MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – October 22, 2012
- Afghanistan Welcome home! “The first group of Canadian Forces (CF) personnel to take part in Operation ATTENTION (Roto-1) are returning home to Fredericton, New Brunswick, and Trenton, Ontario, after an eight-month mission in Afghanistan …. The CF deployed more than 900 military trainers and support personnel to Afghanistan to take part in Operation ATTENTION, the Canadian component of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan …. Since February 2012, the CF personnel, primarily from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, in Gagetown, New Brunswick, were involved in training and preparing the Afghan National Security Forces in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif ….”
- Rare scotch going for a great cause “A decades-old bottle of very rare Scotch has sold at an auction in Toronto for a record price. The 55-year-old bottle of Glenfiddich single malt, called Janet Sheed Roberts Reserve, is one of only 11 bottles left in the world. It sold Friday night for a record $52,000. The winning bidders were a married couple from Etobicoke, Ont., who love Scotch but who wanted only their first names revealed: Dave and Laurie. Proceeds from the auction went to Wounded Warriors, a not-for-profit organization that assists and improves the quality of life of wounded Canadian soldiers and their families. Dave and his wife decided to bid in the auction because they have close family members who served in the Second World War and wanted to support Canada’s armed forces. Capt. Wayne Johnston, founder of WoundedWarriors.ca, said he was grateful for the buyers and William Grant & Sons, the owners of the Glenfiddich distillery, which donated the scotch for auction ….”
- Columnist reminds the system to keep taking care of the troops “…. Now that Afghanistan is kaput for Canadians, the task of dealing with PTSD “victims” (if that’s the right word) is the responsibility of Veterans Affairs, which these days has to deal with a different sort of wounded soldier than in past wars. Not all PTSD is the same, but all types can be crippling and all deserve the support that is given to those who have visible, life-altering wounds. In many case, PTSD is a war wound — and soldiers who are wounded for their country have earned and deserve everything the country can do to repair the damage. Most would agree with this, but words and deeds don’t always coincide. Too many of Canada’s wounded feel now that the shooting is over, they are being abandoned. Sometimes, their only protector is media publicity, because that’s what grabs the attention of politicians who make the decisions.”
- Four new faces on the Veterans Review and Appeal Board …. “The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, fulfilled today another pledge to Veterans by announcing four new highly qualified appointments to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB), effective November 19. Three highly qualified reappointments were also announced. “With these appointments, the Veterans Review and Appeal Board now has among the highest amount of members with military, medical, and police experience in its history,” said Minister Blaney. “The Veterans’ community has specifically asked for the membership of the Board to be composed of more professionals with this kind of experience, and we are delivering.” …. The appointees announced today all hold either Canadian Forces (CF) or medical backgrounds, and between them, they have a combined 72 years of Canadian Forces experience and 35 years of health care experience ….” Check out the list of new appointees here.
- …. and one familiar face gone from the VRAB “An outspoken member of a veterans appeal board, who said his privacy was violated and that the federal agency treats ex-soldiers with disrespect, won’t be reappointed. Harold Leduc and two other members of the troubled agency have been shown the door, and in their places the Harper government has appointed a nurse with extensive experience in addiction treatment and former military officers. The changes, which normally garner little public attention, were announced Sunday, one day ahead of Leduc’s appearance before the House of Commons veterans affairs committee. The Parliamentary body is investigating the Veterans Review and Appeal Board, an independent panel where ex-soldiers can challenge benefits decisions by the veterans department. Leduc’s long-anticipated testimony is expected to give the Opposition plenty ammunition, particularly the NDP, which has introduced a private members bill to scrap the board ….”
- What else has the VAC Minister been up to? “The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, today concluded successful meetings with German officials, including the Minister of Defence, in Berlin. During the visit, Minister Blaney outlined Canada’s Veterans programs as Germany considers options for the care and support of its Veterans and explores ways to help remember their service and sacrifices. Minister Blaney also expressed Canada’s ongoing interest in working with international partners to advance Veterans issues. Along with providing the keynote address to the annual reception of the German Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Minister Blaney held discussions with the Chairwoman of the Defence Committee of the German Bundestag, the Chairman of the Association of German Reservists, a representative of the German Armed Forces Association, and the Brigadier-General responsible for the German PTSD program ….”
