MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 4 Jun 11

• Karl Manning, R.I.P.:  Funeral set for today in Chicoutimi.
• Libya Mission:  Aboard the HMCS Charlottetown as it monitors the Mediterranean and the playoffs.
• Afghanistan (1):  “It’s too early to roll out the victory banners. Even though the combat mission in Afghanistan ends soon, Canada’s work is not over, and a national commemoration has not been confirmed. “It would be odd to have a great ceremony of ‘marching away’ because that’s not what we’re doing,” said Douglas Bland, a professor in the school of policy studies at Queen’s University and an expert in defence policy. While they will no longer be in combat, some Canadian Forces will remain in Afghanistan to train the Afghan army and police force until 2014. Bland said he expects the return of Canadian soldiers from Afghanistan at the end of the year will be marked “quietly” with remarks from officials and probably special recognition on Remembrance Day ….”
• Afghanistan (2):  Postmedia News’ Matthew Fisher has been in and out of Afghanistan more than once, and shares this wrap-up series of articles about the history of the mission here and here, with a timeline of the mission here.
• Speech from the Throne  Here’s what the Government had to say about it’s immediate plans for the CF in the 3 Jun 11 Speech from the Throne:  “…. The Canadian Armed Forces play a crucial role in defending our sovereignty and national security. As the Canadian mission in Afghanistan transitions to training, diplomacy and development, our Government joins Canadians in honouring those who gave their lives and in recognizing the sacrifice and achievements of all the men and women, both military and civilian, who have served and continue to serve in Afghanistan. Our Government will continue to recognize and support all veterans. Today, as North Africa and the Middle East are being transformed by their people, the Canadian Armed Forces are standing tall with our allies to protect civilians in Libya. Our Government will hold a parliamentary debate on the future of this important mission ….”
• Building Big Honkin’ Canadian Ships (1):  “One of Britain’s leading defence companies says it could still work with Canada on building new warships, even though the Harper government has slammed the door shut on collaboration with its NATO ally. A senior executive with BAE Systems told The Canadian Press it may be early days, but his firm and the British government hold designs for several warships — and they would be willing to share them with Canada in some sort of arrangement. The overture comes in the face of the Conservative government’s repeated declarations that its one-year-old National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy will be a made-in-Canada enterprise. And it will further anger Canadian shipyard workers, who have said that any collaboration with Britain would be bad for them. Canadian ships will be built in two yet-to-be selected Canadian shipyards, the government maintains. It even went so far as to publicly rebuff the British government’s lobbying for a joint ship building venture earlier this year ….”
• Building Big Honkin’ Ships (2):  “Premier Christy Clark will go to Ottawa this month as part of B.C.’s campaign to make a “big splash” as it champions the lone West Coast bid for a major federal shipbuilding contract. Details of the trip are still being worked out with the Prime Minister’s Office, Clark said in an interview Thursday. “It will be a focused agenda . . . and one of those focuses is going to be the shipbuilding contract,” Clark said. “It is fabulous news that she is heading out,” said Jonathan Whitworth, CEO of Vancouver’s Seaspan. Seaspan, owner of Victoria Shipyards, Vancouver Shipyards and Vancouver Drydock, is vying for a share of the 30-year, $35-billion national shipbuilding procurement strategy. Two main contractors, one for combat vessels and one for non-combat vessels, will be chosen ….”
• Building Big Honkin’ Canadian Ships (3):  “It makes strategic and practical sense to build the next generation of Canada’s combat vessels on the West Coast, retired Rear Admiral Roger Girouard, former commander of Maritime Forces Pacific, said Friday. “South Asia, East Asia are going to be where things happen for good and for ill,” said Girouard, who retired from the military in 2007 and now teaches human security and peacebuilding at Royal Roads University in Colwood. “Having numbers of ships and capacity to support those ships on our West Coast, I think for Canada, is geo-strategically a no-brainer,” he said. In just over a month, a shortlist of Canadian shipyards will submit bids to build large vessels within the $35-billion national shipbuilding procurement strategy ….”
• Saving some military history from the trash heap – literally. “Thanks to the thoughftul actions of a good Samaritan, a precious piece of Canada’s military history has been salvaged from the dump. In March, Sylvan Lake resident Cade Graville found a scrapbook and a row of medals from the Second World War at Red Deer’s municipal waste management facility. This week, Graville brought the artifacts into the King’s Own Calgary Regiment Museum. The exceptional find has stunned officials of the Calgary museum. “To have something recovered from a landfill of this importance is incredible,” said Bruce Graham, collections manager for the museum ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 12 Apr 11

