air Force Secretary James Roche.
But more than 10 months later, Lineberger reversed his own decision. He wrote that his action was based on civilian Defense Department lawyers’ advice that the board’s decision was outside its authority and that the Defense Department had the final say.
‘Abuse of authority’
As Schwalier recounted his tale to Rose during that chance meeting at the academy, Rose was dumbfounded. “I didn’t know exactly why this was illegal,” he said, “but I was immediately confident it was.”
Rose offered to look into the case and represent Schwalier free.
During the next two years, he spent hundreds of hours in his Summerville, S.C., law office researching the relevant regulations, statutes and case law. He came to a startling conclusion.
“This was the first time in history a Defense Department lawyer had ever interfered with a decision of the Air Force Board for the Correction of Military Records,” he said. “This is abuse of authority. ... It’s not fair to the entire United States military to have civilian political lawyers interfering in a process that’s been clearly set up by Congress to give relief to people in the military.”
Rose submitted Schwalier’s second application for correction of his records Sept. 24, arguing that civilian lawyers have no authority to overrule the Air Force board, and again making the case that holding Schwalier responsible for the attacks was an injustice.
The board, in its Nov. 19 memo leading to the official Dec. 20 decision, did not decide on the issue of Defense Department authority, but ruled in Schwalier’s favor based on the claim that holding him responsible was an injustice.
“To me,” Schwalier said, “the decision now kind of sends the message to commanders [who] are sent into harm’s way that their performance will be measured against a firm but a fair standard, and that their Air Force leadership will uphold that process.”
Schwalier stands to receive a substantial amount of back pay, in part, because his retirement date was retroactively changed from Sept. 1, 1997, to Feb. 1, 2000. He said he does not yet know how much he will receive, but it is safe to say it will be six figures.
Schwalier said he is trying to process his emotions now that his story has such an unexpectedly happy ending.
“At this point, it’s still a little overwhelming,” Schwalier said.
“Over such a long time you spend so much time thinking about that tragedy and what we felt was unfair and unjust, and now we’re just looking forward to seeing what’s next.”