MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 18 Jul 11

• Afghanistan (1)  Ladies and gentlement, Canada’s new Task Force Afghanistan boss, Brigadier-General Charles Lamarre
• Afghanistan (2a)  This time, it’s the “movers are clearing the house” metaphor for packing up Kandahar.  “It’s official. After six years at war, the packers and movers have taken over. In a ceremony staged in front of the memorial to the 157 Canadian soldiers and four civilians killed in this war, Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner handed command over all Canadian military operations in Kandahar to the people responsible for packing up the exhausted remains of Canada’s most recent combat history. Brig.-Gen. Chuck Lamarre, who is leading a contingent of 1,500 soldiers for the packup-and-move mission, said Canada probably won’t be battle-ready again before late 2012. He said a lot of the equipment “is in pretty rough shape and our job is to put it into better shape and ship it back to the various units so it can be ready once more for a departure.” ….”
• Afghanistan (2b)  Canadian Press’s take on the house moving analogy:  “The refrain once upon a time used to be: Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. But in Kandahar it has become: Pass the packing tape, please. The army’s moving and packing unit, known as the Mission Transition Task Force, came into being Sunday during a brief, understated ceremony. It is charged with getting all of the vehicles, helicopters and thousands upon thousands of sea containers full of equipment back to Canada before the end of the year, the deadline set by Parliament to be out of Kandahar entirely. Lt.-Gen. Marc Lessard, the country’s overseas commander says the intent is to get everything back in good order so the army can be ready for another overseas mission, if called upon, by the end of 2012 ….”
• Big “virtual exercise” starting this week.  “…. ALLIED AURORAS is a test of a virtual, pre-deployment mission rehearsal exercise designed to support a multinational brigade level; with the specific focus of exposing the coalition command and staff to the interoperability issues that they would face in a real conflict ….”  More on the concept here (PDF presentation).
• What’s Canada Buying?  Someone to inspect the HMCS Protecteur’s boiler and flight crew anti-exposure suits x 300.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 7 Jul 11

