RACISM IN THE RANKS

VIDEOTAPES DOCUMENTING PREJUDICE AND BRUTALITY AMONG ELITE PEACEKEEPING TROOPS REOPEN AN OLD WOUND

The footage on the two videos was wobbly and out of focus, but clear enough to shock Canadians last week as they watched late-night national television news. One of the tapes showed soldiers of the elite Airborne Regiment at Petawawa, Ontario, a base 115 km northwest of Ottawa, participating in vicious and racist hazing rituals in 1992. In one scene a black recruit crawled across the ground, with symbols declaring ``I love the Ku Klux Klan'' daubed in excrement on his back. Another soldier was shown being forced to eat urine-soaked bread. The second tape depicted Airborne members in Somalia in...

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