MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 23 July 12
- Here we go again…. “Newfoundland and Labrador’s opposition parties are criticizing the military’s decision to allow troops to use a helicopter for a fishing trip. The trip occurred June 8 but only came to light after provincial Liberal member Randy Edmunds recently posted a photo to Facebook showing crew members from 5 Wing Goose Bay at a Labrador lake. Capt. Dave Bowen, a spokesman for the airbase, said the commanding officer of 444 Combat Support Squadron authorized the use of a CH-146 Griffon for the trip. “This trip was approved … as an extraordinary measure to recognize the effort of the ground crews in completing essential maintenance and detailed inspection of one of the aircraft returning to Goose Bay from a deployment in Jamaica,” Bowen said in an email. e also said the crew members on the trip to No Name Lake conducted a reconnaissance mission for ongoing operations in the area, adding: “The survival training of many members serving in 444 Combat Support Squadron entails practical fishing skill.” But Edmunds, who represents the Labrador riding of Torngat Mountains, said it was a misuse of military aircraft. “I thought after what happened with the fishing trip with Minister (Peter) MacKay and the Burton Winters’s story that we would never see something like this again,” he said Friday in an interview. “For the military to call it a reward trip for training, I’m just appalled.” ….” - more here. For the record, the chopper in question was AT ALL TIMES AVAILABLE IF NEEDED FOR SEARCH AND RESCUE WORK – more from those in the know here at Milnet.ca
- Commander-in-Chief visiting CF members taking part in RIMPAC 2012
- Meanwhile, Canada’s Navy sinks an American ship
- CF members watching French troops train to evacuate nationals from hot spots “Air-dropping a brigade of paratroopers to seize a foreign airfield and evacuate civilians on tactical transport aircraft — isn’t that the plot of the next summer blockbuster? Maybe, but it’s also one of the scenarios that went into Exercise MOJITO, a major joint exercise conducted from 10 June to 15 June 2012 in the Midi-Pyrénées region of south-western France …. In recent years, the Canadian Forces have conducted two NEO missions: from Libya to Malta in the first phase of Operation MOBILE in 2011, and from Lebanon to Cyprus in Operation LION in 2006. These missions taught the CF some significant lessons about bringing non-combatants safely out of danger zones ….”
- All sorts of new stuff announced at Esquimalt and Wainwright.
- Way Up North “Canada’s Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) have been in the pipeline for five years. Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has signed a CAN $9.3 million contract with the Nova Scotia-based Irving Shipbuilding to begin work on the vessels. It’s an important first step, as for a while the number of AOPS that Canada would acquire was in flux. However, the amount of money represented by the contract is quite small, as the ships are estimated to cost $3.1 billion to acquire and a another $4.3 billion to maintain. With the funding from the initial contract, Irving Shipbuilding will review the existing blueprints for the AOPS and begin working on an execution strategy …”
- Afghanistan (1) “American and British criticism of Canada’s long and often bloody military efforts in Afghanistan has a ring of revisionism that ignores key facts, experts say. In particular, they say, the notion that blithely optimistic Canadians were reluctant to ask for outside help as they struggled alone in Kandahar province, which had been abandoned by the Americans in favour of Iraq, is ludicrous. “The war (in Afghanistan) isn’t exactly going well, so people look around and try to fix blame wherever they can,” said Canadian military historian, Jack Granatstein. “The Americans and Brits are good at this historically.” In his recent book “Little America: The War within the War for Afghanistan,” Washington Post author Rajiv Chandrasekaran criticizes Canada for only having about 800 on-the-ground combat troops to cover the province. He cites one U.S. adviser as saying Canadian soldiers were “focused on reconstruction activities, not providing security.” The author also writes the U.S. didn’t push Ottawa to send more troops into Kandahar city because it didn’t want to “dictate” to the Canadians or embarrass them, and that Canada was “reluctant” to ask for help. “That’s wrong,” Granatstein said. “We tried repeatedly to get assistance. Basically, no help came.” ….”
