MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – September 23, 2013

• Kenya (1a)  “Two Canadians were killed in the horrific terrorist attack at a Kenya shopping mall Saturday, officials confirmed.  Gunmen stormed the Westgate mall in the capital, Nairobi, on Saturday, killing at least 39 people in an attack claimed by the Somali Islamist group al Shabaab.  Canadian diplomat Annemarie Desloges, 29, was among the dead ….” – more from the media here, here (Google News), here (EU Newsexplorer), here and here, from the Prime Minister here, and from the Foreign Affairs Minister here.
• Kenya (1b)  “Authorities in Kenya appeared close to ending a deadly siege early Monday at an upscale Nairobi mall, where attackers have killed at least 68 people, injured 175, and were believed to be holding about 30 people hostage …. Sources within Al-Shabaab told CNN that nine names listed on a Twitter site — now suspended — were people who were among the alleged hostage-takers.  Three of the alleged attackers are from the United States, two are from Somalia and there is one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya and the United Kingdom, according to the list ….”
• Kenya (1c)  “Canada offered its “full support” for the investigation into a deadly terrorist attack at a Nairobi shopping mall Sunday after an Ontario man was identified as one of the gunmen responsible.  The involvement of a Canadian has not been confirmed, but a “24 y.o. from Ontario Canada” is included on what appears to be a list of the gunmen that was posted on a Twitter feed that purports to belong to the Al-Shabab press office.  The Twitter account was suspended shortly after the list of names of the “mujahedin” were posted on Sunday afternoon ….”
• Kenya (1d)  According to this post on a Somalia news forum, there is a “abdirizak mouled 24 y.o from ontario canada” on the list – no confirmation at this point
  
• Kenya (2)  More on the overall attack from the Long War Journal
  
• Kenya (3)  The bad guys claiming responsibility for the attack (links to non-terrorist page) – more on the bad guys here, here, here, here and here
  
• Afghanistan (1a)  From the CF/DND Info-machine  “The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of National Defence and General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), concluded a week-long visit to Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel deployed on Operations Attention and Artemis late last week.  The trip provided the Minister and the Chief with an opportunity to meet and thank military personnel for their commitment, hard work, and dedication on behalf of the Government of Canada. The Minister and the CDS also met defence and security partners and received updates on Canada’s contributions to the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and efforts to thwart terrorist activities in the Arabian Sea region through participation in Combined Task Force 150 ….”
  
• Afghanistan (1b)  From the Pentagon Info-machine  “Canadian Minister of Defence Robert Nicholson completed a three-day visit to Afghanistan, during which he met with International Security Assistance Force officials and visited Canadian troops in Kabul.  “ISAF appreciates Canada’s leadership in southern Afghanistan, and now in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, and its commitment to support Afghanistan from the very beginning in 2001,” said ISAF Commander Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr.  Canada has been assisting in Afghanistan, in both Operation Enduring Freedom and the ISAF mission, since Operation Apollo in 2001. Following a substantial increase to as many as 2,500 soldiers in its deployed force in 2007, Canada now has more than 800 troops in Afghanistan after shifting its engagement from a combat mission to a training and advisory mission in 2011. The majority of Canadian troops are based in Kabul, with a small number in Regional Command-North ….”
  
