MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 30 Jul 11

• Libya Mission  “Canada has joined an air war of a different kind in the skies over Libya, one where persuasion and sometimes insults are the weapons. Canadian CP-140 Aurora surveillance planes recently started broadcasting propaganda messages aimed at forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. “It’s a psychological warfare operation, or PSYOPS, initially started by the Americans but now overseen by NATO _ the kind of mission western militaries are reluctant to talk about openly. The Canadian broadcasts are relatively benign in comparison to some of the harsher messages NATO has aimed at Gadhafi’s troops, in which women’s voices are telling them to stop “killing the children.” The Canadian messages, in English, are read hourly during patrols along the Libyan coast over AM/FM frequencies that Libyans usually monitor. “For your safety return to your family and your home,” says the message, which can be heard over unencrypted frequencies the military uses to broadcast basic information. “The Gadhafi regime forces are violating United Nations resolution 1973.” The message goes on to urge Gadhafi’s troops not to take part in further hostilities and not to harm their fellow countrymen …. ”
• Afghanistan (1)  CF Info-Machine is starting to share more info on the new mission.  “In every practical sense, the Consolidated Fielding Centre (CFC) is the birthplace of the Afghan National Army. Located in the expansive Pol-e-Charki military reserve in Kabul’s eastern outskirts, the CFC is where the ANA forms its units, equips and trains them, and then validates that training before deploying them to operational corps. More than 100 Canadian Forces members deployed in the Kabul area on Operation ATTENTION serve at CFC. Most of them are advisors to the experienced Afghan soldiers of the CFC training staff ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  More from the CF Info-Machine on the training mission (video – transcript). 
• Afghanistan (3)  It’s not just military folks leaving Afghanistan.  “A contractor for the Canadian military will be bringing its 370 employees home from Afghanistan as the Canadian mission there winds down. More than 60% of those employees call eastern Ontario home. “I would be lying if I said a lot of our folks weren’t looking for jobs online, even though they’re stationed in Afghanistan,” Derek Wills said from his Inverary home yesterday. Wills is a human resources manager with SNC-Lavalin PAE Inc. — the company with a $600- million contract to support Canadian Forces missions overseas. The company started with an office in Kingston in 2003. Since then, it has expanded from a one-person operation on Queen Street to the main civilian support system for the Canadian mission in Kandahar. Wills said employees in Afghanistan know their jobs will be terminated, but they don’t know when ….”
• “Canada’s military police received 784 complaints of physical and sexual assault, death and other incidents causing physical harm in 2010 — more than in any of the past four years, according to the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal’s annual report. The force received 176 reports of sexual assault and 518 of assault during the year — numbers one military expert says are worrisome. “Here, we have individuals who are well-paid, disciplined and operating within a hierarchical system,” said Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel who now practises and teaches military law. The numbers are up from 2009, when the police force received 166 reports of sexual assault and 514 of assault, according to the report. “Forces are there to protect Canadians and Canada . . . . Men and women are working alongside each other. There’s cause for alarm there.” ….”  The latest annual report is accessible here.
• “A Congolese man accused by the Canadian government of being complicit in war crimes, and facing deportation, says he’s never so much as killed a cat. Abraham Bahaty Bayavuge says he was a simple computer technician in his native land and has denied any wrongdoing during a detention review Friday before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Bayavuge is the fifth person arrested from a list of 30 alleged war criminals publicly posted last week by the Conservative government. But he scoffed at the attempt to depict him as a threat to society. In the seven years he lived here, openly and freely between 2000 and 2007, he said the worst thing he ever did was get parking tickets for failing to move his car. “Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow, can anyone prove that I killed even one cat, one cat, he told the hearing. “I wouldn’t take a human life, I respect human beings” ….”