- Taliban Propaganda Watch Taliban get personal, calling for war crime trial for a pretty nasty piece of work
- Point (remember, there’s no indication of the documents in question being shared with the public, so we can’t tell what else may be in them): “For the past two years, Canada has been quietly working to establish small military outposts in places such as the Caribbean, East Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia. Now newly released Department of Defence documents show these operational support hubs are centred on a plan to deploy the military on more overseas missions — including combat and projecting Canadian power — than under previous governments. The revelation touches on a debate about the future role of the military that has been quietly raging in the aftermath of major combat operations in Afghanistan and Libya, and amid major belt-tightening across the federal government. Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk authorized the establishment of the operational support hubs in up to seven locations around the world on May 13, 2010. A directive signed by Natynczyk and obtained by Postmedia News says the initiative was launched to improve the Canadian Forces’ “ability to project combat power/security assistance and Canadian influence rapidly and flexibly anywhere in the world.” ….”
- Counterpoint: “Even by the usual low standards of Canadian political issues, concerns over the plans of the Canadian Forces to establish bases all around the world are almost comically overblown. For several years, the military and National Defence officials have been working with allied or at least friendly nations to reach agreements that would permit the Canadian military to operate out of their territory in the event of an international emergency. These bases would be located in Europe, eastern Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and southeast Asia. A total of seven bases may ultimately be established. Oooh. Sounds scary …. Some would say it doesn’t sit well with Canada’s peaceful nature. Canada’s peacekeeping history and goodwill for all has always largely been a myth — Canadians have certainly done good work on peacekeeping missions, but the primary role of the military has always been to fight and prepare to fight again. But even for those who prefer a softer, gentler Canada, these bases are good news — you can’t mount a disaster relief mission, humanitarian intervention or peacekeeping operation without supplies. And supplies come through bases. Canada is doing the right thing by taking steps to ensure that our military can respond quickly and efficiently anywhere in the world, and doing it all on a shoestring budget. If everything the military attempted was so well-planned and cost effective, we’d be doing very well indeed.”
- Mark Collins: “People have expressed concern about the supposed “militarization” of foreign policy by the “Harper government” …On the contrary, it seems to me that it is the leadership of the Canadian Forces that is looking towards that militarization ….”
- Riiiiiiiiiiiight … “Part of the problem of stating Canada’s position/status as a war-monger is found in the reporting mechanisms and standards which are based in colonial exploitive values and qualities which do not undergo the comparative analysis of open ‘debate’ (French ‘de’ = ‘undo’ + ‘bate’ = ‘the fight’) …”
- “The Harper government, eager to fix Canada’s chronically dysfunctional system for buying military equipment, is considering changes that would strip the Department of National Defence of significant responsibility in steering major purchases. Stephen Harper and staff in the Prime Minister’s Office are determined to reform the way Canada buys military equipment after a string of troubled purchases, from F-35 fighter jets to supply ships to combat vehicles, have left the impression the Conservatives are failing to effectively manage this spending ….” – more here
- One columnist’s opinion: “Can anybody shoot straight in the Defence Department when it comes to buying equipment? What’s been going on with defence purchasing represents a mix of snafu and scandal. Delays, cost overruns and general embarrassment define far too many projects. Typically, however, no ministerial heads roll, nor do senior military people get demoted or fired. Instead, bafflegab from junior ministerial press aides and unintelligible and unintelligent mutterings from ministers have been the order of the day ….”
- “Colonel Bernard Ouellette was once Canada’s top soldier in Haiti. The former commander of the Canadian Task Force and chief-of-staff to the UN mission was stripped of his command in Port-au-Prince two years ago following allegations that he had an “inappropriate relationship” with his civilian secretary, Albanian Vlora Merlaku. In March 2012, officers under Ouellette’s command emailed Ottawa with accusations that Ouellette and Merlaku were “frolicking together” by the pool and had been seen holding hands. Ouellette was given an administrative job in National Defence headquarters. He claimed he was unaware of the allegations before he was sanctioned — and wasn’t able to defend himself. Ouellette, 51, maintains that the allegations were false — and have effectively destroyed his career ….”