• Scott Vernelli, 1980-2009 & John Faught, 1965-2010, R.I.P.  Remembering the fallen in Sault Ste. Marie. “Mandy Dickson is putting a face to the name of every Canadian killed during Operation Enduring Freedom. Dickson, a former Sault Ste. Marie resident, has created her own “wall of heroes” tribute at her Mr. Sub outlet in Angus, Ont. “It’s important to me . . . It puts a face to every name,” said Dickson, in regards to the 154 three-inch-by-five-inch photos of Canada’s war dead in Afghanistan. “My husband Master Cpl. Scott Dickson and I know a lot of people on the wall . . . This is our salute to their ultimate sacrifice.” Among the miliitary dead they knew were Sgt. John Faught, 44, of the Sault, a cousin of Master Cpl. Dickson’s, and Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, also of the Sault, who the Dicksons got to know while stationed at CFB Petawawa ….”
• “A mostly Canadian-led seven day sweep across Panjwaii district that involved thousands of Canadian, American and Afghan troops ended Sunday, having found a trove of Taliban weaponry and homemade explosives as well as large quantities of drugs often used to fund the insurgency. The weapons and improvised explosive device caches discovered during Operation Hamaghe Shay II were expected to make it much harder for insurgents to plant homemade bombs during the summer fighting season in Kandahar. Attacks by the Taliban are expected to increase when the annual poppy harvest ends in a few weeks. “The caches were mostly in the fields, not in the compounds,” said Maj. Martin Larose, operations officer for the Royal 22nd Regiment battle group. “Because we also found a lot of stuff in compounds in January and February, they may have changed their tactics.” ….”
• Is anybody out there watching anymore? “Where have all the embeds gone? At any one time in 2006, when the Canadian military formally launched its embed program in Kandahar, and throughout 2007 and 2008, between 10 and 15 journalists were always embedded in Kandahar to chronicle Canada’s first major combat mission in half a century. However, for the first time since the formal embed program was established in Kandahar just over five years ago, only two reporters are embedded with the troops today — yours truly from Postmedia News and a journalist from The Canadian Press …. You would think that this would be the ideal time for journalists to assess Canada’s military and diplomatic triumphs and failures in Kandahar and to provide insights into the Harper government’s controversial new training mission, which is soon to begin in northern Afghanistan. But Canadian editors obviously have different priorities. For them — although certainly not for the soldiers and their kin or Canadian taxpayers, Afghanistan is yesterday’s war ….”
• “Afghanistan: Should the Canadian mission continue to 2014?” CBC online survey says (so far), no.
• “Canada’s former ambassador to Afghanistan, now a Conservative candidate, says Canadian soldiers never knowingly handed detainees over to a high risk of torture though he admitted the Afghan system was rife with abuse. Chris Alexander, a former United Nations deputy envoy in Kabul who’s running in the riding of Ajax-Pickering, says the controversy over the treatment of Afghan detainees transferred to Afghan custody is overblown. Until now, Alexander has resisted public comment about allegations by fellow Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin that Canadian government officials turned a blind eye to reports about the clear risk of torture facing prisoners transferred by Canadian soldiers. But in a wide-ranging interview with the Star, Alexander flatly disagreed with Colvin’s interpretation. “I don’t think that happened at all. “I don’t think any Canadian ever handed over a detainee knowing there was a high risk (of torture) because anyone handed over by Canada — as the record shows — was going to be tracked through the system, was going to be monitored more than other detainees would. As a UN official, I was much more worried about people who were being detained by the Afghans or other countries that weren’t as careful as we were.” ….”
