MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 10 Mar 11

• How many Canadians have GTFO Libya so far? This from the PM’s chief spokesperson:  “More than 650 Canadians have departed from Libya since the beginning of the crisis.”
• More news on the latest in Libya here (Google News), here (EMM News Brief:  Libya),  here (NewsNow), here (BBC) and here (Al Jazeera English).
• “A popular learning centre in Kandahar City has received new financial backing from the Canadian government, temporarily ending fears that the facility might have to close. Though less than half of what facility directors requested, the $250,000 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency will allow classes to continue at the Afghan-Canadian Community Center. An announcement of the funding was made this week at a ceremony to mark International Women’s Day. The centre, though catering to both male and female students, is an especially important educational outlet for Kandahari women and girls who often risk their lives to go to school, centre director Ehsanullah Ehsan said ….”
• Psychological Operations:  (Sorta kinda) “the marketing arm of the military”
• U.N. stats (PDF report here) say 3 out of 4 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2010 were caused by insurgents.  The Canadian Press’ take on the report: “More Afghan civilians were killed in Kandahar than any other province last year, while counterinsurgency operations within Canada’s area of command resulted in “large-scale” property destruction, the United Nations said Wednesday.  The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan called on both NATO and insurgent forces to strengthen their efforts to protect Afghans as it released a report examining the severe toll the war has exacted on civilian lives and livelihoods …. It said NATO forces were careful in avoiding civilian casualties in Kandahar, but clearance operations in districts under the command of the Canadian military were singled out for leaving behind “large-scale” property destruction.  “Elders’ fears that the Kandahar operations would involve the destruction of homes, crops, and irrigation systems were realized,” the 85-page report said ….”
• More work from Canada’s war poet Suzanne Steele:  “limerick from OFMIK (our former man in KAF)”
• Remember how keen border state Senators were last month about getting military radar to keep those little planes full of drugs out of the U.S.?  It appears they might be getting (at least some of) what they seek. “The US government will place military-grade radar along the border with Canada to thwart low-flying aircraft used to smuggle illegal drugs onto US soil, senators who sought the deployment said Wednesday …. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York said Napolitano had indicated during a Senate Judiciary Committee that she was working to deploy the radar and called it “a critical step in the right direction.” …. In the hearing, Napolitano herself stopped well short of explicitly announcing such a step, though she did agree with Schumer that such a deployment would be a good idea.  She assured Schumer that her department was “working with” the Pentagon and the US military’s Northern Command “on radar and other related issues and technologies in efforts on the northern border.”  Asked whether that meant the deployment would go forward, Napolitano replied “this is moving very rapidly.” ….” More on this from American media here and here.
• What’s Canada Buying? (1) New (Military) Police Academy (~$29 million), and Pockets on Sleeves
• What’s Canada Buying (2) Remember late last year, when Canada was going to “explore adapting the designs of recently built naval fleet replenishment ships that are operating with other NATO Navies”?  Well, let’s try again, shall we?  This from MERX (via Army.ca):  “…. Canada has a requirement to assess two NATO Navy ship designs to determine their viability in relation to the Canadian Navy operational requirements for naval fleet replenishment SHIPS: a. the Berlin Class; and b. the Cantabria Class Canada intends to award two separate contracts, one to ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Canada Inc. (TKMSC) and the other to Navantia, S.A. (Navantia) to conduct Risk Reduction Design Studies (RRDS) for each design. This will enable Canada to ascertain the feasibility and affordability of adapting these designs to meet Canadian requirements. Canada is deploying a team of government representatives to shipyards in Germany and Spain to perform the RRDS and a follow-on Detailed Design Activity (DDA) ….” Link above contains some downloadable bid document details – more from MERX here, and from the Canadian Press here.
• More on Canada’s (still being-waited-for) new helicopters for the CF (hat-tip to Mark Collins for sharing this one): “Sikorsky could deliver the first of Canada’s much-delayed CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters this month, said president Jeff Pino yesterday at the Heli-Expo show in Orlando. The initial helicopters will not be fully compliant with the Canadian requirement, but will allow training to begin ….”
• Buzzword Watch:  What do CF wordsmiths call it when Reservists come home from Afghanistan to be greeted by the PM and Defence Minister?  “Reintegration”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 5 Mar 11

• In Libya, the Brits & Germans may have done it, and the Dutch tried it, but Canadians aren’t planning on doing it.  “The Canadian military has no plans to conduct extraction raids into Libya and citizens who want out of the chaotic North African nation should make their way to embarkation points, the commander of the mission said Friday …. “There are no current plans to extract Canadians,” Lt.-Col. Tony DeJacolyn told The Canadian Press in an interview from Malta.  “The current concept of operations is to move Canadian entitled persons and instruct them to move to points of exit, whether it be by sea or air.” ….”