- “William Whyte once boasted in an interview with a Toronto newspaper that his armour-plated vehicles were “pretty awesome machines” and that his customers included a good friend of Arnold Schwarzenegger. But when the Canadian man entered into a multi-million-dollar contract to supply the U.S. Defense Department with 32 armoured gun trucks to protect VIPs in Iraq, he only delivered seven — and none of them met the bullet- and blast-protecting requirements, according to a federal grand jury indictment handed down this week in Virginia. Federal prosecutors announced late Thursday that Whyte, 67, president of Ontario-based Armet Armored Vehicles, and his company have been charged with three counts of major fraud against the United States, seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of false, fictitious and fraudulent claims. The charges have not been proven in court and in a statement emailed to Postmedia News, Whyte, who is not in custody, said he was “shocked at the allegations against me, which I totally deny.” He also said he was prepared to meet with U.S. Prosecutors …. ” - more on the case here (Google News)
- Khadr Boy (1) “Omar Khadr won’t be coming home to Canada any time soon. The Canadian government has balked at the return of the convicted war criminal and murderer until U.S. authorities turn over allegedly-damning video footage of psychiatrists’ interviews with the Guantanamo Bay prisoner. In a formal letter sent Thursday to both U.S. defence secretary Leon Panetta and Khadr’s Toronto lawyer, John Norris, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews states that in order to have Khadr sent back to serve the remainder of his sentence in Canada, officials north of the boarder must be given access to sealed video footage of separate interviews with Khadr that were carried out by two psychiatrists during the lead-up to Khadr’s trial in 2010. Toews also stated complete reports from Dr. Michael Welner and Dr. Alan Hopewell have not been supplied to Correctional Service of Canada and the parole board, and that both are required to administer Khadr’s sentence in Canada, according to sources familiar with the letter ….” - more here
- Khadr Boy (1) “An Indo-Canadian woman is behind a new group which has launched a national campaign, supported mostly by rightwing Tory supporters, to prevent the repatriation of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is currently imprisoned in the Guantanamo military prison (also known as Gitmo) and has pled guilty to several charges including that of killing an American Army medic in Afghanistan in July 2002 ….”
- Oopsie…. (None of this has been proven in court at this point) “Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer sought secret information about Canadian military satellite technology after meeting with state-owned Chinese technology companies in China in 2010, according to a document filed in an Ottawa courthouse … by private investigator Derrick Snowdy. Snowdy is being sued by Jaffer’s wife, Helena Guergis, for defamation, along with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party of Canada and a number of senior officials who were involved with Guergis’s expulsion from the Conservative caucus in April 2010 in the “busty hookers” scandal. Guergis resigned from cabinet and was expelled from the Conservative caucus the day after the Toronto Star reported that Jaffer and business associates had partied with escorts at a pricey Toronto restaurant the night that Jaffer was charged with cocaine possession ….”
- BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD Relatively-new Horn of Africa country! “One of Africa’s most repressive dictatorships, Eritrea, has been collecting money to bankroll its military through its consulate in Toronto, according to a United Nations report obtained by the National Post. The report said the fundraising scheme “arguably” violated a UN arms embargo on Eritrea and that government agents had also held a fundraising event in Calgary this year, falsely claiming the money was for orphans …”
- War of 1812 (1) Note to CF Info-machine: it would be nice to get some photos of said pins and banners. “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence …unveiled the War of 1812 Commemorative pins to be proudly worn by Canadian Forces members, and Commemorative banners that will be flown by Canadian Forces units, formations and establishments whose heritage embraces service in the defence of Canada during ….”
- War of 1812 (2) “A 200-year-old symbol of peace and friendship between First Nations and the British Crown — lost for nearly 100 years — is back in the hands of a Six Nations community in southern Ontario. At the end of the War of 1812, Superintendent of Indian Affairs Col. William Claus presented the “Pledge of the Crown” Wampum belt to the Grand River Haudenosaunee people to thank them for fighting alongside British soldiers against American invasion, and as a “pledge to respect their culture and government,” said historian Rick Hill, chairman of the Six Nations Legacy Consortium. The land of the Six Nations sits 25 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ont. ….”
