The man that many people have dubbed "Canada's Badass Defence Minister" has issued a not very badass apology.When running for his Liberal Vancouver South seat in 2015, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said that Gen. Jonathan Vance, the current Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces, called him the " the architect of Operation Medusa." As reported in the National Post, Sajjan re upped the comments recently during an April 18 speech he gave in India saying, "I was the architect of Operation Medusa where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield."
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Operation Medusa was a Canuck-led offensive that took place in 2006 that attempted to put in place government control over an area of Afghanistan's Kandahar province. The NATO operation cost the life of twelve Canadian soldiers and it is has been estimated that the number of Taliban soldiers killed was as high as 1,500. Operation Medusa remains Canada's bloodiest battle since the Korean war.Well, as it turns out, Sajjan's claims of valour are not being taken too kindly from the Canadian military community. Sajjin was called out publicly for his statements in regards to Operation Medusa. One retired figure, speaking anonymously to the National Post, called the claim a "bald faced lie." On April 29, Sajjan issued a social media mea culpa for his comments."I made a mistake in describing my role. I wish to retract that description and apologize for it. I am truly sorry," reads Sajjin's Facebook post."While I am proud of the role I played during my deployments to Afghanistan, my comments were in no way intended to diminish the roles of my former superiors and fellow soldiers. To them I offer my sincere apologies."
Canada's Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in a photo posted to his Facebook page. Photo via Facebook.
At the time that Medusa went down, Sajjan, a reservist major, was serving as a liaison officer—work that he has received extensive military praise for. In his apology, Sajjan went on to say that Medusa was successful because "of leadership of [major-general David Fraser] and the extraordinary team with whom I had the honour of serving." Several soldiers who were a part of the operation, speaking to the CBC , said that Sajjan played a key role but was in no way "in on the planning of the operation."Opposition politician and media have claimed that Sajjan's exaggeration brings up questions of his character. Conservative defence critic James Bezan said that Sajjan "didn't misspeak. This is him trying to reinvent history and unfortunately he has a habit of misleading Canadians."At no point in the apology did Sajjan explain why he made the comments.Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.