• Of course, this story focuses on the KEY element of the Libyan evacuation effort in the lead paragraph.  “Instead of rations, tents and makeshift showers, the command post for Canada’s military-assisted evacuation from Libya offers fruity drinks, poolside umbrellas and spa packages. Lt.-Col. Anthony DeJacolyn, the commander of that effort, has yet to indulge. Instead, the Pickering native and his team are pulling 21-hour days at Malta’s five-star Excelsior Hotel in an attempt to get to safety the Canadians remaining in Libya. Efforts in the early days of the crisis had mixed results. Charter planes were turned back midflight. Others that could land at the airport in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, were forced to return empty because no evacuees were ready to get on board ….” Have they run out of news angles so soon?
• More whining (this time from the International Committee of the Fourth International) about Canada in Libya.  “…. Like the other imperialist powers, the Canadian government is depicting its plans to intervene militarily in Libya as born of altruism—of abhorrence at the repressive actions of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime, fear for the lives of ordinary Libyans as the country descends into civil war, and concern for the spread of democracy in North Africa and the Middle East. This is poppycock. If Canada’s government is plotting with the US and the European Union to intervene in Libya, it is because the popular upsurge that has toppled Mubarak in Egypt and Ben Ali in Tunisia, hobbled Gaddafi, and challenged governments throughout North Africa and the Middle East is threatening vital imperialist economic and geo-strategic interests ….” Riiiiiiiiiiight.
• Meanwhile, remember the Canadian Peace Congress’ position on Canadian military forces headed to Libya, calling for less militarism and more “solidarity”? A good response from Patrick Ross over at the Propagandist:  “…. Muammar al-Gadhafi doesn’t pay attention to Canadian protest rallies. I know: crazy, right? But somehow he just doesn’t care about what I hope will be thousands of Canadians – conservative and progressive alike — coming out to show their support for Libyans fighting for freedom in their own country.  At times like this, solidarity can be a pretty great thing. But solidarity won’t stop a Libyan Mirage fighter jet from strafing a peaceful protest rally. But a Canadian CF-18 shooting it out of the sky sure as hell will.  So it’s really this simple: either the so-called “peace movement” needs to be prepared to accept some kind of foreign intervention in Libya – whether it ends with a no-fly zone, or merely begins there – or they will have to accept what Muammar al-Gadhafi has been doing to his people ….” Well, Canadian Peace Alliance, which is it?
• A Toronto cop shares his story from Kandahar through Canada’s web page on Afghanistan.
• Toronto Terrorist Gets Life Sentence “Shareef Abdelhaleem, the final member of the Toronto 18 to be sentenced for his crimes, has been handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years. Abdelhaleem, 35, was sentenced Friday just before noon for his role in a homegrown terror plot to detonate bombs at the Toronto offices of CSIS, the Toronto Stock Exchange and an Ontario military base. He was found guilty last year of participating in a terrorist group and intending to cause an explosion. Ahead of his sentence, Shareef delivered a 23-minute rambling speech, in which he claimed he never intended to harm anyone. He also said that Canadians have been silent on the blatant injustice of his case…. ” More MSM coverage here.
• Alleged Edmonton Terrorist Back in Court “An Edmonton accused terrorist facing extradition to the U.S. is trying to block seized evidence from being sent south until the validity of the search warrant is examined. In a Court of Queen’s Bench hearing Thursday into the case of Iraqi-born Sayfildin Tahir-Sharif, defence lawyer Nate Whitling said an inquiry is necessary to make sure there were no Charter rights violations when police raided the 38-year-old’s north-side apartment on Jan. 19. “There has been an attempt to evade this inquiry,” said Whitling, suggesting authorities were attempting an “end run” by passing along evidence seized in the search to U.S. officials before ensuring the warrant was proper. “What we are saying is this was, in substance, a search and seizure and they should have followed the proper procedures,” said Whitling. Federal prosecutor Stacey Dej denied anything improper had taken place stemming from dual investigations by the American and Canadian authorities and said the RCMP had “acted responsibly” in its handling of the raid ….” More MSM coverage here.