• “Chilling admissions of machine-gunning villages, assisting in torture and throwing bodies from a helicopter were made by one man on the government’s recently released list of most-wanted suspected war criminals. And he’s still at large in Canada. “In November 1987 I was part of a helicopter crew involved in the murder of two civilians. They were shot in my helicopter, in my presence, by army personnel on suspicion of being terrorists,” Jose Domingo Malaga Arica admitted to immigration officials. “Their bodies were weighted down with rocks and pushed out of the aircraft into a river.” Malaga, a former soldier in the Peruvian army, described his years of service in a written statement to a Convention Refugee Determination Division board ….”
• Niiiiiiiice…. “Emotions are running high in Forest Lawn where a group with ties to known white supremacists seems intent on recruiting like-minded people through a poster campaign. The black-and-white posters, with statements like “Immigration costs Canadian taxpayers $23 billion annually” coupled with statistics purporting to reflect Canadian immigration and unemployment, have been glued to bus stations, light standards and telephone poles throughout the southeast neighbourhood. At the bottom, the words “Does this seem right to you?” are followed by “If not, contact.” A phone number and e-mail address are printed, along with the website to the international white supremacist group known as Blood and Honour ….”
• “A watchdog has given Canada’s overseas eavesdropping agency a good report card, but has hinted that the secretive organization may occasionally push the boundaries when it comes to collecting information on Canadians. Communications Security Establishment Canada collects foreign intelligence for Ottawa, but is not allowed to spy on Canadians, whether they’re living at home or abroad. But an annual report by CSEC commissioner Robert Decary suggests the agency “may use information about Canadians” when seeking new sources of foreign intelligence. Decary says CSEC only pursues such methods “when other means have been exhausted” and when it believes they are likely to turn up new sources of information. “CSEC conducts these activities infrequently, but they can be a valuable tool in meeting Government of Canada intelligence priorities,” Decary writes in his latest report, which was released last week ….”  Full report available here.
• “Canada’s ability to comply with its international obligations could be compromised if a decision staying the extradition of Abdullah Khadr is allowed to stand, the federal government said Friday. In asking the Supreme Court of Canada to take up the case, Ottawa argues the lower courts were wrong to prevent an “admitted” terrorist from facing trial in the U.S. “This case raises issues of national importance that require consideration by this court,” Ottawa states in its leave-to-appeal request obtained by The Canadian Press. Principles of fundamental justice “should not be used to impose the technicalities of our criminal law on a foreign partner.” ….”  More on this here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 23 Dec 10

• Corporal Steve Martin, R22eR, R.I.P. He’s home.  More here, here and here.
• The last gang returning from ROTO 10-1 expected to arrive in Petawawa on Xmas eve – better late than never.
• Louise Arbour, a former Canadian UN judge, UN human rights boss, and president/CEO of a security think tank, tells is straight when it comes to Afghanistan: “…. In the coming months, Canada and other NATO partners are likely to face a critical choice between supporting constitutional review or standing by silently as the Afghan government implodes. The alternative for Afghans is constitutional change – giving power back to the people rather than centring it in Kabul – or a return to full-scale civil war. After so many years of sacrifice on the battlefield and financial generosity at home, Canadians must recognize that their continued engagement in Afghanistan must rest not on wishful thinking but on a policy grounded in reality.”
• Someone in the translation contractor’s office has some ‘splainin’ to do…. “A company that supplies Afghan translators for Canada’s mission in Kandahar may have mistakenly raised the interpreters’ hopes of emigrating to Canada, according to a newly released document.  A contingent of Canadian military and civilian officials say International Management Services, or IMS, told interpreters that their immigration papers were being considered — even though not every application was.  The officials noted the finding in a report to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which they submitted in March after spending three weeks in Kandahar reviewing applications made under a special immigration program …. “Complications arose when (blank) contacted IMS, the prime contractor for many of the CF’s interpreters and other language assistants, to confirm employment records,” the report says.  “(Blank) reported that IMS, staffed in Kandahar by local nationals, informed some program applicants that they were being considered. Given that the list submitted to IMS was only of individuals that were potentially eligible, this likely raised false expectations among applicants.” ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Taliban claims 6 Canadians killed on patrol in Zhari, but nothing in mainstream about such an incident.
