Below are arguments advanced against the inclusion of the paintings in the new Canadian War Museum portraying Airborne soldiers Kyle Brown and Clayton Matchee, who were implicated in the beating death of a teenager in Somalia in 1993.

• The commission of these paintings is completely contrary to the mission of the new War Museum.
• In accordance with Museum policy, the Canadian War Museum is to accept only donated exhibits.
• This purchase was made without consulting the CWM's Advisory Council, on which several prominent soldiers and historians serve.
• There is no mention in the minutes or reports of the Advisory Council that the purchase of the paintings was even under consideration.
• These paintings do not deserve a place in a Museum dedicated to Canada's military heritage as they depict beating death (murder) of a Somalian teenager at the hands of two Airborne soldiers. What the paintings depict is not a part of war; it is a part of murder.
• The Somalia incident was not war, and Clayton Matchee was not typical of Canadian soldiers. The Museum is highlighting mistakes made by a few.
• This is an insulting tribute to those who fought and gave their lives for freedom. Veterans feel betrayed.
• The Museum is ignoring and snubbing the veterans who have contributed financially. Money that was donated by these veterans should be returned to the donors because the Museum is sending the wrong message.
• Veterans who served in war seem to have had little input in the Museum.
• War is fought under the Geneva Convention, which is a very harsh set of rules, but there is nothing in the Geneva Convention that anywhere comes close to covering the atrocity and the kind of murder that was committed in Somalia in the name of the Canadian Army.
• The War Museum seems to depict a different war than many veterans recall.
• There is an awful lot of good there. There may be some bad, but when you get to the ugly, you are opening yourself up to very impressionable youngsters who go through the Museum with their father or mother. If a youngster takes a look at one of these paintings and says "oh, is that what war was like, is that what my grandpa did?" -- they will have completely missed the boat.
• The War Museum is not the place for impressionists; we have a tremendous Arts Centre in Ottawa for that. This has no place in a military Museum.
• The fact that thousands of our young lads did not make it back is what we call the horror of war. The veterans did their part; they deserve to be shown here. You can accept that war is hell, and that should be depicted. But you do not need to show somebody twisting a stick around the neck of a poor, helpless teenager who was trying to steal a crust of bread. That belongs in Madame Tussand’s wax museum. The interpretation that is placed upon the Somali incident is not war at all, it is just straight torture.
• The two paintings might be a symptom of a deeper problem at the War Museum -- that of its integrity and independence. It is part of the Museum of Civilization culture which, some feel, is a reservoir of non- or anti-military people who not only do not understand the military, but tend to detest things military.
• One newspaper succinctly stated that Brown and Matchee do not represent even a minority of our soldiers but rather "the bad apples, the lunatic fringe present in every segment of society."
• The artwork casts a dark shadow on our military history and dishonours those who gave their lives. It appears the Historical Committee believes "atrocities committed by Canadian troops (proved or otherwise) are part of our military heritage."