Canada Disbands Elite Airborne Regiment
Canadian Defense Minister David M. Collenette ordered Canada’s elite Airborne Regiment disbanded Monday following a series of disclosures of racism and brutality.
Collenette acted just hours after receiving a report by Chief of Staff Gen. John de Chastelain.
The Airborne Regiment has been under fire since March, 1993, when eight members were charged in the torture death of a Somali teen-ager caught sneaking into their camp while the unit was stationed in Somalia on U.N. humanitarian duty. Since then there have been allegations of additional abuse of Somalis and home videos of soldiers making racist comments about Somalis and of a 1992 hazing incident.
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