• UN:  Taliban causing more than 3 out of every 4 civilian casualties in Afghanistan lately (PDF, page 13).  Taliban spokesperson:  Lies!  All Lies! Taliban web site:  Lies!  All Lies! (links to non-terrorist site)
• The UN’s senior official in Afghanistan speaks to the Security Council about how things are going in Afghanistan.  What did he say?  Depends on what you read.
• Year-end message from the head of Canada’s Expeditionary Force Command:  LOTS of changes and work in 2010, but “We don’t know what’s coming next; we only know that the CF is ready, willing and capable of dealing with it when it does.
• Ottawa is extending the deadline for applying for compensation for illnesses linked to the use of Agent Orange and other plant killers at CFB Gagetown in the mid- to late-1960′s. “A New Brunswick widow who lost her husband to cancer six years ago is praising a decision by the federal government that will allow more people to qualify for Agent Orange payments. Bette Hudson, whose husband Ralph died of bone cancer after two decades in the military, said Wednesday that Ottawa finally got it right in loosening the rules on who can get a $20,000 ex gratia payout. Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn announced in Fredericton that the government is removing a controversial condition that required applicants to be alive on Feb. 6, 2006 — the date the federal Conservatives came to power. “It makes me feel as if my husband is worthy,” she said at the announcement, moments after Blackburn outlined the changes ….” Here’s the Veterans Affairs Canada news release and backgrounder, the Order in Council approving the change and a Canadian Forces page with various history and documents on the issue.
• Canada’s special forces are getting new vehicles (when there’s better ones to buy):  “Canada’s special forces are holding off on buying new vehicles until technology catches up to its needs. The Ottawa-based Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) had been looking to replace its Humvee vehicles, now being used in Afghanistan by units such as Joint Task Force 2, but had to cut short its plans after the trucks being examined were determined not to meet various technical specifications. Industry sources say one company, U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, bid on the program, estimated to cost a little less than $80 million. The new vehicles were supposed to be acquired next year and were to be located with the Canadian Special Operations Regiment at Petawawa ….”
• More on Canada’s Communications Security Establishment moving into a brand, spanking new building right next to a brand spanking new building for the Department of National Defence (including a few details of a “private-public partnership” for building/running some of the buildings?). More on the usually-low key CSE here, including a letter to the editor from this week here explaining why they need bigger digs.
• Could possible cuts in US funding for their F-35 fighters increase the price of Canada’s proposed buy?
• Who do people responding to an online survey trust more, Canada’s government or Canada’s military? “Canadians have more trust and confidence in Canada’s armed forces than they do in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government, according to a new study. The study, based on polling conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) and released exclusively to iPolitics, found that 75.7 per cent of respondents had trust and confidence in the Canadian Forces to do a good job compared to only 54.1 per cent who trusted the federal government. While faith in both the Armed Forces and the federal government tended to rise with age, one of the sharpest divides was among English-speaking respondents — 80.3 per cent of whom trusted the military and 52.7 per cent of whom trusted the federal government ….”
• More end-of-year interview stories, this one from CBC.ca:  “Defence Minister Peter MacKay is calling on the Afghan government to “pick up the slack” as the Canadian military hammers out the details and logistics of its new training mission in Afghanistan. As NATO allies continue to try to limit corruption and improve Afghanistan’s fledgling democracy and governance, the defence minister cited “incremental progress” in the country in 2010. “There are definitely improvements, tangible improvements that we can see, that we can point to,” MacKay told the CBC’s James Cudmore in a year-end interview. “And yet, all of it is tenuous as far as, will it last?” But MacKay insisted those gains translate into a “shifting of attitudes” among Afghans toward not only Canadian soldiers, but the tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police they are training ….”
