Sajjan says he’s ‘truly sorry’ for Operation Medusa claims
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will get a chance Monday to explain to Parliament why he tried to deceive an audience of Indian security experts by claiming he was the “architect” of Canada’s biggest military operation in Afghanistan.
Sajjan is expected to be in the House of Commons for question period when it reconvenes after a two-week break, having just returned to Canada from government business that took him for six days to the country of his birth, India, as well as Malaysia.
The minister issued a second, more abject apology via Facebook over the weekend for the speech he gave April 18 to the New Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation security think-tank than the original explanation provided to Postmedia. Postmedia had asked him for comment Thursday before publishing a story in which an officer deeply informed about Operation Medusa accused him of a “bald-faced lie.”
“I made a mistake in describing my role,” Sajjan said on Facebook. “I wish to retract that description and apologize for it. I am truly sorry.”
Sajjan was a reservist major assigned to Task Force Kandahar during Operation Medusa in 2006.
Lt.-Col. Shane Schreiber, the soldier considered by many colleagues to be the most knowledgeable about the architecture of the operation, told Postmedia Friday that “Harj the soldier probably would not have said that. Harj the politician did, thinking that he could get away with it. When you are careless with words as a politician, that can haunt you.”
Sajjan’s second mea culpa came over the weekend as he continued to be condemned or mocked on social media for having boasted he had been the mastermind of Operation Medusa. The former British Columbia Regiment (Duke of Connaught’s Own) armoured officer served as a liaison officer during the operation, providing intelligence assessments about the Taliban to NATO’s Regional Command South commander, then Brig.-Gen. Dave Fraser, whose staff put the battle plan together for approval by a British general in Kabul.
“What I should have said is that our military successes are the result of the leadership, service and sacrifice of the many dedicated women and men in the Canadian Forces,” Sajjan told his Facebook followers. “Operation Medusa was successful because of leadership of MGen (Ret’d) Fraser and the extraordinary team with whom I had the honour of serving.
“I was proud to have served with Canadian, American and Afghan soldiers who made Operation Medusa successful. I am honoured to serve the women and men of the Canadian Forces today as their minister.”
Sajjan’s claim is not the first time the former lieutenant-colonel has referred to his role in the battle in this way, CBC News reported Sunday. On a regional B.C. podcast called Conversations that Matter, he said the current chief of the defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, considered him to be the central figure, CBC said.
“If I could quote him, he said I was the architect of Operation Medusa, one of the biggest operations since the Korean War that Canada has led,” Sajjan said in July 2015, when he was running as a Liberal candidate, according to the report.
In his speech in India, Sajjan said the operation he claimed to have designed had “removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield.” Some soldiers and scholars who were involved in Medusa or studied the battle believe only about 500 Taliban may have been involved.
On Friday, Vance shut down questions about Sajjan’s comments as he was providing an update on the military’s efforts to stamp out sexual misconduct.