Book Review - The Lion, The Fox & The Eagle: A Story of Generals and Justice in Yugoslavia and Rwanda - Carol Off

Reviewed by Captain Alexander Landry, MBA, Engineering Staff Officer at NATO Allied Land Command

As the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) undergoes a period of review and cultural renewal, it is the reviewer’s belief that one of the keys to sustainable progress lies in the analysis of a previous tumultuous period for the organization, including the strategies that ultimately led to its exit. Amid the review of CAF missions abroad in the 1990s—perhaps as part of a self-reflection on a time synonymous with what the organization is experiencing today—Carol Off’s The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle becomes relevant once more, particularly given that one of its principal characters is the former Supreme Court justice currently conducting an independent review of the CAF. Ultimately, it is a self-proclaimed story of generals and justice in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, or perhaps of a lack of justice, depending on how history is interpreted thirty years later.

Carol Off is indisputably a living legend among Canadian journalists; she previously hosted CBC Radio One’s As It Happens and is one of the leading journalists on CAF involvement in the Balkans during the decline of the former Yugoslavia. Accordingly, The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle provides background on the eruption of conflicts in both Bosnia and Rwanda in detail prior to specifically diving into Canadian involvement through two former generals and a judge.

The author first investigates the “lion” of the story, Romeo Dallaire, a self-proclaimed “NATO man” with experience in preparing for what was supposed to be the zenith of confrontation with the Russians. He was arguably unprepared for the powder keg that was Rwanda at the time, leading into one of the worst ethnic cleansing campaigns in recent memory. The author takes great care in outlining the story of a stellar military leader who would unfortunately become embroiled in the politics of the affair. He would realize too late that the cavalry was not coming and that the international community was ready to sit on its hands in anticipation of what was believed at the time to be a conflict between two parties, not an ethnic massacre. Throughout the text, Off provides detail not only on the conflict itself but also on the resulting effects it had on Dallaire in what the reviewer found to be a prelude (as the book was written in 2000) to Shake Hands with the Devil and subsequently Waiting For First Light. Considering its release date and its inclusion of interviews with the retired general, this alone makes it a must-read for Dallaire fans and United Nations military historians alike.

Changing gears to represent the “fox” of the story, the author brings readers into the setting that saw a city sieged for three years in modern times while a peacekeeping force once again debated moral equivalency between two seemingly armed forces in the area. In this instance, the Canadian at the helm of the task force was Lewis MacKenzie, a general who would become famous (and perhaps later infamous) for his use of the media to bring the eyes of the world onto the conflict between parties. Many things can be said on both sides of the metaphorical token about the former general, and Carol Off emphasizes many of them. In an incredibly fair portrait of someone who could be considered the foil of Dallaire in many respects, the author demonstrates what can happen when the neutral force arguably becomes biased towards one side of the conflict. It also delves into the question of how the bias can consequently compromise the situation through its resulting effects on moral equivalency (if there even was such a thing) or simply the relations between the factions involved.

Finally, Off provides an overview of the “eagle” of her narrative, depicting Justice Arbour’s appointment to the world stage for both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). From within this portion of the text, it becomes evident that Justice Arbour was an incredibly fair leader of those two courts, making the best of a difficult situation when the United Nations was looking to lighten the burden of dismay following two arguably failed missions. Although inconsistencies exist within the scope of these tribunals, Arbour moved the yardstick forward concerning international law and successfully underlined the importance of such prosecutions––the first of their kind since Nuremberg. Regardless of the overall storyline, which is detailed in an exciting manner by the author, criminal authorities, including a head of state, were brought to justice for crimes against humanity. That, to an extent, provided some reconciliation for the prior two portions of the book, previously leaving readers distraught with how two situations could have been fumbled in such a manner.

Overall, The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle remains a foundational review of CAF and Canadian interest in peacekeeping pre-Afghanistan. The context of the book is becoming increasingly relevant once again, as the world enters a new era of near-peer confrontation and sabre-rattling amidst neighbouring countries in the hot spots of the globe. Two decades onward from its publication, Off’s account of two Canadian peacekeeping affairs reminds us of our role in the world and of the times when Canada was at the forefront of foreign affairs in trying to make sense of fairness within declining empires and long-standing ethnic feuds. Although it remains to be seen where the future of the United Nations and its peacekeeping missions lie amid renewed tensions between global powers, The Lion, the Fox & the Eagle provides insight into what can happen when these missions go wrong and the situation is not managed in its precursor phases. The book is highly recommended to CAF members as well as to any Canadian looking to get a glimpse of the past when Canada played a pivotal role on the world stage.

This article first appeared in the April, 2024 edition of Canadian Army Journal (20-2).