MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Jul 11

• CF getting busier helping fly evacuees out of remote northern Ontario communities because of forest fires.  “The Canadian Forces have supported municipal and provincial authorities in Ontario in evacuating 385 residents threatened by wildfires in the communities of Fort Hope and Sandy Lake. That number continues to climb as Canadian Forces aircraft continue the airlift of threatened Canadians out of Sandy Lake …. Beginning on Sunday, members of the Eabametoong First Nation were evacuated by the Canadian Forces from Fort Hope to Greenstone (Geraldton), Ontario using a CC-130 Hercules military transport aircraft tasked from 424 Squadron at 8 Wing Trenton. In total, 265 people were transported to safety, with the operation ceasing as of Monday morning. Ten members of the 3rd Canadian Rangers Patrol Group assisted in this evacuation effort by coordinating logistics, communicating with families and in the loading of the aircraft. Beginning today, members of the Sandy Lake First Nation were evacuated from Sandy Lake to Sioux Lookout using a CC-130 Hercules aircraft tasked from 435 Squadron at 17 Wing Winnipeg. In total, 120 people were transported to safety as of late Monday afternoon. Fourteen Canadian Rangers also supported the Sandy Lake evacuation ….”
• Wanted:  Media up for a short (or longer) trip to the Arctic to watch the next Canadian Forces sovereignty exercise, Nanook 2011.
• Libya Mission  Scott Taylor’s take on a possible future.  “…. From the outset of the campaign against Libya, the U.S. made it clear they were not going to become fully engulfed in yet another war. Within NATO, not all members agreed to contribute to the enforcement of the United Nations-authorized no-fly zone and only a handful conceded to launching bombing attacks. Of those that did, Norway has now backed out, the Netherlands is ceasing their bombing role and the Italians are hinting they want out of the whole affair. The French and Brits have been the most belligerent players in this game but now even they are looking for a face-saving political solution that may even include Gadhafi remaining in Libya. If that does transpire, Canada is going to have not just a big seat but the only seat left at the proverbial Libyan rebel table. One has to wonder, why?”
• An Al Jazeera journalist based in Bethlehem opines about Canada’s nature.  “…. If the missions in Afghanistan and Libya say anything, it’s that an aggressive Canada intends to be taken seriously.”
• Afghanistan (1)  More “so long, combat mission” coverage, this time from Agence France-Presse.  “Canada’s top general in Afghanistan held his head high as his combat troops flew out of the country on Monday, even if the long war against the Taliban shows little sign of ending. With a spotlight shining on a red maple leaf emblazoned on the aircraft taking them home, Brigadier General Dean Milner led 120 of his troops onto the tarmac of Kandahar’s sprawling airfield built on the same desert where the Taliban was born. It was a farewell of brief, but emotional, handshakes and embraces after nine years of fighting the Taliban which has left 157 Canadian troops dead — their names etched on a marble memorial left behind. “It feels good heading back to family,” said Milner, who refused a soldier’s offer to carry his bag under sand blasts from the desert. “It has been an outstanding mission, with a lot of great accomplishments and I hope there will be good transition,” he added, before giving a thumbs up and climbing aboard the plane ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  A bit more on fast-tracking Afghan interpreters coming into Canada.
• Afghanistan (3)  This, from Mark Collins:  “This rather fatuous Canadian Press article in effect makes a case–with a distinct undertone of anti-Americanism–that if Canada had had its own foreign human intelligence (HUMINT) agency then we would have been much more aware of the
  likelihood of an upsurge in Taliban violence in Kandahar when the decision was made in 2005 to deploy the Canadian Forces for combat operations in that province ….”
• “Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who is expected to conduct a realignment of the bureaucracy after a winning a majority government on May 2, recently shuffled his foreign and defence policy adviser to Agriculture Canada, along with a number of other top changes. Critics say the foreign policy adviser position is an influential one, but that it’s up to the PM to determine the depth of that influence ….”  So far, the old adviser, Claude Carrier , has been moved without a new one being named yet.
• What’s Canada Buying?  Wanted:  someone with expertise in radar systems for research, design work.