Editing Lewis MacKenzie

{{Short description|Canadian general}}
{{About||the British Army colonel who died in 1810|Lewis Mackenzie, younger of Scatwell|the Virginia politician|Lewis McKenzie}}
{{redirect|General MacKenzie}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name                = Lewis MacKenzie
|image               = General Lewis Mackenzie.jpg
|caption             = Major General MacKenzie in 2010
|birth_name          = Lewis Wharton MacKenzie
|birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|1940|04|30|df=y}}
|birth_place         = [[Truro, Nova Scotia]], Canada
|death_date          = 
|death_place         = 
|placeofburial       = 
|placeofburial_label = 
|nickname            = 
|allegiance          = {{Flagu|Canada}}
|branch              = {{Flagicon image|Flag of the Canadian Army (1968–1998).svg}} [[Canadian Army]]
|serviceyears        = 1960–1993
|rank                = Major General
|unit                = 
|commands            = 
|battles             = 
|awards              = [[Order of Canada]], [[Order of Ontario]], [[Meritorious Service Cross]], [[Canadian Forces' Decoration]]
|laterwork           = 
}}
'''Lewis Wharton MacKenzie''' [[Order of Canada|CM]], [[Meritorious Service Cross|MSC]], [[Order of Ontario|OOnt]], [[Canadian Forces' Decoration|CD]] (born 30 April 1940) is a [[Canadian]] retired major general, author and media [[Pundit (expert)|commentator]]. MacKenzie is known for establishing and commanding [[1992 Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Sarajevo|Sector Sarajevo]] as part of the [[United Nations Protection Force]] (UNPROFOR) in the former [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] in 1992. MacKenzie was criticized for his role in the [[Somalia Affair]] and for Canada's [[The Lion, the Fox, and the Eagle|peacekeeping failures in Bosnia]]. He was later a vocal opponent of [[NATO]]'s involvement in the [[Kosovo War]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~leonardo/pub/mackenzie04.htm|title=National Post(Canada) April 06, 2004|website=ece.ubc.ca|access-date=2019-10-02|archive-date=18 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418021109/http://ece.ubc.ca/~leonardo/pub/mackenzie04.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/mansbridge-one-on-one-lewis-mackenzie|title=Mansbridge One on One: Lewis Mackenzie|last=Mansbridge|first=Peter|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=2019-10-02}}</ref>

==Biography==
MacKenzie was born in [[Truro, Nova Scotia]], the son of Eugene and Shirley MacKenzie (''nee'' Wharton.) He was raised in nearby [[Princeport, Nova Scotia|Princeport]]. He is named after his great uncle, [[Liverpool, Nova Scotia]] schooner captain Lewis Wharton. MacKenzie's forefather Israel Wharton fought as a [[United Empire Loyalist]] in the [[American Revolutionary War]], taking part in the [[Battle of Waxhaws]], before he subsequently settled in the Liverpool area.

==Military career==
MacKenzie enlisted with [[The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada]] and was commissioned in 1960. During his Canadian army career, MacKenzie served nine years in West Germany with NATO forces and had nine peacekeeping tours of duty with the United Nations in six different mission areas – the Gaza Strip (1963 and 1964), Cyprus (1965,1971 and 1978), Vietnam, Egypt, Central America (1990–91, commanding the United Nations Observer Mission) and the former Yugoslavia (1992–1993).<ref name="britannica.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/354856/Lewis-MacKenzie |title=Lewis MacKenzie (Canadian military officer) – Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Britannica.com |date=1940-04-30 |accessdate=2014-01-05}}</ref><ref name="clearlandmines.com">[http://www.clearlandmines.com/peacekeepers_hallHonour_mackenzie.cfm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001223237/http://www.clearlandmines.com/peacekeepers_hallHonour_mackenzie.cfm|date=1 October 2011}}</ref>