• Afghanistan (1a)  More “Combat Mission Over” stories, courtesy of QMI/Sun Media, the Kingston Whig-Standard, The Canadian Press (more), the Globe & Mail and Agence France-Presse.
• Afghanistan (1b)  Task Force Kandahar boss to speak to media today about mission.
• Afghanistan (2a)  Let the editorial assessments of the legacy begin!  This one, from a Canadian Senator:  ”…. we went, and stayed, and extended, and then got out, except for some cosmetic training duties, and nobody has ever explained why. Yes, we pleased the Americans. Yes, we gave our army combat experience. I acknowledge that these are not inconsequential achievements. But I ask you to balance the ledger and ask yourself, “Did this war make sense to Canada?” And then you have to ask why, if it did make sense, no Canadian prime minister ever dared to explain why.”  An interesting and detailed rebutttal at Army.ca.
• Afghanistan (2b)  “…. The Canadian military’s return to prominence over the last decade has been astonishing. No longer do people joke about “a canoe and a slingshot,” and people are generally proud of our uniformed men and women. But do we really want to shift our identity from peace-loving to militaristic? Do we desire a military immune from debate and criticism? Whether it is called a war, mission, or whatever else — I have a bag that calls it an “engagement,” which makes me wonder whether Canada proposed with a grenade or a bomb from an F-18 — the Afghan experience has rejuvenated the Canadian Forces and displayed the almost impossible nature of a modern-day war against an unconventional enemy in foreboding terrain. Whether it has transformed the way we see our military for good; whether it has “Americanized” our society, remains to be seen.”
• Afghanistan (2c)  “…. Our troops served with distinction, earning praise from both coalition partners and the people whose lives they were trying to improve. Over the next three years, this country’s commitment to Afghanistan will continue. About 950 troops, based in Kabul, are to help train Afghan military and security forces. Though hopeful, we are under no illusions the future will be easy in that war-torn land.”
• Afghanistan (2d)  “…. If the objectives of invading and occupying Afghanistan, as Western leaders claim, are to liberate Afghans and especially Afghan women from a tyrannical and misogynistic government, eliminate terrorism, and provide greater global security for most people, then the mission is a dismal failure. None of these purported objectives have been accomplished to any satisfactory level. None are likely to be accomplished in the foreseeable future. It is inconceivable any of these objectives could be accomplished by launching a global war ….”
• Afghanistan (2e)  “…. We talk about the nobility of sacrifice but our motives were not noble. We sent our soldiers to die in Kandahar mainly to impress our largest trading partner, the U.S., and ensure that the border stayed open for trade. Canadians were killed to guarantee just-in-time delivery of auto parts. That is not sufficient reason.”
• Afghanistan (2f)  “…. the muddy objectives in Afghanistan kept shifting. First it was limited to hunting al-Qaeda and dislodging the Taliban. Then it was peacekeeping to stabilize the country, then fighting a counterinsurgency which really required tens of thousands more troops, mixed in with establishing democracy and sending girls to school. But the surge came almost nine years after the Taliban fell. Now, the goal is to build enough Afghan forces and broker a deal with the Taliban ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  Remember this from two weeks ago, with the Camp Mirage memorials coming back to (and staying in) Trenton?  The new monument has officially been unveiled – more here and here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Taliban deny (yet again) they’re talking with the West – except for prisoner exchanges.
• More on Russian “poking” into the Arctic – this time, with a “research expedition”.
• F-35 Tug o’ War:  “…. The question arises from any debate about fighter jets as to whether Canada is blindly following the Yanks or carving out its own relevance in the world. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs argues that, with its limited defence budget, Canada would be better off choosing less militaristic missions, focusing on disaster and humanitarian relief, peacekeeping missions, search and rescue activity and patrols along Canada’s three coasts. It’s particularly important that the public familiarize itself with the ongoing debate over the purchase of the F-35s. With a majority in Parliament, the Conservatives cannot be thwarted by their political opposition and now are entirely free to spend the money. The only impediment that could get in their way at this point is a public groundswell against the purchase.”
• What’s Canada Buying?  Wanted:  someone to teach the CF Ombudsman’s staff how to write better – more in one of the bid documents here (via Army.ca).
• What’s Canada Buying? Canada’s Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, gets shown Florida high-tech. “In a sort of high-tech show and tell, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll and Canada’s minister of state for science and technology met with UCF President John Hitt and other officials Wednesday morning …. Later in the day, Carroll and Canadian Minister Gary Goodyear met with local military officials and toured SAIC, one of the city’s high-profile simulation companies. Like Orlando, Canada has a well established simulation hub, though the focus is on medical simulation, Goodyear said. “We have very common challenges and very common opportunities,” he said.”
• “Canada’s new official Opposition appealed directly to Israel not to harm a boatload of Canadian protesters determined to break the Gaza Strip blockade. NDP Leader Jack Layton and foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar delivered that plea directly to Israel’s ambassador to Canada, Miriam Ziv, during a meeting at the opposition leader’s office in early June. They were trying to prevent a repeat of last year’s tragedy when nine activists taking part in a similar flotilla on a Turkish boat were killed in a raid by Israeli commandos. “Obviously, when there’s a loss of lives involved everyone should take heed,” Dewar said in an interview Tuesday. He and Layton urged Israel to observe “an abundance of caution and care dealing with the flotilla because it was pretty clear it was going to be happening.” Dewar said Ziv listened politely. She was not available for an interview ….”  Not to worry, though.  In spite of some sensationalist dire predictions, Canada’s ship of “kayaktivists” isn’t getting its chance to taste the Sword of Gideon just yet.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 20 Mar 11

