MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – August 22, 2012

• Afghanistan  “Former infantry officer Robert Semrau, who was dismissed from the Canadian Forces for shooting a severely wounded Taliban insurgent on an Afghan battlefield, has ended a two-year silence with the publication of a new book.  The book, The Taliban Don’t Wave, attempts to place the controversial events of Oct. 19, 2008, into a broader context. Slated to be published later this month, the 312-page book details the stress, horrors and heroics of Semrau’s four-month tour of duty in Afghanistan, which ended with his arrest on a charge of second-degree murder ….”
• Meanwhile, one element of the Taliban’s Info-machine is on the fritz – again.
• New boss for 15 Wing Moose Jaw  “15 Wing once again has a new wing commander.  Col. Paul Goddard officially took over command as wing commander and military director of the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program from Col. Marc Bigaouette during the change of command ceremony at 15 Wing on Monday ….” – more on what the local paper thinks the new boss should be doing in an editorial here.
• Way Up North (1)  “For the first official stop of his summer Northern tour, the prime minister paid a visit to a tourist operation about 45 minutes outside Whitehorse.  In a replica of an old mining town, visitors to the North can play with sled dog puppies and pan for gold.  And while the prime minister did take a few minutes to meet the pups, it’s the gold he’s really after.  “The North’s time has come,” Stephen Harper told a crowd of about 300 Conservative supporters at a rally Monday night.  “I tell people starting to see the activity here, you ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of what’s coming in the next decade.”  Plumping up the Canadian mining and oil and gas sectors to feed resource-hungry countries the world over has become a singular focus of the Harper government. The prime minister refashioned that priority Monday as one belonging to all Canadians.  The North’s untapped wealth is “that great national dream,” Harper said — but Canadians need not sleep any longer.  “It is not down the road. It is happening now,” he said ….” - more on the PM’s road trip here.     
• Way Up North (2)  Slick new newsletter out, courtesy of the Joint Task Force North Info-machine (PDF)
  
• Way Up North (3)  Meanwhile, in the U.S. ….  “Top U.S. Coast Guard officials say the agency is well-prepared for Arctic missions, even as the agency shops for an amphibious Arctic craft that can handle treacherous sea ice and extreme cold off Alaska’s northern coast.  Nationwide the agency operates scores of response boats that do everything from conduct rescues to fight fires to bust drug-runners to help defend America’s coastline. But there’s no fleet based in the U.S. Arctic, where an increasing number of ships ply the frigid seas off Alaska’s shores in support of oil development, shipping and tourism.  As a result, the Coast Guard is looking for a versatile patrol vessel that fits into a C-130, a large cargo plane, and can be launched from shore to negotiate ice-choked seas, big waves and the Arctic coast’s ever-shifting sands, the Coast Guard’s research center announced this year ….”
• Cops still looking into an attempted kidnapping at CFB Comox  “The RCMP and military police are investigating the possible attempted abduction of a nine-yearold girl on the Canadian Forces Base in Comox.  A young girl was riding her bike back from the Glacier Gardens Arena and Recreation Centre at 19 Wing Comox about 4 p.m. Friday when a blue van with two men in it slowed down.  One of the men allegedly asked the girl: “Have you ever been kidnapped before?”  The girl, believed to live in military housing on the base, rode home and told her mother, who reported the incident to military police, said Capt. Julian White. The girl gave detailed descriptions of the men.  The driver was about 50, had a scar on his left cheek and was clean shaven.  He was wearing jeans and a navy blue T-shirt ….”
• Ooooopsie….  “A Canadian Forces Base Shilo soldier has been sentenced to 12 days in military jail for disgraceful conduct after an incident in a women’s changing room at the base recreation centre.  One of the victims said the soldier masturbated while watching two women in the changing room. They spotted him after they changed clothes, and it’s possible he saw them naked.  “It’s super-violating… you’re just there for somebody else to look at to do what they want to do,” said the woman who asked to remain anonymous ….”
  
• See what happens when you complain about the food?  (I kid, I kid….)  “Aging veterans living in the Camp Hill Veteran’s Memorial Building endured more than 30 hours of humid summer temper­atures this week after the build­ing’s air condition system broke down.  The building’s cooling infra­structure experienced a me­chanical failure Monday morning and didn’t come back on until about 9 p.m. Tuesday.  Capital Health spokesman John Gillis said the structure was warm inside but staff did not have to relocate any of the 175 veterans who call the building home because of the heat.  “I think the humidity is the bigger issue and the bigger source of discomfort,” Gillis said Tuesday. “They have the fans in the ventilation system turned up to the highest setting to keep the air moving even if it is not cool.  They are trying to keep windows open and use portable fans.”  Staff and residents have been told to keep hydrated, he said ….”
  
• “Prince William has come to the rescue. Again.  Four days after helping save a 16-year-old girl from drowning off the coast of Wales, the prince swooped in to rescue an injured Canadian tourist in North Wales.  Darlene Burton, 58, from Barrie, Ont., was airlifted to a hospital Monday in North Wales in a helicopter manned by none other than Prince William.  Ms. Burton is vacationing with her husband, Lawrence Oakley, doing the Anglesey coastal walk, a 10-day walk around the island where the Prince has been living and working as a helicopter rescue pilot since his wedding to his wife Kate last year.  Mr. Oakley and Ms. Burton were hiking on an isolated trail along the coast close to the picturesque Point Lynas lighthouse, when she slipped on a rock and broke her leg ….”
• Khadr Boy  Sun Media survey Says:  Keep him outta Canada  “Canadians overwhelmingly agree that convicted terrorist Omar Khadr can stay right where he is, in prison at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Though Canada’s chief ally wants to send Khadr back to the home and native land where he was born, six in 10 Canadians don’t want him back, a new poll finds …. the poll commissioned by Sun News Network and done by Abacaus Data of Ottawa, shows that a healthy majority of Canadians have not been swayed …. When asked if they support or oppose Khadr’s transfer to Canada, 60% say they strongly or somewhat oppose it while just 24% say they strongly or somewhat support his return. A majority in all parts of the country oppose the transfer though opposition is strongest in Alberta (69%) and Ontario (65%) and weakest in Quebec were 51% oppose the move.  And both a majority of those who voted for the Conservatives (79%) or the NDP (52%) in the last election don’t want Khadr back ….”
• “The RCMP had been looking for a young Canadian boxer for almost two years when he was killed in a clash with Russian security forces last month, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.  Police learned about William Plotnikov shortly after he left Canada suddenly in September 2010 and made his way to Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus region to join an armed insurgent group, he said.  “We had a report of a missing person,” said Assistant Commissioner Gilles Michaud, the head of National Security Criminal Investigations. “His disappearance was reported to us and we are aware of the media reports involving the individual and we are looking into it.” ….”

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