Between peacekeeping missions MacKenzie served as an instructor at the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College (1979–82) and as director of army training at St. Hubert, Que. (1983–85). As commander of the Canadian Forces Base in Gagetown, N.B. (1988–90) he was responsible for training officers at the Combat Training Centre. In 1985, he was appointed director of Combat-Related Employment for Women and, in 1991, he was appointed deputy commander of the Canadian Army's Land Force Central Area.<ref name="britannica.com"/>

Following his return from the Balkans in October 1992, MacKenzie was appointed commander of the army in Ontario.<ref name="britannica.com"/> He retired from the [[Canadian Forces]] in 1993, after a 33-year career.

He was the first Canadian, military or civilian, to be awarded a second [[Meritorious Service Cross]].<ref name="clearlandmines.com"/> The second was [[Guy Laroche (Brigadier General)|Brigadier-General Guy Laroche]] in October 2010.<ref name="The Governor General of Canada">{{cite web|url=http://gg.ca/document.aspx?id=13917 |title=The Governor General of Canada > Governor General to Present 39 Military Decorations |publisher=Gg.ca |accessdate=2014-01-05}}</ref>

==Somalia Affair==
Lewis MacKenzie was criticised by the Somalia Commission of Inquiry for his contribution to the [[Somalia Affair]] after Canadian Forces in Somalia committed human rights abuses and breaches of international humanitarian law and members of the Canadian command were found to have engaged in a subsequent cover-up.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57JQTG?OpenDocument&View=defaultBody&style=custo_print|title = International Committee of the Red Cross|date = 3 October 2013}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite news| url=http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/peacekeeping/topics/723/ | title=The Somalia Affair | url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618013857/http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/peacekeeping/topics/723/ | archive-date=2008-06-18 |work=CBC News}}</ref>

The Commission observed that MacKenzie testified in an honest and straightforward manner; it did not always accept everything that he said but accepted that he offered the truth as he saw it. It found that his superiors' desire to parade his successes as a bona fide hero of the Canadian Forces had impaired his ability to supervise and control matters that were his core responsibilities.

The Commission found that MacKenzie had failed adequately to investigate the significant leadership and discipline problems in the Canadian Airborne Regiment, to inform himself of the problems and to take decisive remedial steps to ensure they were adequately resolved. In addition, it found that he did not adequately monitor the Regiment's training to ensure its development as a cohesive unit or make adequate provisions for the troops to be trained or tested on its newly developed Rules of Engagement and failed to direct and supervise the training of the Canadian Joint Force Somalia personnel in the Law of Armed Conflict for peace support operations.

The Commission further ruled that MacKenzie had important obligations as a commander and so bore responsibility for the failures that attached to the discharge of those obligations. His role was pivotal and despite the fact that he was necessarily absent from his post due to obligations condoned by his superiors, errors in the chain of command below him remained his responsibility and flowed upwards from him to the highest levels of the command structure.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dnd.ca/somalia/vol4/v4c31e.htm 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212225406/http://www.dnd.ca/somalia/vol4/v4c31e.htm|url-status=usurped|title=Report of the Somalia Commission of Inquiry |access-date=27 October 2020|archivedate=12 February 2007|website=www.canada.ca}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.700365/publication.html |title=Dishonoured legacy : the lessons of the Somalia Affair : report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia.: CP32-65/1997E-PDF |website= Government of Canada Publications|date=July 2002 }}</ref>

