Editing Lewis MacKenzie (section)

==Bosnian War==
In February 1992, MacKenzie was named chief of staff of the United Nations peacekeeping force in former Yugoslavia, tasked with supervising the cease-fire in [[Croatia]]. The force headquarters were located in Sarajevo, the capital of [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. In April 1992, the [[Bosnian war]] broke out. MacKenzie created and assumed command of the peacekeeping force's Sector Sarajevo in May 1992. He used his UN force to open Sarajevo Airport for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Using the media as a means of trying to help restore peace, MacKenzie became an international celebrity.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

MacKenzie returned from the Balkans in October 1992 in controversial circumstances. As a member of the Canadian armed forces he was precluded from commenting on government policy. After criticising the United Nations' inability to command, control, and support its peacekeeping forces, he retired from the military in March 1993.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

He has since written and lectured on his experiences in the former Yugoslavia questioning the numbers killed in the [[Srebrenica massacre]], an event that came after his period of service in the area.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1541411/EU-plans-far-reaching-genocide-denial-law.html | location=London | work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] | first=Bruno | last=Waterfield | title=EU plans far-reaching 'genocide denial' law | date=2 February 2007}}</ref> He has challenged the findings of the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) and, in 2005, contested the conclusions and reasoning of the Appeal Chamber's 2004 judgment in the Krstić case that the crime of genocide was perpetrated at Srebrenica in July 1995.<ref name="realstory">{{cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-real-story-behind-srebrenica/article737584/ |title=  The real story behind Srebrenica |newspaper=[[The Globe and Mail]]|date= 14 July 2005|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141006132924/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-real-story-behind-srebrenica/article737584/ |archive-date= 6 October 2014 }}</ref>
He has also disputed that Srebrenica ever was a UN Safe area, and argued that the demilitarization requirements imposed on both the Serb side (surrounding Srebrenica) and the Bosniak side (inside the enclave) were never fulfilled.<ref name=realstory/>

[[Srđa Pavlović]] of the [[University of Alberta]], a Serbian-Montenegrin historian specializing in the political and cultural history of the South Slavs during the 19th and 20th centuries, wrote that "(s)ince mid-1990s the [[Bosnian genocide denial|denying of the Srebrenica]] genocide has been a main feature of all of General MacKenzie's public addresses on the breakup of Yugoslavia", adding that the "majority of scholars specializing in the Balkan history and the breakup of Yugoslavia view Major General MacKenzie as a promoter of a narrative that denies Serbia's responsibility in that bloody breakup and as someone who disputes the evidence of genocide committed in Srebrenica that was presented to the ICTY in The Hague"<ref name="Pavlović-2019-General's Road">{{cite web |author1=Srdja Pavlović |author1-link=Srdja Pavlović |title=General's Road to Perdition |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/arts/faculty-news/2019/november/opinion-generals-road-to-perdition.html |website=www.ualberta.ca |publisher=University of Alberta |access-date=22 May 2022 |language=en |date=4 November 2019}}</ref>
The 2000 book ''[[The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle]]'' by [[Carol Off]], which devotes a third of its content to MacKenzie's role in Yugoslavia, claims that MacKenzie was willfully ignorant of the Bosnian political situation and was manipulated into being a vehicle of pro-Serb propaganda.<ref name=GlobeMail>{{cite news |title = Going for the generals |work = [[The Globe and Mail]] |page = D12–D13 |date = 18 November 2000}}</ref> In 1993, investigative reporter and [[Pulitzer Prize]]–winning journalist [[Roy Gutman]] accused Mackenzie of having two trips to Washington D.C., one to speak in front of the Heritage Foundation and the other to appear as an expert witness for the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, funded by SERBNET, a Serbian-American lobbyist group. In a telephone interview with Gutman, MacKenzie responded, "It wouldn't surprise me if there was some Serbian involvement considering who initiated the contract; however I would be very disappointed if that were the case."<ref name=Peacekeeper>{{cite book|last=MacKenzie|first=Lewis|title=Peacekeeper: The Road to Sarajevo|year=1994|publisher=HarperCollins|location=United States|isbn=0-00-638049-2|page=499}}</ref> The day after the interview, an article appeared in ''[[Newsday]]'' suggesting that MacKenzie was on the Serbian payroll. When MacKenzie confirmed the source of the funds was indeed SERBNET, he donated the entire fee to the Canadian Federation of Aids Research (CANFAR).<ref name=Peacekeeper /> However, UN officials ultimately criticised his "lack of judgment" in the matter.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Roy |last1=Gutman |author-link=Roy Gutman |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V113/N29/serbs.29w.html |title=Former U.N. Leader MacKenzie Speaks on Behalf of Serb Forces |work=[[Newsday]] |date=23 June 1993 |accessdate=2011-06-04 |archive-date=6 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206204142/http://tech.mit.edu/V113/N29/serbs.29w.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>