- Delisle Spy Case “U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson is revealing for the first time that Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle sold both American and Canadian secrets to Russia. In comments during an interview to be broadcast on CTV’s Question Period Sunday, Jacobson said Delisle sold confidential U.S. government information as well as Canadian secrets. “We don’t talk a lot about national security information like this, for obvious reasons,” Jacobson told host Kevin Newman. “I will say this: he pleaded guilty to selling secrets of the United States and secrets of Canada to the Russians. That is obviously not good. We’ve had these problems in the past and we want to make sure and the Canadians want to make sure that nothing like this is going to happen again.” When pressed to explain further what U.S. secrets were passed on, Jacobson refused to reveal details. “Well, I’m not going to get into exactly what he passed. But there was a lot of highly classified material,” Jacobson said ….” – more here.
- Khadr Boy You KNEW this was going to happen at some point …. “Omar Khadr’s $10-million lawsuit against the federal government is likely to pick up momentum now that he’s back in Canada, his lawyer said Monday. John Norris admits the case, which dates back to 2004 and centres on Khadr’s interrogation by a Canadian official at Guantanamo Bay, has languished for years. Coincidentally, a case management meeting is scheduled for mid-month and Norris expects things will move quicker now that the main hurdle of getting him back to Canada has been cleared. “It’s been very much on the back-burner,” he said in an interview Monday. “Now that he’s here it’ll be, I think, moving forward a little bit more perceptively.” The case relates to information gathered by a Foreign Affairs official who questioned Khadr in Cuba knowing he’d been subjected to sleep deprivation — a technique used to soften detainees. Court records suggest the information was shared with U.S. officials, possibly for use in the case they were building against him. Initially set at $100,000, the damages were bumped to $10 million in early 2010 after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the government violated Khadr’s charter rights. The damages sought in the Khadr case are identical to what the government paid Maher Arar after Canadian officials shared faulty intelligence with the U.S. that ultimately led to his arrest at a New York airport and subsequent deportation and incarceration in Syria ….”
- Libya “Exactly one year ago, outside the Libyan city of Sirte, a Canadian who commanded 250 rebel fighters came face to face with Muammar Gaddafi. The dictator had just been pulled from a culvert. His time was up. He was about to die. But the Canadian had orders: Capture Gaddafi. Don’t kill him. Let others decide his fate later. “I was about two metres from him. There was already a crowd,” recalls Gourbal Djiddi Nokour, a 36-year-old from Hamilton, Ont. “He was in pyjamas, basically. His wig had fallen off. Men were hitting him. He was begging for mercy and yelling that what they were doing to him was haraam,” the Arabic word for sinful. The beatings lasted a few minutes. Then someone holding a pistol approached. He fired twice, says Mr. Nokour, speaking to the National Post Friday, from Tripoli. Mr. Nokour’s eyewitness account of Gaddafi’s last moments adds detail and clarity to initial and subsequent reports from Libya. The first bullet tore into Gaddafi’s head; the second, through his stomach. After a moment of shock, a violent frenzy erupted. Gaddafi’s corpse was grotesquely defiled. A tyrant was dead: Cause for a macabre celebration. But Mr. Nokour had failed his assignment. On the first anniversary of Gaddafi’s death, the Canadian commander has agreed at last to reveal his involvement. Gourbal Nokour is not a soldier. He’s a civilian, a graduate of York University near Toronto, where he studied political science. He’s a husband and father. He is under contract to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, to provide “interpretation services.” For that, he is paid $25,000 a year. Lately, he hasn’t been in Canada very much ….”
- Former Canadian MP a guest of the Israelis “The family of former MP Jim Manly is concerned for his health and safety after the Israeli navy boarded a ship he was on. The ship was apparently headed to the Gaza Strip in an attempt to break Israel’s maritime blockade against the Hamas-controlled region. Jim, whose 80th birthday is next week, requires daily medication as a result of two bypass surgeries and his son said they hope the Israeli government gives it to him. “He’s a bit old to be taking a trip like this but he’s a determined advocate for human rights,” said Paul Manly, adding that his father is so passionate about the issue, there was no way the family could have stopped him from taking the trip. The passengers on the European ship, the Estelle, also included five members of European parliaments, according to those involved in the campaign. An Israeli military spokesman said that the ship had been seized without incident and taken to the port of Ashdod, in southern Israel, and that those on board would be turned over to the police. “I know people have been brutalized and people have been killed on these flotillas,” Paul Manly said. He doesn’t think there has been any violence but knows his father wouldn’t sustain it well. He said his family only found out the ship had been blocked this morning when he received a call from the media for an interview. The only details he has about the condition of the passengers is through the news. “I’m just sitting here in a black hole with all of this,” he said ….” – more on the fracas via Google News here or here.
- Ceasefire.ca’s take on Canadian history “In focusing on wars, the Conservatives are missing out on much of what is important in Canada’s past ….”
