From: golchowy@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy)
Subject: Re: Canada's voice in Bosnia Conflict (General Lewis MacKenzie)
Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 14:01:37 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.114557.2248@unixland.natick.ma.us> sharon@unixland.natick.ma.us (Sharon Machlis Gartenberg) writes:
>cicic@cc.uow.edu.au (muris cicic) writes:
>
>>General MacKenzie's position is unattainable from any human or political
>>consideration.  He is allegedly suspicious for:
>>- he never accused Serbs for ruthless shelling of civilian targets,
>>- he kept talking about "waring sides" for situation which whole world
>>  (UN, CSNA, media) defined as a brutal agression against basically unarmed
>>  people,
>>- he tried to justify Serbian position from "military" point of view, 
>>  claiming that being provoked, they must respond,
>>- he activelly helped in spreading rubbish propaganda about "new Vietnam",
>>- he participated in for that war designed propganda about unbelivable hatred
>>  as a trait of region and people there.  The proofs were typical Serbian
>>  stupidities, anyway designed for TV Belgrade auditorium, since its logic
>>  is hardly holding any sense in.  Our hatred is not in any sense differnt 
>>  from your hatred for people that kill your brother, sister...
>
>Here is one possible explanation for Gen. MacKenzie's position, which I have
>also found a bit bizarre: Imagine that you are leading a small, international
>force in Sarajevo, which you KNOW, based on political realities of the time,
>will not be permitted to lift a finger to help defend civilians in the city.
>You watch the carnage and suffering daily. How can you live with yourself?
>How can you justify to yourself morally that you are there with soldiers,
>yet do nothing to help unarmed, innocent civilians?
>

The UN troops in Sarajevio have little more than machine guns...I'd 
like to see you volunteer to race up mountains to take out artillery
positions with little more than a machine gun.  The UN troops in
Sarajevo are essentially unarmed...they could be captured relatively
easily by either side.  The purpose of the UN force in Sarajevo was
to open up the airport to bring in relief supplies so fewer people
would die...not to stop the war, or to take sides in the war.

MacKenzie has no reason to morally question his actions...fewer 
people were and are dying because the UN forces openned the airport.

Can you imagine the American president sending Americans troops 
into war zones essentially unarmed without air support or the
means for rescue...Canadians do this routinely in peacekeeping
operations around the world...and you want to psychoanalyze our
general...MacKenzie had a few thousand lightly armed forces
in Sarajevo.   

Bush had half a million forces on the ground in Saudi Arabia and
Turkey and he stepped aside and let Saddam slaughter Kurds and
Shiites.  Thousands of Iraqi children are facing disease and
starvation because of the policy decision of Bush to leave
Saddam Hussein in power...contrary to Bush stated position that
his only fight is with Saddam, most of the people dying in Iraq
due to Bush's policy are children.

Psychoanalyze that.

>Perhaps one way you do this, to keep yourself from being overcome with
>guilt, is to convince others -- and therefore yourself -- that helping  
>them is logistically impossible, and that the situation is more 
>morally "complicated" than it appears. How else do you watch shells rain down on
>innocent people hourly and do nothing?   
>

I expect you've volunteered to go to Sarajevo for some international
relief organization...or is that logistically impossible for you.

Canadians have asked their soldiers to go into a war zone essentially
without the means to defend themselves to open a minimal supply line...
if you don't want us to be there, we'll willing bring those precious
lives home.

Gerald

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