Occasional Paper #61 Reluctant Peacekeeper - Canada and the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, 1972-1982 Sean M. Maloney, 2008  Abstract: The little-known and oft overlooked Multinational Force and Observers or MFO is possibly the post successful interpositionary peacekeeping force ever-and it is, surprisingly, not a United Nationals force. Equally surprising was Canada's reluctance to participate in the MFO, given how pumped up Canada is about its peacekeeping mythology. Canada's decision to join the MFO was a long and tortuous one and was discouraged for years by civil servants like Bob Fowler and others for motives which remain questionable. Right before he was assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat begged Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to send Canadians to help implement the Camp David peace process. He was rebuffed. When submitted, this occasional paper was initially rejected by one venue via alleged 'peer review'-apparently by a former Canadian diplomat-turned academic, a man who was apparently involved in the events that I describe. I was privately told later by a source that this individual bragged about having stopped the piece's publication in order to protect reputations. The 'peer review' was snide in tone and did not even address the main argument in the piece at all. Once again, the incestuous nature of the Canadian diplomatic community and its acolytes in academia has produced another attempt to 'spin' Canadian history. This Orwellianization failed and the Queen's Centre for International Relations kindly agreed to publish it in their occasional paper series. |
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