MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – July 26, 2012

• Khadr Boy (1)  Lookit who’s the latest voice calling for Omar Khadr to be brought home to Canada… “Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s wife has added her voice to those calling for the immediate return to Canada of Omar Khadr. Nazanin Afshin-Jam told The Guardian Wednesday that the 25-year-old Canadian citizen should be removed from Guantanamo Bay where he has been held for almost 10 years following a deadly firefight in Afghanistan. Alex Neve, the secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, has urged Ottawa to bring Khadr home without further delay noting that Khadr has been eligible for transfer back to the country for almost nine months. Afshin-Jam, a dedicated human rights activist, agrees. “Omar Khadr was a child when he was involved in combat under the UN (United Nations) definition and so we should abide by the international laws and rules that we expect of other countries as well,” she said. “So I’m not saying that he shouldn’t be kept in prison but definitely I think it’s time to bring him back to Canada. He was a Canadian citizen and he can be tried here or looked after here in terms of how long his sentence is going to be or what is going to be his fate.” …”
• Khadr Boy (2) Amnesty International Canada on Omar Khadr “…. it shouldn’t take a court order, UN criticism or U.S. pressure. Canada should simply do the right thing. With a stroke of his pen, Mr. Toews can sign the transfer request and at long last put human rights first by bringing Mr. Khadr home from Guantanamo Bay. And this sorry decade-long chapter will be brought to a close.”
• Khadr Boy (3) “Omar Khadr’s U.S. military lawyer has called for the speedy release of videotapes of two psychiatrist interviews to help expedite Khadr’s return to Canada from Guantanamo military prison. Federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews last week wrote to the U.S. defence department requesting unredacted copies of videotaped interviews with Dr. Michael Welner and Dr. Alan Hopewell. Toews said he wants to see the tapes before he makes a decision about whether to transfer Khadr to Canada. “My position as military defence lawyer is very clear — if you want those tapes, we do not object and we should get them to Canada quickly,” said Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, who represented Khadr at a 2010 military commission trial, where Khadr pleaded guilty to terrorism offences committed when he was 15, including killing an American soldier ….”
• Syria (1) Canada: Happy to help (but not with troops for now) “Canada is prepared to provide more humanitarian aid to Syria, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Wednesday. He did not give a dollar figure but said that medical aid will be a particular focus. While admitting that diplomacy hasn’t worked so far for getting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, Baird did not indicate that he was prepared for a military intervention, adding that just because it has worked in other countries does not mean it would work in Syria. Baird made the announcement after meeting with Syrian opposition members and activists in Ottawa ….” – more here and here.
• Syria (2) “Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says discussions about a “post-Assad Syria” are under way, including what to do about the stockpile of chemical and biological weapons held by the country’s regime. Baird, who met Wednesday with Syrian and Syrian-Canadian human rights activists, said Canada is working with its allies to ensure the weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands as the conflict reaches a climax. “We’re concerned about two things: Them being used against the Syrian people, and two, we’re concerned about their security, both before and after the regime would fall,” Baird said. The wrong hands could belong to Islamic extremists, Baird suggested, including al-Qaeda cells that have reportedly infiltrated the clashes between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces; or other terrorist organizations ….”
• Libya Mission Costs “A senior Canadian general was prepared to admit he’d made a mistake after Defence Minister Peter MacKay directly contradicted him in May by saying he did not know the Libya mission was estimated to cost more than $100 million. But while Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance was ready to “own up” to making an error, a military public affairs officer waved him off by telling Vance he wasn’t necessarily wrong, and that “a political truth can sometimes be different.” The comments are contained in a series of internal Defence Department emails obtained by Postmedia News and raise fresh questions about whether MacKay misled Canadians — and whether the military kept quiet to cover up for him. The issue dates back to October 2011 when MacKay told the CBC the Libyan mission costs had come in under $50 million. He warned there could be more costs “that come in after the fact” but the $50-million tally continued to be re-broadcast to other media outlets by MacKay’s office …”
• Afghanistan (1) Caveat: no apparent sharing of said document, so no word on what else it might contain “The Canadian Forces have paid a heavy price during more than 10 years in Afghanistan: 158 soldiers killed; more than 2,000 others wounded; and an untold number suffering from the hidden effects of PTSD and other mental injuries. A new document obtained by Postmedia News shows the military paid a heavy price in equipment as well. The two-page report shows 34 Canadian Forces vehicles were destroyed during the mission, and another 359 damaged. Details are scant, and in some cases it is difficult to tell which vehicle the report is referring to, but the army’s light armoured vehicles — which served as the workhorse in Afghanistan — suffered the most attrition. The report indicates 13 of the army’s LAV-IIIs were destroyed and 159 damaged. The report does not say how each vehicle was destroyed or damaged, but the LAV-IIIs were instrumental in ferry Canadian soldiers around the country, and many of the worst days came when a roadside bomb or other improvised-explosive device crippled one of the vehicles and killed or wounded those inside ….”