==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>

==Post-Military==
===Media===
MacKenzie is the author of two books:
* ''Peacekeeper: Road to Sarajevo''
* ''Soldiers Made Me Look Good: A Life in the Shadow of War''
and also writes short essays about military affairs, most often in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'':
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/we-can-help-in-mali-without-putting-boots-on-the-ground/article7653080/ "We can help in Mali without putting ‘boots on the ground’"] 23 Jan 2013
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/the-road-to-damascus-goes-through-moscow/article548913/ "The road to Damascus goes through Moscow"] 22 Feb 2012
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/natos-libya-hope-strategy-is-bombing/article598629/ "NATO's Libya 'hope' strategy is bombing"] 10 Jun 2011
He is frequently sought by Canadian broadcast media as a security and military affairs commentator:
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/cracks-showing-in-natos-libya-strategy/article625520/ "Cracks showing in NATO's Libya strategy"] 22 Jun 2011
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/as-politicians-hit-hustings-canadas-libya-mission-flies-under-the-radar/article573997/ "As politicians hit hustings, Canada's Libya mission flies under the radar"] 24 Mar 2011
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-let-election-skirmishes-eclipse-war-in-libya/article574525/ "Tories let election skirmishes eclipse war in Libya"] 29 Mar 2011
* [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/daniel-mnard-scandal-leaves-military-reeling/article4392497/ "Daniel Ménard scandal leaves military reeling"] 30 May 2010

In 2005, following the appointment of former Lieutenant-General [[Roméo Dallaire]] as a [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Senate of Canada|senator]], MacKenzie wrote an editorial in ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' entitled "Roméo, Roméo, wherefore art thou partisan?" arguing that Dallaire had compromised his previous stance by endorsing the Liberal Party's position on intervention in Sudan.<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050519/COLEW19/TPComment/TopStories Roméo, Roméo, wherefore art thou partisan?], ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', 19 May 2005.</ref>

On 19 April 2010, MacKenzie was interviewed on CTV's ''Power Play''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/ctv-news-channel/power-play |title=CTV News &#124; CTV News Channel &#124; Power Play with Don Martin |publisher=Ctv.ca |accessdate=5 January 2014}}</ref> in relation to accusations by [[Ahmadshah Malgarai]], a translator, who witnessed interrogations in which a witness allegedly recounted that the Canadian military murdered a 17-year-old Afghan. MacKenzie dismissed those accusations as "crap" and "insulting" to the Canadian military, while he viewed the denial by the Canadian military as credible. Amir Attaran, a law professor and lawyer for Malgarai disagreed with Mackenzie, arguing that instead of comparing credibility, the military must release the records of detainee interrogations to Parliament, so that Parliament may determine what occurred, based upon the available facts. According to Attaran, it is a legal requirement that the documents regarding detainee interrogations be produced, while they need not be made public. MacKenzie called it "ridiculous" and "ludicrous" to table such documents in Parliament and that, furthermore, he was "not concerned" about the legal requirement to do so. Near the end of the interview, MacKenzie verbally attacked Dr. Attaran: "Last time I checked, in various polls being done across Canada, the Canadian Forces are at the very top of trustworthiness with the Canadian population. I won't mention where lawyers were slated."

MacKenzie is interviewed in two documentary films by Serbian-Canadian film-maker [[Boris Malagurski]]: ''[[Kosovo: Can You Imagine?]]'' (2009) and ''[[The Weight of Chains]]'' (2011). He also contributed to the Canadian documentary ''If I Should Fall'', which focuses on the Canadian military experience in Afghanistan since 9/11.

In 2021, Mackenzie was announced as the Honorary Commander of the Fort Henry Guard, based out of Fort Henry National Historic Site in Kingston, Ontario.

===Politics===
In the [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997 federal election]], MacKenzie was [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] candidate for [[Parliament of Canada|Parliament]] for the central [[Ontario]] [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Parry Sound—Muskoka (federal electoral district)|Parry Sound-Muskoka]].<ref name="EdmontonJournal1">{{citation|title=Poll-happy Tories taunt doomsayers' forecasts|newspaper=[[Edmonton Journal]]|date=1997-05-20|access-date=2024-02-20|publisher=[[Hollinger International]]|via=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/475528144/|quote='If you had to choose a Canadian deputy prime minister, who would you prefer and who do you think the people of Canada would prefer [Liberal]<!--Editorial comment in original article.--> Sheila Copps or Lewis MacKenzie?' Charest shouted to a gathering of supporters in Huntsville, while MacKenzie stood at his side. Charest later said he only suggested MacKenzie for the deputy prime minister's post 'as an example. But he'll play a role. He deserves to play a role.'}}</ref> Visiting the riding, [[Tory]] leader [[Jean Charest]] rhetorically asked a crowd of supporters whether MacKenzie or [[Sheila Copps]] would be a better Deputy Prime Minister, but later explained that this was an example rather than his party's selection.<ref name="EdmontonJournal1" /> The Tories improved their standing and regained official party status, though MacKenzie finished second to [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] incumbent [[Andy Mitchell (politician)|Andy Mitchell]].