• Alleged Ottawa Terrorist Still in Court “There is more than enough circumstantial evidence against former University of Ottawa professor Hassan Diab to justify his extradition to France, a federal Crown lawyer argued on Friday. Urging Justice Robert Maranger to ignore “emotional pleas” from Diab’s lawyer, prosecutor Jeffrey Johnston said the relatively “low standard” of evidence required by Canadian extradition law has been amply met during the protracted two-year proceedings against Diab. The Lebanese-born Canadian is wanted for murder and attempted murder by Paris police for his alleged role in the bombing of a synagogue in the French capital in October 1980. Diab, 57, says he is an innocent victim of mistaken identity ….”
• “The results of a sweeping federal review of veteran health services are being kept secret and former soldiers are losing out on benefits as a result, stakeholders say. “There’s something amiss,” said Liberal Sen. Percy Downe, who has been pressuring the government on the issue. “What we have is a cone of silence.” Since 2005, the Tories have been touting the Veterans Health Services Review as one of the most extensive ever undertaken by Veterans Affairs. It was meant to identify gaps in access to health programs plaguing this country’s vets – everything from spousal and burial benefits to the evolving needs of newer veterans.  In 2008, then minister Greg Thompson told a Senate committee the review was nearly complete. “It is going to provide us with a way forward in terms of how we provide services to our veterans,” he said. But when Downe pushed the feds for information from the report in 2010, he was told the recommendations were “protected information.” ….”
• A hearty “well done” to Royal Canadian Regiment Colonel of the Regiment Walter Matheson Holmes for his work with those members of the regimental family needing help.  This, from a statement announcing his Meritorious Service Decoration (Military Division):  “Since June 2006, Colonel of the Regiment Holmes has been providing leadership and has been dedicated to The Royal Canadian Regiment. He championed the development of the Regimental Veterans’ Care Cell, as well as the sourcing of private funds to support both wounded soldiers and the post-secondary education of the children of fallen soldiers. These initiatives have enhanced the quality of life for both serving and retired members of the regiment. His service has brought great credit to The Royal Canadian Regiment and to the Canadian Forces.”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 26 Feb 11

• Operation GTFO Libya (1)  Here’s one way of putting it. “The Canadian government has “facilitated” the safe evacuation of about 200 Canadians from Libya on a number of flights and vessels, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a televised statement Friday evening. Saying the situation at the airport in Tripoli was “becoming ever more difficult,” the prime minister said evacuation efforts will continue Saturday. “A Canadian armed forces C-17 is standing by in Malta, ready to be deployed to Libya at a moment’s notice,” he said. So far, however, Canada hasn’t directly airlifted any of its citizens out of Libya. Many have found their own way out of the strife-torn country by hitching rides on allied countries’ flights and ships ….”
• Operation GTFO Libya (2)  Here’s, um, another way of putting it (albeit via unnamed “sources”).  “A flight chartered by Canada to evacuate its citizens from Libya left Tripoli empty after panicked Canadians fled the country by other means before it arrived, a government source said Friday. Almost 200 Canadians, including 105 who were left waiting at the Tripoli airport for an earlier plane that was nixed by an insurer on Thursday, found passage aboard other flights and boats. They safely arrived in Britain, Malta, Madrid and Turkey overnight, the source said. When a second charter flight arrived in Tripoli from Amman, Jordan Thursday evening, there were no Canadians or citizens from countries cooperating with Canada on the evacuation at the airport, the source explained. The jetliner was granted only two hours to land, pick up passengers and depart, and so it had to leave with no passengers ….” If this is true as reported, someone’s got some ‘splainin’ to do.  More on this here, here and here.
• Meanwhile, Canada’s Defence Minister manages expectations on what can be done for Libya right now.  “Just how far will the world go to stop the bloodshed in Libya? Probably not as far as anti-government demonstrators in the country are calling for, said Defence Minister Peter MacKay. While the United Nations Security Council debates a long list of measures designed to punish and disarm Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the security forces that remain under his command, a number of nations say they are unlikely to order their military forces into the country to keep the peace. The decade-long military slog in Afghanistan and the lukewarm global response to civilians being killed in Sudan’s Darfur region have shown that the UN’s famous Responsibility to Protect doctrine, a policy conceived in Ottawa in response to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has “lost it’s lustre,” MacKay said. The lesson, he told a defence conference in Ottawa, was that countries should not “overextend” themselves or “raise expectations that can’t be met.” “I perhaps tend to lean toward practical conservatism when it comes to assessing what Canada can provide to these international missions.” ….”