• Afghanistan (2a)  As the CF starts packing up in Afghanistan, a military journal paper reminds the institution to “Unlearn Afghanistan” (at least when it comes to reshaping the CF to do just/mostly counterinsurgency)  “…. Retooling the military as a constabulary force, particularly because of short-term economic expedience, would leave the Canadian government with much fewer foreign policy options in future conflicts, even those short of conventional war. Indeed, such a program would likely see Canadian soldiers bogged down in further unwinnable wars, to the detriment of responding effectively to continued conventional threats.”
• Afghanistan (2b)  On the other hand, another military journal paper calls for the institution not to forget Afghanistan’s lessons learned, either  “…. the Whole of Government team in Afghanistan learned vital lessons with respect to counterinsurgency and inter-departmental interface, but underpinning everything was the need to integrate all military and non-military efforts at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels, both horizontally and vertically …. military officers must be prepared and enabled to orchestrate all types of non-military activities. These efforts, aimed at reconstruction, development, and governance, are necessary to achieve success in the low intensity conflicts that we have been fighting over the past decade, and will continue to fight into the foreseeable future.”
• No word if this is a nation-wide policy, or some units doing this on their own – still ….  “The Canadian Armed Forces requires physically and mentally wounded service members to sign a form agreeing to not criticize senior officers or demoralize other troops on social media sites.  The form is given to wounded soldiers transferred to the Joint Personnel Support Unit (JPSU), which oversees support centers for troops across Canada. The JPSU has received public scrutiny in recent months, as soldiers and staff have been vocal about the lack of resources and dysfunctional support centers.  Service members gave the social media policy form to the Ottawa Citizen, expressing dissatisfaction over what they saw as a threat to their right to voice criticism of the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) for lackluster care.  The JPSU told the Ottawa Citizen that the policy was not made to defer criticism of officials, but rather “to educate our members and personnel on what constitutes the appropriate and inappropriate use of social media and the possible ramifications for a CAF member.”  The “policy on proper comments on social media” forbids posting secret information on websites or forums, but also advises military personnel to avoid disparaging senior officers or CAF members ….” – more here
• Commentary:  ways to ensure more companies hire more vets  “…. One, a public campaign that clearly articulates the value of hiring veterans. Two, a champion, or champions, who will make Canada’s veterans more visible to the public. Three, a website that assists both veterans and corporate Canada with skill translation. And fourth, we suggest an annual award — perhaps handed out by the Governor-General or the Chief of the Defence Staff — for companies that set examples in assisting veterans with the transition to civilian employment ….”
  
• Well done to all the participants!  “More than 22,000 Canadians and members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) ran, walked, and rolled today in the sixth annual Canada Army Run – widely acknowledged as the fastest-growing run in the country. The run, which has broken attendance records since it was launched in 2008, sold out in June.  Among the VIPs who took part in the Opening Ceremonies were Their Excellencies the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada and Mrs. Sharon Johnston, patrons of the event; the Honourable Rob Nicholson, Minister of National Defence; Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse, Commander of the Canadian Army; and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson ….” – a bit of an atta boy from the Veterans Affairs Minister here.
• From ShipFax:  “HMCS Halifax has been anchoring well up in the north end of Bedford Basin this weekend. With a stiff southerly breeze, her mooring lines to two of the trot buoys are quite taught, while the lee side lines are slack ….”
• “Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr is expected to make his first appearance in public since American soldiers captured him as a badly wounded 15-year-old in Afghanistan 11 years ago.  Khadr will be in an Edmonton courtroom Monday for an application to have his ongoing detention in an adult prison declared illegal …. The Toronto-born Khadr, who turned 27 last week, will not speak during the hearing before the Court of Queen’s Bench, expected to last the day.  A spokeswoman for Correctional Service Canada confirmed an order had been made for Khadr to appear in court.  Khadr’s last court appearance was when he pleaded guilty to five war crimes in October 2010 before a U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay, where a few select people were allowed to watch the proceedings in person.  In exchange for his guilty plea, he was given an eight-year sentence.  The federal government, which opposes the application, argues Khadr has been appropriately placed in an adult maximum security facility ….”
  
• Commentary  “The long war against al-Qaeda isn’t over”
• “The Canadian military was privately furious the Harper government did not allow it to court-martial a naval intelligence officer who sold top-secret allied information to the Russians …. “All senior government authorities involved in security and intelligence matters should be made aware of the alternatives available to pursue suspects subject to the Code of Service discipline, so that automatic defaults to mechanisms more applicable to civilians do not occur,” said a newly declassified military assessment of the damage wrought by the spy scandal.  “Little or no discussion concerning the advantages of employing the military police to lead the criminal investigation, the (Canadian Forces National Counter-Intelligence Unit) to lead the counter-intelligence investigation and laying the charges under the Military Justice Systems appears to have occurred and/or fully informed decisions made with regard to the way ahead.” ….”