MONTREAL -- A Quebec City man has been arrested on sex charges just before he was to launch a book stating that, as a former member of Canada's anti-terrorist unit, he took part in an operation in Afghanistan well before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Denis Morisset doesn't think it's a coincidence he was arrested this week just before he was to unveil a book about his eight years of service in the elite Joint Task Force 2.
Titled Nous étions invincibles ("We were invincible"), the French-language book speaks of forays into South America and in Afghanistan in 1998, as well as missions in Rwanda and Bosnia.
"It's not an anti-military book. It's a book by someone who was proud of being part of that unit," co-author Claude Coulombe said in an interview.
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Nevertheless, a recurrent theme in the book is the toll of the missions on JTF2 operatives.
It mentions that six former members have committed suicide. It also says that Mr. Morisset saw a colleague get fatally shot in the head while they protected General Maurice Baril in Rwanda in 1996. The death was kept quiet because of the unit's secretive nature, the book says.
Mr. Morisset is shattered by the latest charges against him, Mr. Coulombe said. "He told me, 'There's been six suicides in JTF2, if they want a seventh, they'll get it.' "
The 44-year-old Mr. Morisset was arraigned yesterday on two counts of soliciting teenaged girls on the Internet.
"He's convinced he's been set up," his lawyer, Herman Bédard, said in an interview.
Mr. Morisset already has a criminal record for sexual assault on a minor and possession of juvenile porn. He blames the military for failing to provide him with therapy and letting him slip into a depressive, destructive state.
Mr. Coulombe said the unit's secrecy makes it harder for ex-members to unburden themselves of the horrors they witnessed. Mr. Morisset told him that, while the unit was in Afghanistan in 1998 to gather information on the Taliban, he saw through the scope of his sniper rifle villagers getting their throats cut. Mr. Coulombe said he knew Mr. Morisset before he joined JTF2. Meeting his friend afterward, "he was a dead man walking. He was depressed. He had nightmares."
The book talks about JTF2 operatives witnessing gruesome atrocities during missions in Rwanda, Bosnia and Afghanistan, but also spotlights their lesser known role in Peru and also in Colombia, acting against FARC guerrillas.
It also says that in one of their first missions, the unit members intervened in a hostage-taking at a bank in Ottawa, shooting down the robbers.
Mr. Coulombe said book publisher Éditions JCL has received a letter from the Department of National Defence, warning that unauthorized accounts of the unit's operations could threaten national security.
Lieutenant Yves Desbiens, a spokesman for DND, said in a prepared statement that Mr. Morisset's book is an unauthorized account of Joint Task Force 2 and the Canadian Forces had no role in its production.
"Publications of this nature have the potential to endanger the safety of unit members and their families. They can also jeopardize the effectiveness of operations by disclosing sensitive and/or classified information. To mitigate these risks, all members of JTF2 sign a non-disclosure agreement when leaving the unit."
He said DND will review the book to ensure no person or operation is compromised, but would not comment further.
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