Charges subsequently laid against members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment suggested that sixteen people had passed through the area where Arone was tortured and that, during the night, his screams could be heard throughout the surrounding area. The commander of 2 Commando and a number of his subordinate supervisors were court-martialed and found guilty under article 124 of the National Defence Act (Negligent Performance of Duties).
Soon after the death of Shidane Arone came to public attention, other actions by the Airborne also began to be scrutinized. Days earlier, a patrol from the Reconnaissance Platoon had shot and killed a young Somali night-time infiltrator and seriously injured another. A temporarily attached Air Force flight surgeon, Major Barry Armstrong, stated in letters home which he subsequently leaked to the press, that he judged, after seeing the body, that the death of one of the Somalis was an "execution". He subsequently accused the Reconnaissance Platoon commander, Captain Michel Rainville, of destroying his photographic evidence, but these accusations were never proved and the officer was tried and acquitted. Captain Rainville would later be charged with torturing one of his own soldiers in a mock-exercise, that included anal-rape and psychological torture.
Home-video footage of another trooper, Cpl Matt McKay, was found, in which he stated that "we ain't killed enough ******s yet." Predeployment photographs of McKay performing a Nazi salute in front of a Swastika were also published. Video of brutal hazing rituals also came to light.
Canadian Airborne in Somalia
Originally Posted by Whitcomb
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