MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – September 7, 2012
- Historian on what Quebec separation could mean for Canadian defence “…. The reality is that no one in Quebec, or outside it, believes that an independent Quebec would want anything but the most bare-bones of constabulary duties for its military. That translates into either Canada or the United States assuming de facto responsibility for the defence of Quebec, responsibilities in which Quebec would have almost no say. Certainly both Canada and the United States are unlikely to be willing to make Quebec a third member of NORAD. There might also be opposition to allowing Quebec to join NATO. None of this may matter very much if there is no military threat to North America or Europe, but these conditions cannot be guaranteed to last forever ….”
- Afghanistan (1) One Colonel’s story via the Info-machine “The Alamo, as most people know from Hollywood movies, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound and the site of the Battle of the Alamo, fought in 1836. It is now a museum in downtown San Antonio, Texas. To those of us here in Kabul, however, it is the 14-nation coalition base that is home to the Kabul Military Training Centre Training Advisory Group (KMTC TAG), which I command, and other components of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission that assist and advise the Afghan National Army, or ANA. There are many stories about how the camp came to be called “Alamo”, but those have been, as we say, lost in the mists of time. I think it helps give those of us who live here a fierce sense of pride, and that isn’t a bad thing. I’m here on a year-long tour — actually my second tour in Afghanistan, the first being in Kandahar in 2006 — and in this series of articles I hope to give people back home a sense of what were are all doing here as part of Operation ATTENTION, which is Canada’s contribution to ISAF and, in particular, the NATO Training Mission–Afghanistan or NTM-A. Until March 2014, Canada is maintaining a contingent of up to 950 troops in NTM-A ….”
- Afghanistan (2) One letter writer’s take on how we ended up training Afghan troops instead of fighting the Taliban “…. The myth of peacekeeping has a corrosive influence on Canadian well-being. Because of it the government could not generate a public opinion majority to support combat operations in the war in Afghanistan. As a result, it was forced to cut back those operations and re-cast the Canadian contribution in terms of international social work ….”
- Afghanistan (3) Want a bit of a taste of Robert Semrau’s book “The Taliban Don’t Wave“? What look like some previews are available at Scribd.com and Google Books – check here for those links.
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (1) “The suicide note of a Canadian soldier was withheld from his parents for 14 months by military police in what Cpl. Stuart Langridge’s stepfather calls a calculated deception. Shaun Fynes, in his second day of testimony before a public inquiry, says he believes his son’s last communication was kept quiet to protect the Canadian military from embarrassment. The Canadian Forces National Investigative Service says it held on to the note, in which Langridge said he couldn’t take the pain anymore, because it was evidence in an ongoing investigation. It acknowledges 14 months does not represent “expeditious” handling of the note, but has never explained why it needed to keep it beyond the first few days of the investigation. Fynes says when the family did finally receive the note, it was a photocopy, not the original ….” - more here.
- Stuart Langridge, R.I.P. (2) “The head of a federal inquiry into the suicide of Afghan veteran Stuart Langridge cautioned the soldier’s parents Thursday not to expect any rulings about the medical care their son received from the military during his struggle with mental illness. “But it isn’t because we don’t care,” said Military Police Complaints Commission chairman Glenn Stannard, who told Langridge’s mother and stepfather Sheila and Shaun Fynes that ruling on medical issues is outside his mandate. After months of testimony from more than 70 witnesses, a dispute remains between the military and the Fynes over whether their 28-year-old son was suffering from a war-inflicted mental injury when he hanged himself in Edmonton in March 2008 ….”
- “On behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Rodney Weston, Member of Parliament for Saint John, …. announced a contribution of up to $5,925 to support the official dedication of Wade-Myles Park and the unveiling of the Millidgeville Community Cenotaph. These funds, in addition to a previously announced contribution in support of the cenotaph’s construction, bring the Government of Canada’s total contribution to this project to $8,675 ….”
- 241 days away from his sweetie with the Navy? 241 cards tucked away for his sweetie to read while he was away. “The tears started falling in the spring, when Crystal Maxwell first learned of her husband’s coming deployment. The eight months that Leading Seaman Devin Maxwell would spend in the Middle East would be the longest the two had been apart since marrying just two years earlier after a whirlwind courtship. Recognizing his wife’s heartache, Devin hatched a plan to surprise her, not knowing the tremendous response it would eventually elicit ….”
- Khadr Boy (A bit) more on the tapes now in the hands of Canada’s Public Safety Minister “Canada’s most infamous terrorist could be one step closer to returning home. Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr’s repatriation to Canada was on hold while Public Safety minister Vic Toews waited for videotapes and documentation he said he needed before making his decision on whether Khadr presents a threat to public safety here. The tapes – hours of psychological evaluations conducted prior to Khadr’s trial by two doctors, which were sealed by U.S. officials – were received by Toews Wednesday, department officials confirmed. They will be reviewed in accordance with Canadian law, though Public Safety could not say which. Some have said Toews’ possession of the tapes will effectively force him to make a decision. Khadr’s lawyers have said they see no reason he shouldn’t be brought home soon. Toews’ office could not answer questions on the volume of the materials or when a decision would likely be made. Officials were equally silent in response to questions of whether the public will get to see the tapes. However, it is thought that the more sympathetic Khadr appears in the videos, the less likely Toews will be to release them ….”
- “A downtown courtroom witnessed the unusual spectacle Thursday of a former public security minister forced to testify on how the government makes top-secret national security decisions. Despite objections from government lawyers, Stockwell Day was called to testify in the long legal battle of Mohamed Mahjoub, 51, an Egyptian who is accused of moving to Canada as part of a terrorist plot and who has been in prison or under house arrest since 2000 as a threat to security. Mr. Day spoke of signing security certificates against five men accused of terrorist links, including Mr. Mahjoub, in Vancouver airport on Feb. 22, 2008, during a 30-minute lunch-hour meeting with officials. The signing followed review of boxes of files and evidence in the weeks and months beforehand, he said ….” - more here and here.