• No Fly Zone Libya (1) – They call it Operation Odyssey Dawn.  First in:  100+ Tomahawk missiles, French ground attack planes.  Who’s running the show?  U.S. Africa Command for now – here’s AFRICOM’s boss’ initial word on the job..
• No Fly Zone Libya (2) – Who’s who in the OP Odyssey Dawn zoo (including HMCS Charlottetown in the Med, and 6 x CF-18′s), courtesy of Reuters and the Associated Press.
• No Fly Zone Libya (3) – PM Harper’s latest statement: “…. Canadian aircraft and HMCS Charlottetown have joined an international force assembling in the region. Faced with the threat of military action, the regime proclaimed a ceasefire. But the ceasefire was a lie, an obvious lie from the beginning. The facts on the ground are changing in the opposite direction. Canada has said, and leaders have agreed, that we must act urgently. “We must help the Libyan people, help them now, or the threat to them and to the stability of the whole region will only increase. “We must also ensure humanitarian needs are met, and that the humanitarian appeal is fully subscribed. “Finally, we should all acknowledge that ultimately, only the Libyan people can or should decide their future. “But we all have a mutual interest in their peaceful transition to a better future.”
• More from the PM: “Canada needs to move quickly but tread carefully as it engages in “acts of war” against a defiant Col. Moammar Gadhafi and his brutal regime, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “We should not kid ourselves. Whenever you engage in military action, essentially acts of war, these are difficult situations,” Harper told reporters in Paris on Saturday following an emergency summit on the crisis in Libya, during which international partners, led by France, agreed to turn the screws on the dangerous despot. “We need to monitor this very closely and be very careful what we do every step of the way,” Harper said ….”
• Commentary on Canadian-built LAVs being used by Saudi Arabia to help, uh, sort things out in Bahrain:  “…. It does regrettably tend to put Canada’s support for “Responsibility to Protect” policies in the Middle East these days in something of a different light. And yes, at around 2:30 in the video you see the distinctive boat hulls of LAVs, most with the 90mm main gun armament that is unique to the Saudi variant. Made in Canada? Yes, most likely …. This is not, however, an issue that any party courting the Ontario auto union vote is likely ever to bring up to the public, so this shouldn’t be an issue, at least until one of the Saudi drivers runs over a news crew or something.”
• More parents of the fallen visit Afghanistan seeking some closure. “The families of 10 Canadians killed in Afghanistan paid tribute Sunday to their loved ones in what could be the last ceremony of its kind before combat operations end in the war-torn country. A next-of-kin memorial service was held at Kandahar Airfield’s Canadian compound. The parents, spouses and siblings of those killed placed wreaths at the foot of the monument dedicated to Canadians who have died as part of the Afghan mission. The father of Capt. Nichola Goddard, who was the first Canadian woman to be killed in action while serving in a combat role, said he felt compelled to visit Kandahar. “For me, it was quite peaceful, more than I anticipated,” Tim Goddard said ….”
• What the troops are up to in Afghanistan: “A glance at a map of the Panjwai District tells you where the river is, because that’s where the people are. Villages speckle the landscape around the Arghandab River and its dozens of tributaries, which provide the irrigation water that makes agriculture possible. In winter, when the area receives almost its entire annual rainfall, streams swell with run-off from the mountains and the soil becomes saturated. Unless drainage is provided, many houses are damaged. When the District Governor received a petition from residents of Bazaar-e-Panjwa’i for help with recurring flood damage, he asked ISAF Regional Command (South) for engineering support to execute a drainage control project. Panjwai District is in the Task Force Kandahar (TFK) area of responsibility, so the project came to the TFK Engineer Regiment — specifically, the Engineer Construction Squadron (ECS), the regiment’s project management team ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Attacks, logistics convoy ambushes and assassinations claimed in Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul.
• “The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced plans to construct a new Integrated Personnel Support Center at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax. Located at Windsor Park, the new facility will provide a 662 m2 facility that will equip the unit with the space they require to administer the full spectrum of services they can offer …. The new facility, valued at approximately $4.2 million, will accommodate the 27 members of the Integrated Personnel Support Centre at CFB Halifax. The new facility also addresses current accessibility issues and will meet the Universal Design and Barrier Free Access Guidelines, making it more conducive to providing the services required for ill or injured personnel ….” More from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald here.
• “(U.S.) Army officials are preparing to conduct what they say is a rare training event involving the U.S. military, the CIA, Canadian officers and other government agencies. The Joint Intermediate Staff Planning Exercise will be held March 21-25 at Fort Leavenworth’s Lewis and Clark Center, home of the Army Command and General Staff College. The weeklong event is designed to encourage participants to confront the challenges and uncertainties of joint, interagency and multinational operations ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 12 Jan 11