• Here’s the report I mentioned yesterday, saying a training mission in Afghanistan would be dangerous for Canadian troops (PDF).  Here’s some of what someone who’s been there, done that in Afghanistan has to say: “…. this was a rather shoddy paper, even by CCPA standards. What was remarkable about it to me was that the writers did no real research of any kind, with all their citations pointing to news articles or other similar papers. They didn’t interview a single soldier or former soldier, or anyone with any first-hand knowledge of Afghan military training in Canada or outside. (The bibliography is also bereft of any references to Afghan sources of any kind, for that matter.) I doubt I’d have said anything if they had called, but I really don’t think we’re all that hard to find. So there’s no real reason to take anything they have to say seriously ….” More from CTV.ca here and CBC.ca here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Assassinations and attacks claimed in Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Taliban (responsible for 3/4 of civilian casualties) worries about civilian casualties.
• Libya Ops (1) – Canada backfills fighters to ensure Iceland has air cover now that CF-18′s are in Libya. “Three fighter jets landed at Iceland’s Keflavik airport and NATO military base yesterday evening and three more are expected later today. The air cover for Iceland had to be swiftly re-arranged because the Canadian Forces Air Command decided to send the team originally earmarked for Iceland on a mission to Libya. Canada has just taken over responsibility for Icelandic airspace under the NATO arrangement which sees allied nations take turns to patrol the air above Iceland. Air forces often also take the opportunity to use Iceland for exercises, as the NATO member country has the relevant equipment and ground crews despite not having a military of its own. Before the three F-18 fighters arrived yesterday, Canada had already sent personnel, tools and equipment to Iceland. Later today one more F-18 will arrive, along with a P-3 aircraft used for aerial re-fuelling. Some 150 personnel accompany the planes and will be staying at the Keflavik base over the coming weeks. As well as patrolling, the Canadians also plan to conduct exercises and landing practice at Keflavik, Akureyri and Egilsstadir ….”
• Libya Ops (2) – Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister: Off the campaign trail, over to discuss Libya. “After taking heat for skipping a major international conference on Libya to stay on the hustings, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will globetrot this week to two major meetings aimed at finding a way around the impasse in the country. With nations around the world looking for a way past what appears to be military stalemate and a divide over whether Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must depart before a ceasefire can be struck, Mr. Cannon is leaving the campaign trail this time – but first asked for a blessing from opposition parties ….”
• Election 2011 – Blogger Mark Collins on the Conservative and Liberal platforms on defence.
• Remember James Loney, the Canadian peace activist kidnapped with some others in Iraq, then rescued in 2006?   He has a new book out about his experiences. “An angry soldier told a Canadian hostage in Iraq that many people risked their lives to rescue him from terrorist kidnappers, according to a new book. Captivity by Christian activist James Loney reveals how a team of Mounties, soldiers and diplomats teamed up for a joint British-Canadian operation that apparently relied heavily on the mass surveillance of cellphone signals to pinpoint the hostages and their captors ….” My own humble open source analysis of what was said in public about the rescue here (Scribd.com).  Amazon.com only has the Kindle version out for now here.
• Added #100 to my list of Fave War Flicks here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 13 Jan 11

