Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 2003 and as leader of the Official Opposition from 1990 to 1993.
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The detail matters. On 27 March Chrétien acknowledged that a small number of Canadian service personnel were embedded with allied forces on non-combat assignments and described their instructions as limited to self-defence. That acknowledgement appears in his parliamentary answer (opens in a new tab). On 1 April he also said Canadian naval deployments in the region involved pre-existing anti-terrorism commitments, not a decision to join the Iraq invasion, according to a further House answer (opens in a new tab). These distinctions prevent a misleading assertion that no Canadian personnel were present in or near the theatre. Ottawa did not join the invading coalition as a country; the government maintained some separate alliance commitments. The policy thus demonstrates how executive decisions can reject a particular military operation while preserving broader diplomatic and security relationships.