• A bit more excitement at CSIS offices in Toronto than they would have liked.  “Toronto police say they have arrested a man in connection with a bomb scare in the city’s downtown. Police used a stun gun to incapacitate the man they believe left his car and suitcases in front of the CSIS building, prompting a bomb scare …. one of the city’s main traffic arteries, was shut down for a second time during the height of the evening rush hour as police reopened their investigation into the incident. Police told CBC News that the man they arrested was the owner of the car involved in the earlier incident. The man apparently put up a struggle with police even after being stunned with a Taser and was taken to hospital for observation, said police spokesman Const. Tony Vella. During the evening there were three loud noises near Front Street. Police later explained they were controlled explosions, detonating a package the man was carrying when he was arrested. The earlier bomb scare ended quietly after police cleared an area outside the offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service after finding nothing untoward in two abandoned pieces of luggage and a car parked nearby ….”
• Here’s what the head of NATO’s training effort in Afghanistan had to say in a recent paper on what Canada could do in Afghanistan (PDF):  “…. The Canadian military and civilian police forces have done much to support NTM-A (NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan) and the development of the ANSF (Afghan national security forces). The recent addition of 44 police trainers and 10 air mentor trainers to the NTM-A mission has been invaluable, as these specialties are particularly hard to fill.  However, to move from building the basic Afghan military and police forces to developing the key capabilities required for those forces to be self-sustaining requires, more of your trainers with specialized skills and experience are required. Police, air, and medical trainers are especially needed, and your nation has the capabilities to provide more air mentor teams in Kandahar, police trainers in Kandahar, trainers at the ANA medical facility in Kandahar, and logistics facilities across the country. Your forces are more broadly experienced than most other nations serving in the International Security Assistance Force, and such mature soldiers, with multiple tours serving in Afghanistan, would be extremely effective trainers for the ANSF ….” Sorry, General, but there’s a parliamentary motion out there that says we’re outta Kandahar, but thanks for the compliment.  More on the U.S. aching for Canada to stay in Kandahar here, here and here.
• In case you missed it in yesterday’s e-mailed version, “The military will ground Canada’s spy plane program after the Afghan combat mission ends this summer. The commander of the prop-driven CU-170 Herons, which operate out of Kandahar Airfield, said the Canadian Forces will disband his squadron once troops pull out of Kandahar. Maj. Dave Bolton, the new and final commander of Task Force Erebus, said his team will then go on to other jobs within the military. “There’s a lot of very young people that were involved with this program,” he said in an interview. “There’s probably going to be a hiatus of somewhere between two and five years ….”
• “…. Bureaucrats working alongside the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan are baffled why civilian police officers and Tim Hortons employees at Kandahar Airfield are eligible for military medals but they aren’t. Public servants were eligible for the military’s General Service Medal when the mission began in 2002 and they worked under the authority of the Canadian Forces. But several months ago, bureaucrats were notified by Afghanistan Task Force officials they no longer qualified because they don’t work for the military. The change ruffled feathers earlier this month when Task Force Commander Brig-Gen. Dean Milner handed out medals to 14 civilian police officers at the Kandahar Airfield for their nine-month stint working with Afghan police. Bureaucrats say most police officers are paid by the Foreign Affairs Department and work for it on its projects. National Defence officials have since begun an examination into whom the civilian police reported to and whether they were given the wrong medal ….”
• An interesting suggestion from a former Canadian general on how to improve Veterans Affairs Canada:  “…. The only way to change Veterans Affairs in favour of instead of against Veterans is to convert the place into a department filled with younger Veterans of all three services starting with the post of Deputy Minister–if the Prime Minister can’t find a Veteran in his caucus to be minister.” I have to disagree, General.  The people implementing it aren’t the problem – it’s the RULES that have to change.
