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Harjit Sajjan Issues Facebook Apology For Falsely Claiming He Was Architect Of Operation Medusa

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Apr, 2017 11:25 AM

    OTTAWA — Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan says he is truly sorry after claiming in a recent speech to have been the architect of Canada's largest battle in Afghanistan.

     

    The mea culpa follows what some saw as a half-hearted apology for the comments Sajjan made in India earlier this month.

     

    In a Facebook post, Sajjan says he made a mistake by describing himself as the architect of Operation Medusa in 2006.

     
     

    He goes on to retract the comments and offer his sincere apologies to all the soldiers he served with in Afghanistan.

     

    That includes then-major general David Fraser and his team, whom Sajjan credits for the operation's success.

     

    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.

     

     

    "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.

     

    His appointment to cabinet in November 2015 was followed by a series of flattering stories about his service, including photos of him smiling in the field, clad in a flak jacket, prompting some to call him "Canada's badass defence minister."

     

    Sajjan does not say why he made the comments about Operation Medusa, during which hundreds of Taliban were killed.

     

    Twelve Canadian soldiers also died during the two-week battle.

     

     

    WATCH ABOVE: Harjit Sajjan Caught Inflating His Role In Key Afghan Battle During India Visit

     

    Twitter users unleashed a round of mockery at Harjit Sajjan on Friday after the defence minister expressed “regret” for inflating his role in a 2006 offensive against the Taliban in a Friday statement.

     

    Conservative MP Erin O’Toole kicked things off by “thanking” Sajjan for his Second World War exploits.

     
     

    Other twitter users quickly followed suit by jokingly placing the defence minister in various historic battles.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

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