Seeks 'Fair Treatment' In Friendly Fire Case  

The American fighter pilot caught up in a tragic case of friendly fire is getting some much-needed support from Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Governor is asking federal officials to ensure fair treatment of the Illinois fighter pilot charged in the deaths of four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. Blagojevich also wants permission for one of his staff members to attend the pilot's court-martial. The governor's request, made in a letter sent Sunday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, came after Blagojevich met pilot Maj. Harry Schmidt's wife, Lisa, last month. Schmidt faces a charge of dereliction of duty for mistakenly dropping a bomb on a squad of Canadian troops in April 2002. Schmidt has said he thought

Civilian and military dignitaries cut the ribbon to officially open a modern operations center that monitors the heavily traveled skies around the nation's capital Feb. 3. The Joint Air Defense Operations Center, called "JADOC" for short, is staffed around the clock at Bolling by Air Force and Army National Guard personnel to watch for potentially dangerous aircraft such as the hijacked jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.