• Remember this woman, who ran a pro-Taliban/jihadi news page, who was kidnapped in Pakistan and reported dead?  It appears some journalists aren’t happy with the lack of attention paid to her (reported) plight.  “…. Giesbrecht never defined herself as such but she was, in a sense, a practitioner of immersion journalism—sometimes defined as reporting from an intensive personal perspective. As author/journalist Norah Vincent puts it in her book Voluntary Madness: “The whole point is that you are not objective.” As for her controversial website, friends say it was not propaganda, but rather a tool to gain the confidence of the people she wanted to interview. “If you put up a website that looks like another CNN wannabe,” says one close friend in Canada, Glen Cooper, “they’re not going to pay much attention to you.” Giesbrecht herself said of her website: “It is my hope that this will inspire others to Islam and to take a stand against this shameful war on ‘terrorism.’ I am not a ‘terrorist,’ a fanatic or mentally unbalanced. On the contrary, I am a level-headed, capable woman, a humanitarian and a contributing member of society.” ….” In my as-yet unposted comment, I raise the point that if she was “inspiring” people to “take a stand” and running pro-Taliban material to seek the group’s attention, 1)  this is a columnist, not a journalist, and 2)  be careful what you wish for.
• Latest volley in the “the F-35 is great – no it’s not!” fight comes from a senior politician.  “The federal government is standing by its multi-billion dollar investment in the Joint Strike Fighter program, which has boosted the country’s economy and will create job opportunities in the Canadian aerospace industry for decades, Government House leader John Baird said Tuesday. Baird defended the government’s commitment to purchase 65 F-35s, insisting the deal will help the Canadian Forces while significantly contributing to the economy. “It’s the right thing to do and our government is committed to seeing this through,” Baird said of the planned purchase, which is estimated to be at least $14 billion, while touring MDS Aero Support Corporation, an Ottawa-based engineering organization involved with the development of fighter jet engines ….”
• It seems I’m not the only person out there thinking this column on the woes and misery that will befall the U.S. military when it allows gays/lesbians to serve is a bit beyond its best-before date.  “…. The article actually tries to make the point that European countries have gays in the military but have underperformed in Afghanistan. Tell that to the Danes that have been fighting hard in the toughest parts of Afghanistan with few restrictions (few caveats) and paying a high price in casualties–highest per capita. Tell that to the Aussies who have been working hard in Uruzgan but/and have gays in their military. Same for the British ….” Another take:  “…. He cites some NATO countries lack of “resolve” to continue the fight in Afghanistan, as if all decisions related to the Afghanistan adventure somehow hinge upon the fighting ability of homosexual soldiers. In this narrow view of the world, Stephen Harper’s decision to end Canada’s “combat” role in Afghanistan must be because gay soldiers have inundated Defence Minister Lawrence Cannon’s office with pleas to come home, or to at least relocate behind the wire in Kabul. Likely, the truth is that the Conservatives received more letters from those upset with the long form census than from gay soldiers lacking the will to carry on Canada’s mission. ….”
• A UN official says Canada was asked “pretty please” to keep its post-earthquake military presence in Haiti longer. “The Canadian government turned down a plea to extend its military relief effort in Haiti after last year’s earthquake, says a top United Nations official in Port-au-Prince. Canada was widely praised for rushing to provide emergency help, including clean water, security and medical care, following the devastating temblor last Jan. 12. Armed with heavy equipment, Canadian military engineers also cleared rubble and helped Haitians reopen their roads, particularly in the hard-hit areas around the cities of Leogane and Jacmel. But despite attempts by the UN and local authorities to persuade Ottawa to keep the engineers in Haiti beyond the end of Canada’s relief mandate, the military packed up and left. “I think there was a strong request that they stay on,” Nigel Fisher, the UN’s head of humanitarian aid in Haiti, told The Canadian Press in an interview from Port-au-Prince. “Many felt that they wished they had stayed because they were extremely effective.” ….” More from The Canadian Press here.  Meanwhile, this just in:  Canada finds $90 million for Haiti assistance – more on that from Postmedia News here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  Taliban page post asks, “Why isn’t the Peace Council calling for American forces to withdraw from Afghanistan?!?”