• Canadian Forces’ statistics show 2010 saw fewer deaths, injuries among Canadian troops in Afghanistan than the previous year. More from the Toronto Star here, and some interesting discussion on why those numbers have dropped at Army.ca here.
• On a related note, it’s WELL worth the 16 minutes or so you should spend listening to Postmedia News’ Matthew Fisher talk to TVO host Steve Paikin about how things are going in Afghanistan (good for NATO), why you’re not hearing exactly how it’s going in the mainstream media, and why casualty numbers are dropping.
• Canada has handed the keys (as well as command) of Kandahar’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT) to the United States.
• “He says” on reported collateral damage caused by a recent offensive/rebuilding effort:  “A major coalition military operation in a volatile southern Afghan province has caused about 100 million dollars worth of damage to property, a government delegation said Tuesday. President Hamid Karzai dispatched the delegation, led by one of his advisers, to assess damage caused by Operation Omaid, which started in April and aims to root out the Taliban in Kandahar, a traditional heartland areas. The delegation then reported to the Western-backed leader, charging that the damage caused by the military offensive was worth over 100 million dollars, in part due to damage to crops, Karzai’s office said in a statement. International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Brigadier-General Josef Blotz said he could not comment as he had not yet seen the statement. “As a result of military operation ‘Omaid’, significant property damage has been caused to the people in Arghandab, Zahri and Panjwayi districts in Kandahar province,” the delegation’s statement said ….”
• “She says” on reported collateral damage caused by a recent offensive/rebuilding effort:  “By building a road, Canadian troops may have burned some bridges.  The commander of all NATO forces in southern Afghanistan says a major Canadian construction project is partly to blame for a recent slew of property-damage claims.  The road Canadian troops are carving through the horn of Panjwaii is part of a much larger military effort in Kandahar province. This week, a delegation of Afghan government officials claimed the offensive has come at an astronomical cost: upwards of $100 million in damaged fruit crops, livestock and property …. The Canadian road cuts through farmers’ fields in a dusty corner of southwestern Kandahar that has long be a hotbed of the Taliban insurgency.  Property owners who have found their land bisected by the thoroughfare have sought compensation, said Maj.-Gen. James Terry, who is in charge of the NATO contingent known as Regional Command South.  “Some of the claims come from that, in terms of compensation back to the people because of putting that road in,” he said at a news conference in Kandahar city on Thursday.  Terry, of the U.S. army’s 10th Mountain Division, pointed out that local elders asked for the road at a meeting, or shura. It will eventually link rural parts of the province and enable commerce ….” More on the road work in question here and here.
• More on the work to close Canada’s Camp Mirage in the UAE (via the CF).
• Remember that committee of politicians looking over all those Afghan detainee documents? Is there light at the end of the tunnel for them (or is it the light of an oncoming train coming)?
• The PM is apparently eyeing a special parliamentary committee to vet top-secret intelligence. “Prime Minister Stephen Harper is considering creating a multi-partisan parliamentary committee to vet the top-secret intelligence gathered by Canada’s national security agencies. Several of Canada’s close allies — including Britain and the United States — have established committees of lawmakers to keep tabs on the operations of their spy agencies. When asked Friday whether he would consider creating a parliamentary intelligence committee, Harper noted that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and NDP leader Jack Layton have been sworn in as members of the Queen’s Privy Council, a process that allows them to receive sensitive national security intelligence under an oath of secrecy. But the prime minister said the government is looking at ways to broaden Parliament’s involvement. “I know that has been under consideration for some time. I don’t think we’ve yet landed on a particular model that we think would be ideal,” Harper told reporters at a news conference in Welland, Ont ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Almost 20 claimed killed in alleged attacks in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul.