Around 2011, MacKenzie unsuccessfully advocated for a plan to revive and modernize the [[Avro Canada Arrow]] [[interceptor aircraft]] as an alternative to the [[Lockheed Martin Lightning II]] [[multirole fighter]] then being [[Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Canadian procurement|considered for Canadian service]].<ref name="CBC1">{{citation|author1-last=Harris|author1-first=Kathleen|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-accused-of-axing-avro-arrow-revival-too-soon-1.1233462|date=2012-09-10|access-date=2024-02-20|title=Ottawa accused of axing Avro Arrow revival too soon|website=[[CBC News]] website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211174656/http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-accused-of-axing-avro-arrow-revival-too-soon-1.1233462|archive-date=2015-02-11|quote=In an interview on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, MacKenzie said he first approached officials about a year ago about the plan by Bourdeau Industries, which has offices in Canada and the U.K., to redesign the Avro Arrow CF-105 as an alternative to the F-35 stealth fighter jet.}}</ref> MacKenzie said he was not working for [[Bourdeau Industries]], the private proposer of the plan, but governmental accountability advocate Duff Conacher, interviewed by the CBC, questioned MacKenzie's activity as a possible conflict of interest and expressed concern that it was possible for him to deliver a company's proposal to the government without being a registered lobbyist.<ref name="CBC1" />

====Electoral record====
{{1997 Canadian federal election/Parry Sound—Muskoka}}

===Leisure activities===
[[File:LewisMacKenzieFFord.jpg|thumb|right|300px|alt=Lewis MacKenzie drives Formula Ford Car|Lewis MacKenzie at the wheel of his Formula Ford car on Friday, 28 August 2009, as part of the NAPA 200 race weekend on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.]]
MacKenzie is a lifelong automobile racing enthusiast. According to an article in the 23 September 2007 ''[[Victoria Times Colonist]]'', he is an enthusiastic, skilled, and competitive race car driver having won the 2007 Diamond Class Ontario championship for Formula Fords at the age of 67.

==Honours==
In 1993 he was that year's recipient of the [[Vimy Award]], from the "Conference of Defence Associations Institute".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cdainstitute.ca/en/vimy-award |title=Vimy Award |publisher=Cdainstitute.ca |accessdate=2014-01-05}}</ref>

In 2006, he was made a Member of the [[Order of Canada]].

==References==
{{Commons category|Lewis MacKenzie}}
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:United Nations Protection Force soldiers]]
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Canadian Army officers]]
[[Category:Canadian generals]]
[[Category:Canadian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Canadian people of German descent]] <!--maternal great grandmother a Gerhardt from Lunenburg, same source as below-->
[[Category:Canadian people of Scandinavian descent]] <!--maternal grandmother née Jensen, source is CBC television program ''Who do you think you are?''-->
[[Category:Canadian people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Ontario]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration]]
[[Category:United Nations personnel in the Bosnian War]]
[[Category:People from Colchester County]]
<!--raised in Princeport-->
[[Category:People from Truro, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Queen's Own Rifles of Canada soldiers]]
[[Category:Canadian officials of the United Nations]]
[[Category:Deniers of the Bosnian genocide]]
[[Category:Queen's Own Rifles of Canada officers]]