Canada’s TF Commander Fired

This from the CF:

Commander Canadian Expeditionary Force Command (CEFCOM), Lieutenant-General Marc Lessard announced today that he has relieved Brigadier-General Daniel Menard from his position as Commander Joint-Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-Afg) and has designated Colonel Simon Hetherington as Acting Commander in the interim.

LGen Lessard made this decision following allegations concerning BGen Menard’s inappropriate conduct related to the Canadian Forces Personal Relationships and Fraternization directives, which caused Commander CEFCOM to lose confidence in BGen Menard’s capacity to command.

An investigation into the circumstances related to the allegations is being launched.

In the near future, the Canadian Forces will dispatch former JTF-Afg Commander, Brigadier-General Jon Vance to Afghanistan to assume command, pending the arrival of the next JTF-Afg Commander, Brigadier-General Dean Milner.

Before we jump to conclusions re: the nature of the  “inappropriate conduct related to the Canadian Forces Personal Relationships and Fraternization directives” being investigated, let’s look at what ELSE is covered by the regulation in question:

A CF member in a personal relationship with another CF member, DND employee or member of an allied force, contractor or an employee of a contractor shall not be involved, regardless of rank or authority, in the other person’s:

• performance assessment or reporting, including training evaluations and audits;
• posting, transfer or attached posting;
• individual training or education;
• duties or scheduling for duties;
• documents or records;
• grievance process; or

It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds in the media.

release proceedings.

How the Media “Edits” Some Stories (2)

Now that you have an idea how unrepresentative some mainstream media stories can be of events, including media interviews, here’s what wasn’t picked up in the 20 minute interview with Canada’s Task Force Afghanistan commander Brigadier General Jonathan Vance.

More troops in south = more help getting out there

I’d say that the effective arrival of considerably larger U.S. force presence in Kandahar has allowed us to position our forces in such a way that the vast majority are now providing direct security support to the Afghan population. That has translated into a sizable percentage of the population now starting to see that we are not going to leave their immediate vicinity, where we used to have to do that. If you think about what we were like in Kandahar for close to three years; essentially, one Canadian battalion and one Afghan brigade. We are now four battalions, and there are four battalions in the other part of the Kandahar Province area, and the Afghan brigade has grown by another battalion. All of that combines to allow us to focus more on protecting the population as our main effort. Inside that protective sphere, good things start to happen. NGOs start to show up. The U.N. is able to exit Kandahar and start delivering services.

The locals are trusting Canadians more

The population here is terribly fearful of Taliban reprisals. Now, what we’ve seen in Deh‑e‑Bagh, specifically, the population is calling in all the time. Everything from minor infractions where they want to get the police involved, petty theft or something, right through to “There’s a stranger in my backyard with a gun. Please come and deal with him.” So it’s normalizing.

Sometimes, help doesn’t have to be big to help.

This area of Dahan District was badly shelled by the Soviet military. So there’s these massive craters everywhere, which have standing water in them, and that causes malaria and all sorts of other things. And kids play in that. So, with an engineer supervised work crew, we can get some of the local laborers to repair that and turn it back into arable land. Safely, because of the threat of mines and so on. Little things like that mean a lot.

The general gets out with the troops.

First and foremost, I like to see what they’re doing, encourage them, practice the basic tenants of leadership. It’s also very good for me to get a really close look at what’s going on. I can read the reports and so on, but there’s nothing quite like being there. And these patrols are often great opportunities to engage the local population directly. Nothing like stopping on a patrol and having a quick chat with a shop owner. Generally speaking, they’re quite open and responsive. We have cultural advisers with us that give us hints on their body language and so on, and we sort of gather intelligence as we go along. It’s that sort of understanding of the atmospherics in the population which is very important, particularly in the counter‑insurgency.

What we don’t hear about the fallen.

I think the country mourns, and the country mourns as it should. I think the outpouring of support that certainly I see from here and participated in when I was at home, it’s certainly heartwarming for a soldier. We appreciate it. The country, I think, is tightly bound to its military, and that’s a great way to be. That a death of a soldier is sometimes used as a launching pad to criticize the mission is really a non sequitur. Most of the time I perceive that that death is rarely put into context so that people would even understand what that soldier was doing at that particular moment. Sometimes a soldier, when he is killed, is doing the exact right thing and we win the day.

The hard part:  communicating the mission in context (here’s where the follow-up story money shots came from).

The troops here, my officers and my staff, we understand the mission, and we can explain it to ourselves. One of the more challenging aspects of the mission is communications in general ‑ communications with Afghans, communications with Canadians such that people can… It’s not to sugar‑coat anything. It’s certainly not to make the mission seem better than it is. It’s a serious, desperate situation. It’s a major emergency. But to try to put all of that into some sort of context such that people, whether they believe we should be here or not, at least they understand.

Again, here’s the full transcript, or you can download the .mp3 of interview here or here – well worth the time spent.