• Canada’s Veterans Affairs Minister hits the road to let veterans know what’s coming to them – more on the road trip from QMI here.
• More on how it’s not necessarily the bureaucrats’ fault that some things happen the way they do at Veterans’ Affairs Canada. “…. Take the Sean Bruyea affair as an example: high level VAC officials briefed Ministers on Bruyea’s personal medical and financial information. Bruyea, involved in protesting the New Veterans’ Charter, found his benefits cut and claims stalled. There were even attempts by Veterans’ Affairs to have Sean commit himself to a mental hospital. All this came to light last fall. What did the government do? Apologise, settle Bruyea’s court case, and require all Veterans’ Affairs staff to undergo privacy training. The message? VAC staff messed up and we’ll make sure they know better. Implied course of events: the frontline staff was upset by Bruyea’s lobbying and tried to take him down …. Here’s an alternative scenario: Bruyea ruffles feathers in the upper echelon of Veteran’s Affairs – the Ministers and Deputy Ministers. Orders are sent down: pull Bruyea’s files. Files are reviewed, annotated, and included in briefing notes (all of which has been confirmed). Decisions are taken to “take the gloves off” with Bruyea, after which Sean’s descent into the nightmare begins. Who can make such a decision or issue such an order? Not the people answering the phones ….”
• QMI Ottawa bureau boss David Akin manages to see the forest in the midst of the trees. “…. Simply put: Our Canadian Forces needs billions and billions of dollars worth of new gear — not just new fighter planes — but no one has any clear plans to pay for what they need, particularly in a time of global fiscal restraint.  Alternately, one party or the other could stand up and, as Conservatives have done in Britain and Democrats did in the U.S., start announcing big-time cuts to military acquisitions and other programs.  Instead, we’ve been watching Conservatives and Liberals argue bitterly about the merits of purchasing the F-35 fighter plane, though both largely agree we will need some kind of new fighter plane to replace our fleet of excellent-but-aging CF-18s.  Whatever plane we choose is going to cost us billions. How will we pay?  And is that most urgent need? Is that the top spending priority? ….”
• Potential base closures are always publicly contentious because of how much money such facilities pump into neighbouring economies.  As part of a strategic review of the military overall, a Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) paper ranks Canada’s military bases according to their “operational impact, infrastructure condition and efficiency, and economic impact”.  The list, the paper’s executive summary and a link to the paper itself are all here (as well as always interesting discussion) at Army.ca.
• It’s still messy in Ivory Coast, where one guy says he won the election for president, and the other says he’s still president.  Here’s how one academic says Canada could help:  “….First, it should mobilize like-minded states to impose travel bans and freeze assets of Mr. Gbagbo’s family and close associates. Second, it should lead efforts to move Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of the Nov. 28 presidential runoff who is under siege in a hotel in Abidjan, to Yamoussoukro, the capital, where he seems to have the backing of the local political establishment …. Third, Canada should work with other governments to press the African Union to give Mr. Gbagbo a deadline to step down or face comprehensive economic sanctions …. And fourth, Canada should help Mr. Ouattara to form his government by encouraging financial institutions such as the West African Monetary Union, the African Development Bank and the World Bank to deal with him ….”
• Remember the young guy masked as an old guy who flew to Canada from Hong Kong last October?  Well, he may have been one of nine Chinese smuggled here, according to Hong Kong authorities.  The good news:  some arrests have been made in Hong Kong – a bit more from Hong Kong media here, here and here.