• Afghanistan (2) “Canada had a plan to increase the water supply to desperate farmers in the Taliban heartland, but dropped it because Ottawa ended the Kandahar mission before the Dahla Dam could be restored, the U.S. military says. Water flowing from the dam’s reservoir is critical to the irrigation of thousands of desert farms, the backbone of the only economy Kandahar has outside of foreign aid and military spending, which is fast drying up as troops withdraw. Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared the effort to restore the dam, and the irrigation canals snaking through the battleground of the Arghandab River valley, the top of Canada’s three “signature projects,” followed by school building and vaccinations against polio. Canada spent $50 million on the dam and irrigation canals before Ottawa pulled all Canadian troops and civilian staff from Kandahar last fall. Much of the budget went to private security and other expenses, sums Ottawa refuses to disclose. Afghan officials claim millions of dollars were wasted on security firms that operated like protection rackets, along with needless studies, leaving them without the solution they wanted — a higher dam wall — when the Canadians left. “The Canadian forces had a two-part plan. The second part of the plan was to raise Dahla by five to eight metres to increase the amount of water that the dam can hold,” Mark Ray, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Kandahar, wrote in an email. “They departed the theatre before they could implement the second part of their plan. The United States has taken on the responsibility for funding and executing this work and is moving forward with it.” ….” – more on Canada’s work on the Dahla Dam project from the government Info-machine here (or here if the link doesn’t work)
• No more MP riding on RCAF planes, RCN ships or Army tanks and such? From a Winnipeg Free Press editorial: “The Canadian Forces has shut down a parliamentary outreach program following messy allegations that air force officers were using the program to collect information on Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s political opponents. The officers were allegedly attempting to determine if certain members of Parliament had used military aircraft and, if so, whether they had reimbursed the government. It’s believed the information was sought to help Mr. MacKay, who has been criticized for using military transport for personal travel, as opposed to legitimate government business. … With 100,000 regular and reserve troops and a budget of nearly $20 billion, the military is the largest single department in Canada and politicians should not be excluded from observing its operations and getting to know the men and women in uniform. Mr. MacKay should restore the outreach program to ensure the military remains connected to the people’s representatives in Ottawa.”
• Best of luck! “Before the sun had fully risen on the morning of Thursday, July 19, 14 Canadian Forces veterans who were injured in battle were already making their way towards the peaks of the Canadian Rockies that surround Canmore. The veterans are training for an adventure they’re not likely to forget. At the beginning of October 2012, they will make their way to the Himalayas, where they will hike to Everest base camp in preparation for a trek up the nearby mountain Island Peak, w. The trek, entitled March to the Top, is being supported by the True Patriot Love Foundation, which was formed by a group of dedicated business leaders to support and honour members of the Canadian military and their families, while also building bridges between Canadian civilians and the military to better understand and appreciate the sacrifices of soldiers and their families. Ten Canadian business leaders, who are making sizeable donations to the group’s goal to raise money and awareness for injured and ill soldiers, will accompany the group ….”
• Congratulations! “(Yesterday), 50 men and women from the region of Montreal became the newest officers in the Canadian Forces (CF) during an enrolment ceremony held at the Royal Canadian Hussars Regiment. Colonel Guy Maillet, Commandant of Royal Military College St-Jean (RMC Saint-Jean), was the guest of honor. The new officer cadets, enrolled through the Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) and Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY), will spend the next four or five years studying at university. Moreover, they will learn the precepts of leadership while undergoing military training during the summer ….” This is the second recent announcement of officer cadets coming into the system – I await the day when enlisted recruits deserve this much attention.
• Here’s hoping for a quick & full recovery “A Skyhawk parachutist crash-landed to the ground Tuesday afternoon after performing a tricky maneuver. The parachutist was performing in front of about 100 cadets in Whitehorse who had gathered to watch the Skyhawks perform aerobatic flips and spirals in the air. “Sgt. Kevin Walker was coming in upon his landing, had a pretty hard landing on the ground. The winds were very minimal on the drop ground. We’re not exactly sure what happened, but we know that he had a hard landing,” said Capt. Indira Thackorie, who is with the Canadian Forces. A team of medics rushed to Walker after his landing. He suffered some broken bones, but is reportedly in good spirits ….”
• Why is it ALWAYS an “important announcement” coming?