How the Media “Edits” Some Stories (1)

Last week, Canada’s Task Force Afghanistan commander Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance spoke to CBC Radio about what’s happening in Afghanistan.  It was a 20 minute interview (.mp3 here or here), and it led to some follow-up coverage by Agence France-Presse:

The military situation in Afghanistan is “serious” and “desperate,” the top Canadian commander in the country, General Jonathan Vance, warned in an interview with CBC television station.

“It’s a serious, desperate situation. It’s a major emergency,” he said.

He said it was important to explain the situation to the Afghan and Canadian publics, but not to “sugar coat anything, and it’s certainly not to make the mission seem better than it is.”

“But (I)… try and put all of that into some sort of context such that people — whether they believe we should be here or not — at least they understand,” he said in the 20 minute interview broadcast Wednesday.

Reuters:

Afghanistan is in a “serious, desperate situation” which constitutes a major emergency, Canada’s top commander on the ground said in a frank interview broadcast Wednesday.

Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance made his remarks at the end of a 25-minute interview with the CBC which looked at the tasks confronting Canada’s 2,700 strong mission in southern Afghanistan.

(….)

“It’s not to sugar coat anything, and it’s certainly not to make the mission seem better than it is. It’s a serious, desperate situation. It’s a major emergency,” he said.

“But (I) … try and put all of that into some sort of context such that people — whether they believe we should be here or not — at least they understand.”

and Al Jazeera:

Meanwhile, General Jonathan Vance, the chief Canadian commander in Afghanistan, described the military situation as “serious” and “desperate”.

“It’s a major emergency,” he said said in an interview on Canadian televison on Wednesday.

Note the herd effect?

I’ve highlighted quotes from the interview in red to make an interesting point.

Here’s a transcript of the CBC interview (PDF).  About 20 minutes of chat works out to about 2,900 words.

The longest quote used in the follow-up stories?

56 words – from a response to the last question of the interview.

Translation:  these wire service stories are explaining, at best, TWO PER CENT of an interview in their stories.

What did they miss?  More on that in the next post….

WHO needs “anger management”?

Dave Markland, the blogmeister at Stopwar.ca has shared this about how Task Force Afghanistan Commander Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance spoke firmly to the community near where some attacks on Canadian troops happened, and said development could cease if there was no co-operation (i.e., information about or prevention of such attacks).

Markland’s closing remarks in his post:

“Vance’s patronizing words and negotiation-by-threat seem ill-suited to improve what are evidently already strained relations with the elders.”

As opposed to how the Taliban “wins hearts and minds”?  Maybe threats in the night of violence, beheading, or blowing up buses full of civilians is less “ill-suited”?

Some might say there’s a case to be made for the Taliban to need some anger management themselves based on how they treat women.

Again With “What’s News?”

The good news:  I found a good piece from Canadian Forces Expeditionary Command (CEFCOM) highlighting what Canadians were doing to help the Afghan election effort.  From that piece:

“The Canadian task force in Kandahar Province, and all of ISAF, have maintained a supportive role over recent months, but also provided direct support to election preparations when requested. As well as framework patrols and operations, the manoeuvre units of Task Force Kandahar — the 2nd Battalion Royal 22e Régiment Battle Group and the 1st Battalion 12th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army — conducted a summer campaign to locate and destroy insurgent IED factories and weapons caches, and disrupt insurgent command-and-control networks to hinder their ability to attack civilians on Election Day. The Canadian military and civilian police of the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team ran training courses for 250 officers of the Afghan National Police (ANP), most of whom provided security at polling stations in Kandahar City. The Operational Mentor and Liaison Team continued its work with the increasingly professional and capable 1st Brigade, 205 Corps, the component of the Afghan National Army deployed in Kandahar Province.”

The bad news:  it was posted four days AFTER the election.  One of the traditional elements of newsworthiness is timeliness

“If it happened today, it’s news. If the same thing happened last week, it’s no longer interesting.”

That said, I wouldn’t want to be too harsh on people closer to the front end of the information chain when, for all I know, it may not necessarily be them holding up approvals and release of this material.

Wanted: Someone to Schlep AFG Display Around Canada?

An interesting sequence of events in Canada’s latest attempt to communicate what we’re doing in Afghanistan.