It shouldn't be that complicated

There's much in the news about Canada's failure to distribute Kuwaiti 'thank-you' medals to Canadian military personnel who helped liberate that country fifteen years ago.

The Kuwaiti government delivered 4,097 medals to Foreign Affairs in November and asked that they be given to Canadian military personnel who took part in 1991's Operation Desert Storm, the international coalition that freed Kuwait from months of Iraqi occupation.

But the government has yet to do anything with the medals because it says it already recognized Canadian Forces personnel with its own medal and can't distribute a duplicate medal minted by a foreign government.

Mr. Travis said yesterday that makes no sense for one simple reason -- he already received a duplicate medal from the government of Saudi Arabia in 1992, and the Canadian government helped him get it.

"The Government of Saudi Arabia has created and graciously offered to award its Kuwait Liberation medal to all coalition force members who participated in the Gulf and Kuwait War during the period of active hostilities," says a June 1992 memo from the "Director Ceremonial" at Defence Department headquarters in Ottawa.

The memo makes clear that Canadian personnel were already getting their own medal from their own government and that the Saudi Arabian medal could not be officially worn with it because "it would constitute a double recognition."

"Nonetheless, the Government of Canada is pleased to acknowledge Saudi Arabia's," the memo states.

"Therefore, Canada has accepted the medals for presentation to each qualified person in accordance with Canadian regulations and protocol. Canadian Forces members are authorized to accept and keep the medal as a mark of recognition from Saudi Arabia and as a memento of their service in the Gulf."

I can understand the rationale behind not allowing CF members to wear duplicate medals on the uniform. I don't know that I agree with it, but I can at least see the argument.

But refusing to distribute a medal that is nothing more than a memento to be hung on a wall or kept in a drawer seems petty. LCol (Ret'd) John Stuart seems to agree [ed: thanks to Dave in comments for the correction from (R) to (Ret'd)]:

I am quite conversant with the issue of honours and awards regarding the Gulf and Kuwait War, as I was the Deputy Chief of Staff Support at the Canadian headquarters in Bahrain during the entire deployment and have attempted to gain approval for official wear of the Saudi Kuwait Liberation Medal (shown at right) since 1992. I have raised the issue at several levels, and the same negative response is always the result.
...
In his last response to me of July 25, 2000, the Deputy Secretary of the Chancellery at Government House stated in part that the policy agreed to by the incumbent Chief of the Defence Staff to accept and not wear the Liberation of Kuwait Medal granted by Saudi Arabian authorities was in accordance with the policies of the U.K. and Australia. This decision should have made it extremely easy for the Foreign Affairs folks who chair the honours policy committee to also accept the Kuwait Liberation Medal granted by the Emirate of Kuwait, under the same circumstances.

So the Brits and Aussies haven't a problem with this. Not to mention the Americans. Just Canada. Nice.

All the Kuwaitis are trying to do is say thank you:

The Kuwaiti embassy employee said his country simply wants to express its gratitude to Canadian Gulf War veterans and giving them a medal is the best way to do that.

"We’d like to express our feelings and thank the Canadians who helped us during the Kuwait invasion (by Iraq)."

Ms. Riordon said Kuwaitis should be able to thank veterans if they want to and her husband should receive the medal he wanted so badly.

"We liberated Kuwait, they are happy, they want to honour our veterans and our veterans deserve that honour.

"I’m fulfilling a promise to Terry," she said. "He adored the people of Kuwait. This medal means a lot to him."

Medals are nothing more than a pat on the back. Canada has gotten better at that over the past few years, but every time the Powers That Be pull a stunt like this, they take us right back to square one.

What's more, they never seem to learn from past mistakes:

Sources told the Post that U.S. General Warren Edwards had already signed the recommendation for five Bronze Stars for the sniper teams, drawn from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, last month. Gen. Edwards, deputy commanding general of coalition land forces in Afghanistan, had recommended three Canadians for a Bronze Star and two for a Bronze Star with distinction.

The night before the troops were to be awarded the medals, about three weeks ago, Canadian military officials in Ottawa put the decorations on hold, according to a U.S. Army source in Afghanistan.

The Canadian military told their U.S. counterparts to wait before awarding the medals for reasons of "Canadian protocol."

Oh, the soldiers got their decorations eventually. And I have little doubt that with all the publicity surrounding this unnecessary charlie-foxtrot, the Kuwaiti medal will eventually be distributed just to kill the story.

But will the Canadian protocol types in charge of this fiasco finally learn from their mistakes? I'm not holding my breath. Recognizing soldiers shouldn't be this complicated.