Almost certainly he was. There is no more logical or likely explanation for what happened to Clayton Matchee. He was floridly psychotic in the days to weeks prior to the killing of Shidane Arone. Had the Somalia Commission of Inquiry investigated the role of mefloquine, interviewed Marj Matchee and interviewed others on their experiences with mefloquine, this point would have been obvious. Clayton Matchee was hallucinating the presence of camel spiders in the bunker. He was whacking the camel spiders, and that led to the beating death of Shidane Arone.
This needs to be explored more. The lack of curiosity as to the role of mefloquine in the events of that era, the critical events of that era, is remarkable. It's such an important event in the history of Canada. I am from Canada. I was born here. I was a teenager during the Somalia affair. I distinctly remember how ashamed I felt as a Canadian when that happened. I distinctly remember that. Imagine how the disgraced members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment feel. I believe we owe it to them to fully investigate this matter. Now, knowing what we do about how prevalent symptoms from mefloquine were among that group, aren't we owed the benefit of our 25 years of accumulated experience to go back and re-examine the role of the drug in the events of that era?
Our group has long called for a reopening of the Somalia Commission of Inquiry. I wrote to your Prime Minister several months ago. I did not receive a reply, but I simply don't understand how one can accept these questions being unanswered for so long.