Canadian Interpretation – Canadian Sources

hi ic c m ma ap p o of f t th he e U UN NP PA A s s --a an nd d M Me ed da ak k P Po oc ck ke et t p pu ub bl li is sh he ed d i in n a a b bo oo ok k C Ch ha an nc ce es s f fo or r P Pe ea ac ce eThe Second Battalion of the Princess Patricia Light Infantry/Battle group was being commended..( )..for a heroic and professional mission during the Medak Pocket Operation in the former Yugoslavia in September 1993.In extreme peril and facing enemy artillery, small arms and heavy machinegun fire, as well as antitank and antipersonnel mines, members of the 2.PPCLI Battle group held their ground and drove the Croatian forces back.The exemplary actions of the battle group caused the Croatian Army to cease their ongoing tactics of ethnic cleansing in the Sector (South authors remark), without question saving many innocent civilian lives.That is the quote from the citation the 2.PPCLIs Lt. Colonel Jim Calvin and a few hundred present soldiers, protagonists of the Medak Pocket events, were awarded by the Governor General of Canada and the Canadian military forces Commander in Chief, Ms. Adrienne Clarkson, on December 1st 2002 in Winnipeg, Canada.That citation proves how to impose a historical truth.Croats attacked Canadian peacekeepers; a battle between them was waged, the Croats were defeated and forced to withdraw, and after their committed war crimes they became a nation with a tarnished reputation in the eyes of Canadians and the rest of the world.Was that really the historical truth?Or was that an adapted, new truth, in which the Canadian Army was embellishing something that did not take place and the Croatian Army, state and its people were condemned for actions they did not do perpetrate.Is that somewhat late citation awarded as a cover for the ugly incidents Canadian forces had been involved with in Somalia?Does that citation help the Canadian Army reclaim the position and privileges it had in Canadian society?Is the citation intended to boost the Armys morale and effectiveness in a time that brings many uncertainties with it even a proposal for the Canadian Armys radical reform and a new approach to Canada involvement in the worlds peacekeeping, which has been Canadas pride?I do not think that the Canadian Army, Canadians, or Canada are to be blamed for criminal acts in Somalia.In Somalia, the brunt of guilt should be put on specific Canadians involved, and they should be punished.The same should apply to guilty Croatian individuals in the Medak Pocket Operation.Much like Canadian soldiers in Somalia, the evidence needs to be examined, guilt proven and punishments should be passed without changing the events of history.After a thorough investigation of the facts about the events of the Medak Pocket some half-truths could be revealed.Point one -the citation the Governor General and Chief of Defence awarded to Canadian forces for the mission accomplished in the former Yugoslavia.At the end of 2002 the Defence Chief disclosed the name of state as Yugoslavia, in order to denote the place of the mission.According to international law, 104 NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE .UTURE 3-4 (3) 2002.UNPRO.OR was a UN protection force with an initial mandate applied to Yugoslavia.However, in September 1993, Yugoslavia did not exist anymore.In its place, were the five states that had been formed; the last one tried to carry on with the name the .ederalRepublic of Yugoslavia.It was not a UN member state.The four states created from the former Yugoslavia were all UN member states.If the unfortunate war had not been waged, the four states, apart from sharing the same neighbouring area, would not have any connection with the state that by that time had already changed its name and constitution.248 Therefore, in the citation, a much more adequate name to use would have been Croatia, where the Operations had taken place.When the citation was awarded, Croatia had already been a UN member state, a sovereign state, for ten years.In 1993, (one year after international, including Canadian recognition), one fourth of Croatias territory had still been occupied by the aggressor (Serbia, Montenegro and Serb rebels).The aggressor had been organized, armed, and sent to occupy Croatia by that same former Yugoslavia.Today twelve years after Croatia acquired its sovereignty, many a respectable historian and a journalist, state facts already known to us.One of these writers is the 2002 Pulitzer prize authour Samantha Power.When writing about the Belgrade strategy towards Croatia during that period, Power calls it the HYENA strategy.This means hyena( the aggressor) refrains from its most aggressive actions when international condemnation or pressure is at its strongest.As soon as this ceases, the hyena continues nibbling its prey.249 The UN mandate was approved as long as the formal Yugoslav state existed.Point two -The Canadian Armed .orcesCommander-in-Chief never mentioned the name of the state that agreed on receiving help from the peacekeepers, in order to achieve those objectives the full sovereignty and liberation of its territory.The citation never mentions Croatia as a country in which the heroic deeds of Canadian soldiers took place, but names its army, the Croatian army sic ill reputed because of its constant ethnic cleansing.It also mentions the enemy, or, Croatian artillery, heavy machineguns and minefields which to uninformed Canadians would suggest that the enemies of Canada were the Croats and their notorious army.While describing the difficulties Canadian soldiers overcame in that unnamed country, whose army is called Croatian, the Canadian Commander-in-Chief hasnt chosen the overstatements like tanks, charges, heavy artillery fire 250 , but all the same she speaks of attacks being repelled and positions that were kept under Croatian Army pressure, the later aim being, the citation suggests, to defeat Canadian soldiers.105

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