• First, NORAD pimps Santa for some good exposure and PR (followed by Canada’s Air Force).  Next:  NAV CANADA, the agency that runs air traffic control at civilian airports, gets into the act.  The latest to hop on the “let’s milk Santa for some attention” bandwagon?  Canada’s Minister of Immigration:  “Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney today reaffirmed Santa Claus as a Canadian citizen during a special citizenship ceremony. “We wish Mr. Claus all the best in his Christmas Eve duties again this year,” said Minister Kenney. “And rest assured, as a Canadian citizen living in Canada’s North, he can re-enter Canada freely once his trip around the world is complete.” Santa was on hand to reaffirm his citizenship while 100 new citizens from 32 countries were sworn in ….”
• In other security news, scumbag anti-Semite who shared info on best way to kill Canadians is back online: “The resurrection of a website advocating the genocide of Jews and Canadians, founded by a Toronto extremist who is wanted by police, highlights the difficulties of policing the Internet, where public postings can be generated and disseminated from almost anywhere. The website was founded by Salman Hossain, 25, a Canadian extremist who fled Canada earlier this year during a police investigation into use of the Internet to promote terrorist violence in Canada. Police subsequently charged him with five hate crimes — two counts of advocating genocide and three counts of promoting hatred — but so far, have been unable to locate him. The site was shut down after the charges were laid. The National Post reported last month that the site had re-emerged on a U.S. free-speech server but was again shut down. This month, it found a new home, through Internet servers based in Switzerland ….” More details on who’s hosting the site now, and the Interpol notice for the chap in question here at Army.ca.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Dec 10

• Canadians fighting in Afghanistan aren’t just fighting with Canadians.  “Avoiding civilian deaths is top of mind for a Canadian pilot currently flying an arsenal-laden fighter jet over hostile Taliban territory. “We’re not in the business of collateral damage — it doesn’t take a lot of that to change the war,” said Calgary’s Capt. Jameel Janjua. A CF-18 Hornet pilot back home, Janjua is a top-gun pilot flying combat missions here in a British Tornado GR4 while on exchange with the Royal Air Force. Civilian casualties from the international battle against the Afghan insurgents, particularly from errant airstrikes by NATO aircraft, have fuelled tension between allied leaders and Afghans, including President Hamid Karzai, who has protested against air attacks, period. Wedding parties and innocent women and children have been among the unintended victims of airstrikes on insurgent positions ….”
• CF Moving Buildings (1):  “Public Works has completed its purchase of Nortel’s Carling campus for $208 million and confirmed plans to relocate a significant portion of Department of National Defence operations there. “This one-campus environment … is a fiscally prudent option as it will reduce operational and accommodation costs, and ultimately yield savings for Canadian taxpayers,” said Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose in a statement. DND’s offices are spread throughout the region in 48 locations. The department has been planning to consolidate them into a few key locations for years. Public Works announced Friday that DND employees will move to the Carling location in phases over the next five to seven years ….” A bit more in officialese in the news release here.
• CF Moving Buildings (2): “The Harper government is planning a “Taj Mahal” complex for the Defence Department’s spies, complete with a hockey rink, basketball and volleyball courts and a bank in a secure Ottawa facility, says the head of the department’s largest union. John MacLennan, who obtained the details of the seven-building campus for the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), says he is concerned that DND has gone overboard as the department is facing budget cuts. “Do they need the sports field? Do they need the walking paths? Do they need the hockey rink complete with a Zamboni?” asked MacLennan, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees. “It’s going to be the Taj Mahal of government buildings in this country. “How do you justify that in the restraint times we are in?” he asked, adding that in the next several years DND is required to cut $1 billion from its budget ….”
• Note to the U.S.:  It’s.  About.  Time. Still, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ain’t quite over yet, either.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Taliban comments on Obama’s comments on the Afghanistan strategy.