A year Later, Still no answers in killing of major by Israel

Canadian died in Lebanon as UN post hit by Israeli air strike

Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener, the Kingston woman whose husband was killed on peacekeeping duty in Lebanon last summer, is still waiting for answers from Ottawa on why he died.

Just over a year ago, Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener perished, along with three other peacekeepers acting as unarmed UN military observers, after an Israeli air strike on their observer post in Khiam, Lebanon, during the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war. Repeated appeals by the UN for Israel to halt shelling near the post had gone unheeded.

"I have absolutely nothing," his wife told the Toronto Star. "I'm very concerned about this because the longer things go on and the longer things remain unanswered, the more I worry about the truth really coming out.

"And that must happen. We have to have a complete understanding of it. People were very upset by it – not just in Canada but all over. And we need to know why. The `fog of war' is not an answer."

Hess-von Kruedener's death on July 25, 2006, along with those of his colleagues from Austria, China and Finland, sparked an international outcry.

Last September, Canada convened a board of inquiry under Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier to investigate circumstances surrounding the major's death. It heard from about 50 witnesses.

Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener said she was told to expect the board's report this past spring but it never arrived.

She is writing to Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier asking when the findings will be made public.

Yesterday, John Morris, a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence, said the board's report was still being prepared and it is impossible to say when it will be released. Morris said he didn't know if the findings had yet landed on Hillier's desk.

"Nothing has been completed," Cynthia said, "and I still remain in the same position that I was last year at this time.

"Questions remain still unanswered: Why did (the Israelis) bomb that post? What was the threat? All those sorts of things are still unanswered."

Kofi Annan, then UN secretary-general, expressed shock over the incident and labelled the bombing "apparently deliberate."

Israel accepted full responsibility for the deaths, launched an investigation and apologized to the UN for what it later described as an "operational error."

A confidential UN report on the deaths was completed in September but reportedly failed to explain why Israeli forces disregarded UN appeals to stop firing. UN officials said Israel blocked its investigators from speaking with the Israeli commanders who ordered the attack on the post.

Canadian authorities have been given reports by Israel and the UN but Cynthia Hess-von Kruedener said she has been denied access to them.

"The biggest thing, which I think everyone should be wondering about, is that with all the conflicting information, it's obvious that the truth is not out there," she said.

"Something happened that day and somebody knows what happened and why it happened and that has to be answered.

"We can't have cover-ups or that sort of thing going on. That's not right. People's lives are at stake. We need to be the leaders in peacekeeping and we cannot treat our peacekeepers like that."

Will the Truth come out or will the Canadian Government bow to the pressure of the Canadian Jewish/Israel Lobby that runs the Canadian Government when it concerns Middle East Policy especially concerning Israel.