Date: January 19, 1995
Author: Valentina Krčmar, Director, Bedem Ljubavi – Mothers for Peace
Addressed to: General Lewis MacKenzie, Toronto, Ontario
View the Original Letter: krcmar book 2_Part152 12.pdf
About This Letter
Dated January 19, 1995, this letter from Valentina Krčmar, Director of Mothers for Peace (Bedem Ljubavi), addresses General Lewis MacKenzie, the controversial Canadian peacekeeper who served in Bosnia and became a public commentator on the Yugoslav Wars. The correspondence is a response to MacKenzie’s earlier fax from September 10, 1994, in which he allegedly claimed that journalist Eric Margolis had privately admitted his articles were “full of errors.”
Krčmar’s tone is concise but assertive. She challenges the general’s claim directly, grounding her response in verified communication rather than hearsay.
“In your letter of September 10, 1994 you said that Mr. Margolis admits in private that his articles are full of errors. It is not so.”
She explains that she personally contacted Eric Margolis to confirm the truth of the statement. His written reply to her, dated November 14, 1994, completely refuted MacKenzie’s allegation:
“I have never admitted that my articles were full of errors. All of the statements that I made remain valid and I stand behind them.”
Krčmar closes the letter with characteristic brevity and dignity:
“Enough said.”
Though short, this letter reveals much about Krčmar’s leadership and principles. Her directness reflects both her commitment to factual integrity and her unwillingness to let misinformation go unchallenged — particularly when it came from powerful figures like MacKenzie, whose public comments often downplayed Serbian aggression and criticized journalists sympathetic to Croatian and Bosnian victims.
In just a few sentences, Krčmar defends not only the credibility of a respected journalist but also the moral weight of truth-telling during wartime — a value she upheld throughout her activism.