• Speaking of managing expectations, here’s what the PM had to say on the Libyan fracas: “…. I have instructed our officials to prepare a full range of sanctions against the Libyan regime, both in collaboration with our international partners, or unilaterally, if necessary. No options have been ruled out. Canada fully supports the United Nations Security Council on a resolution that could include a weapons embargo, individual sanctions against key Libyan officials and an asset freeze. The Libyan regime must and will be held accountable for its violation of human rights atrocities committed against the Libyan people. Canada also calls for Libya’s immediate suspension from the United Nations Human Rights Council. We are working with our allies and international partners to ensure that this suspension occurs, and will be acted on by the General Assembly. As well, Canada fully supports the Human Rights Council’s decision to dispatch a mission to investigate human rights violations in Libya. Finally, we call on the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Libya to the International Criminal Court ….”
• More news on the latest in Libya here (Google News), here (EMM News Brief:  Libya),  here (NewsNow), here (BBC) and here (Al Jazeera English).
• Someone else runs with the “fewer casualties in Afghanistan” story:  “Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan have reached an important milestone, one that speaks to their recent success in securing territory previously under insurgent control. Yet, it’s also an accomplishment few troops are eager to discuss publicly, as if the very act of acknowledging it might prompt their run of good fortune to end. As of this week, just one Canadian has been killed while on duty in the last six months. That soldier was Cpl. Steve Martin, 24, of St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., who was killed by an improvised explosive device during a foot patrol on Dec. 18 ….” I’m looking forward to CBC.ca sharing this information – please e-mail me a link to any story they may have done along these lines since official stats were released here.
• “A young Taliban field commander who waged numerous battles against Canadian troops has surrendered to Afghan authorities, along with 30 of his men. Haji Toorjan, 28, hinted at growing fractures in the Taliban’s hierarchy, saying other mid-level insurgents are looking to lay down their arms and rejoin Afghan society. “I know many Taliban in the south, they want to renounce violence but they have no outreach program,” he said Tuesday after a ceremony in Kandahar City in which he turned over his weapons ….”
• “The head of Canada’s battle group in Afghanistan says his troops are having one of their best months to date in finding stashes of weapons hidden by insurgents. “February has been particularly positive in our ability to find weapons caches, IED component caches and all the materials the insurgents need to do us harm,” Lt.-Col. Michel-Henri St. Louis told reporters Friday from battle group headquarters at Kandahar Airfield. St. Louis said Canadian and Afghan forces have been using a “stepped-up tempo” in recent weeks to patrol villages and fields in the Panjwaii district, culminating in a major search operation last week that involved close to 3,000 troops ….”
• Some highlights from a recent town-hall meeting on Afghanistan near Edmonton.  “…. One town hall attendee listed off the number of times Afghanistan has been conquered in its history, then asked Hawn why the “NATO Canadian invasion” would see a different outcome. Hawn said Canada was invited to come into Afghanistan to help, and that’s what he hopes to see happen. “I can’t look at an Afghan child … and say, ‘You don’t deserve a chance,’” he said. “We’re not there to conquer Afghanistan. We’re there to give the Afghan people a chance to build themselves up.” Another person asked why the Afghan government recently awarded a contract to develop mineral resources to Chinese companies when they could “show some gratitude” and award such contracts to Canada or other allied nations instead. Hawn said that he has “no love” for Afghan president Hamid Karzai and the corruption in the current government there, but it is something NATO is working on. “We’ve got to get a grip on Karzai and corruption. … Will we succeed in the end? I don’t know,” he said. “But I know we’re trying very hard to do this.” ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Taliban statement disses U.S. – again.
• “A Canadian who served with U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan is to receive an American bravery medal. Grant Derrick, a duel Canadian-American citizen, will receive the Silver Star on Friday for his part in a 14-hour battle in Hendon village, an isolated community east of Kabul. The former Ottawa man, a member of the U.S. army special forces, was part of a raid in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan last spring. The action saw two commandos killed and three badly wounded. Derrick, a 31-year-old retired staff-sergeant, was a member of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, based in North Carolina. A medic who spent most of his life in Canada until joining the U.S. army in 2003, Derrick is credited with saving the life of an Afghan commando shot in the face as the force swept into a Taliban weapons depot May 4 ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War “A battle of numbers has broken out over the Harper government’s deal to buy the F-35 joint strike fighter jet. Defence Minister Peter MacKay says the country stands to lose up to $1 billion if the purchase of the stealth jets is scrapped, largely because of lost economic benefits in research and development. The loss estimate includes up to $100 million in royalties earmarked for the federal treasury because of Canadian research on the aircraft. Ottawa invested in the development phase and is in line for a cut of export sales to other countries. MacKay underlined that the $9 billion price tag for the initial purchase of 65 F-35s is firm — a number critics say will only increase ….”