Canadian War Crimes

The Canadians have served and served well over the years. Then something happened. It was not pretty.

The Canadian Airborne Regiment
QUOTE
The Canadian Airborne Regiment was a Canadian Forces formation created on April 8, 1968. It was not an administrative regiment in the commonly accepted British Commonwealth sense, but rather a tactical formation manned from other regiments and branches. It was disbanded in 1995 after the Somalia Affair.
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The moral of that one is don't do it or don't leave any evidence behind.

 

Somalia Affair ex Wiki
QUOTE
The Somalia Affair was a 1993 military scandal later dubbed "Canada's national shame". It peaked with the brutal beating death of a Somali teenager at the hands of two Canadian soldiers participating in humanitarian efforts in Somalia. The crime, documented by grisly photos, shocked the Canadian public and brought to light internal problems in the Canadian Airborne Regiment. Military leadership came into sharp rebuke after a CBC reporter received altered documents, leading to allegations of a cover up.

Eventually a public inquiry was called. Despite being controversially cut short by the government, the Somalia Inquiry cited problems in the leadership of the Canadian Forces. The affair led to the disbanding of Canada's elite Canadian Airborne Regiment, greatly damaged the morale of the Canadian Forces, and marring the domestic and international reputation of Canadian soldiers. It also led to the immediate reduction of Canadian military spending by nearly 25% from the time of the killing to the inquiry.

It has been compared to "a Canadian version of...the Pentagon Papers", or My Lai, but critics noted that while My Lai had occurred in a hostile environment where American soldiers were being killed by an invisible enemy every day, the Canadian troops in Somalia had not suffered any casualties or extreme stress, and the only provocation that Canadians faced was petty theft from their base.
UNQUOTE
It wasn't pretty. The Wiki has censored these two pictures.

 

Errors & omissions, broken links, cock ups, over-emphasis, malice [ real or imaginary ] or whatever; if you find any I am open to comment.
 
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Updated on 28/09/2014 21:31