Taliban attempts to drive wedges between ISAF allies

The Taliban’s info-machine has chosen to highlight some Coalition politics in its latest statement (Voice of Jihad here, PDF at Scribd.com here). The Taliban say it’s good to see the Canadians, Aussies, and Dutch do what the Afghan people ‘really want’:

After the dissolution of Dutch government following its parliament’s hot discussion over the American war in Afghanistan, now Canada and Australia have decided to respect views of their people for unconditional withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan …. After the dissolution of the Dutch government over the mission in Afghanistan. , where the parliament was not ready to extend the military mission in the country , now the Australian and Canadian public have mounted pressure on their rulers to pay respect to the people’s demand for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and notify America and NATO of their decision ….

In addition to highlighting the departure of various Coalition members from Afghanistan as a general way to slip a wedge between allies, the Taliban make an even more specific reference to the strategy of divide-and-conquer:

… There are many examples which indicate America overtly and covertly works against the stance of other countries because of its arrogance. They hurl hurdles in their ways. He further says whenever, French, Canada and German succeed in winning the hearts and minds of Afghans in a given area of Afghanistan through reconstruction work and other humantarisian (sic.) activities, the Americans heavily bombard that area; they torture the residents and launch night raids on their houses . Thus they intentionally create resentments and wrath among the people …. The Coalition members want to pull out of the country one after another because they know, the current war in Afghanistan is only aimed at securing interests of Americans and Britains while other countries are being used as fodder of the cannon ….

I don’t think this will make said countries reconsider their decisions to leave. Still, the inter-Coalition animus is not exactly zero – note this from a Facebook posting by embed writer/blogger Michael Yon, who is currently in Afghanistan:

Task Force Kandahar, responsible for security of the bridge that was blown up on Monday, happens to be under Canadian command. This is causing friction. The Canadian government has clearly signaled that it will quit Afghanistan, yet a Canadian General is commanding US combat forces and resources — all while allowing… a strategically important bridge to be blown up …. Our combat soldiers should not be commanded from a country that is quitting the fight …. With our next big offensive set for Kandahar, command should be with British and U.S. forces. Canada needs to step out of the way.

As for Yon, while he may be channeling what the troops say on the ground, this and other foreign bashing (like his work on the Spanish in Afghanistan) don’t help Coalition relations. His efforts have been ably rebutted by various other observers: an embed with CanWest News Service here, as well as a former Canadian OMLT trainer at the Flit blog here, here, and here.

As for the Taliban, we’ll have to see whether they continue to attempt to drive wedges between ISAF.

(Crossposted at Threat Matrix)

Taliban STILL Using Child Soldiers

Remember this?

It’s still going on – this, from CanWest News Service:

A 12-year-old boy caught in the act Friday as he put a homemade bomb under a road in the volatile Zhari District grabbed a baby as a human shield to protect himself from attack from the United States helicopter that spotted him.

The incident, in an area where U.S. forces operate under Canadian command, appears to be part of a Taliban strategy to use youngsters as lookouts or human shields, or to carry out attacks, because they know NATO rules of engagement make troops extremely reluctant to open fire in such situations.

There have been 29 incidents in which children have helped commit attacks or otherwise abetted the Taliban in Afghanistan’s four southern provinces since March, according to a document provided by the Canadian military. Eight of the incidents have taken place this month.

Among them were three blasts in Kandahar in the past few weeks in which as many as 12 Afghan children were blown up as they were being taught how to make or place improvised explosive devices – the greatest killer of coalition troops in Afghanistan.

Good to see at least one mainstream media story on this.  How much will this by picked up by other media outlets?  Or “progressive” bloggers?  My prediction:

New NATO Rules Reducing Civvy Casualties

A “well done” to Matthew Fisher at CanWest News Service for sharing this tidbit:

“The number of civilian deaths caused by NATO this year has plummeted more than 80% since the alliance’s new Afghan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, issued a stern “tactical directive” to his 68,000 troops at the end of June, ordering them to take much greater care to avoid civilian casualties when fighting the Taliban.

The previously classified data, which was supplied by NATO, also indicated that civilian casualties caused by the Taliban had increased about 20% during the same period.

The Taliban had killed 245 Afghan civilians during the past two months, while NATO forces had killed 19, according to the alliance’s tabulations.

The difference between the Taliban and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force’s casualty figures was starkest during last week’s presidential election. The Taliban were responsible for 45 civilian deaths during the seven days before and after the ballot while NATO forces killed no Afghan civilians….”

Here’s a link to the Tactical Directive (.pdf), and here’s a link to NATO’s statement on the issuing of the document.

Thanks Matthew and CanWest.

Based on how much coverage the Directive received when it came out, pointing to all the civilian casualties NATO/ISAF was causing, I look forward to similar coverage of the results of the Directive.  So far, only the Los Angeles Times is carrying their own version of this one.