MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 20 Oct 11

• Honkin’ Big Ship (HBS) contracts awarded:  “…. The combat package includes the Royal Canadian Navy’s Arctic Offshore Patrol ships and the Canadian Surface Combatants ships. The non-combat package includes the Navy’s joint support ships, the Canadian Coast Guard’s off-shore science vessels and the new polar icebreaker. Small ship construction (116 vessels), an estimated value of $2 billion, will be set aside for competitive procurement amongst Canadian shipyards other than the yards selected to build large vessels. Regular maintenance and repair, valued at $500 million annually, will be open to all shipyards through normal procurement processes. Irving Shipbuilding Inc. has been selected to build the combat vessel work package (21 vessels), and Vancouver Shipyards Co. Ltd. has been selected to build the non-combat vessel work package (7 vessels). The total value of both packages is $33 billion and will span 20 to 30 years ….”  More in the government backgrounder here.
• Media coverage of HBS contracts:  QMI/Sun Media, Victoria Times-Colonist, Vancouver Sun, CBC.ca, Globe & Mail, CTV.ca, Charlottetown Guardian, Toronto Star, Reuters and canadianbusines.com.
• HBS editorial from the National Post:  “…. The Tories are to be congratulated for devising a tamper-proof, corruption-free, unbiased system for awarding such large contracts. We realize that they originally built this process in large part as a means to cover themselves from the political fallout of hard, unpopular contracting decisions. Nevertheless, they are to be congratulated for sticking with it to the end, despite the potentially controversial result in this case ….”
• A more “glass is half empty” HBS opinion.  “The denouement of the great multi-billion-dollar shipbuilding bonanza has left almost everyone popping Champagne corks —except perhaps Quebec, and the poor, bloody taxpayer who will end up footing the bill for the inevitable cost overruns and delays that will result from the government’s made-in-Canada national strategy ….”
• More HBS commentary:  “…. It’s almost a no-win situation for the government. Still, the only way to prevent this from becoming the Harper government’s CF-18 moment is for them to hew scrupulously to their technocratic bid process.”
• More HBS analysis:  “…. Despite efforts taken to eliminate appearances of partisan interference, it continues to swirl around the billions of dollars in contracts. “Whatever the outcome, the decision is likely to unleash a firestorm,” said Christian Leuprecht from the Queen’s University Centre for International and Defence Policy. “There are no obvious pork-barrel political choices here,” he said, noting the ridings around the Halifax shipyard are all NDP, as are those around the Vancouver shipyard — although some of the neighbouring ridings went Conservative — and around the Davie Shipyard in Quebec City. “If you’re trying to prop up Canada’s industrial heartland, Ontario and Quebec, which has been hurting pretty bad economically and where the Conservatives would be likely to get the most political bang for their buck in terms of votes, the core bid would go to the Davie shipyard.” ….”
• What (else is) Canada Buying?  “Sleds, self-propelled” for Shilo, Petawawa – more technical details in excerpt from bid document (11 page PDF) here.
• Libya Mission  Canada’s Sea Kings busy over the Med (via CEFCOM Info-Machine)
• Afghanistan  Canadians take part in German Unity Day parade in northern Afghanistan (via Regional Support Command-North/NTM-A Info-Machine)
• “Canadian federal officials will participate in an annual crisis management exercise organized by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from October 19 to 26, 2011. Canada’s part in the international exercise will be played from government offices in Ottawa and linked to Canada’s NATO delegation. Crisis Management Exercise 2011 (CMX 11) provides an international forum to test, evaluate and improve coordination, intelligence and information sharing amongst federal departments and agencies with NATO Allies. It will ensure that we work effectively with our international partners to respond to emergencies in Canada or abroad. …. This exercise will involve civilian and military officials from all 28 NATO member nations, NATO Headquarters and NATO Strategic Commands, as well as participants from Sweden and Finland. Lessons learned from the exercise will enhance Canada’s ability to work together with Allies to confront threats of all kinds ….”
• Stuart Landridge, R.I.P. (1)  “A public hearing into the suicide of Edmonton-based soldier Cpl. Stuart Langridge will start in Ottawa on Feb. 27. Langridge hanged himself in March 2008 following several earlier suicide attempts. The young soldier suffered from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and struggled with substance abuse after he returned from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2005. The Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) announced last month that a hearing would be held. The date was set on Wednesday. The hearing comes after Langridge’s parents filed a formal complaint with the commission. Sheila and Shaun Fynes allege the probe conducted by the Canadian Forces National Investigations Service was not impartial or independent, and aimed to absolve the military of any responsibility for their son’s death ….”
• Stuart Landridge, R.I.P. (2)  Family seeking help from CF for lawyers to represent them – more here.
• Ooopsie….  “Some Canadian soldiers are feeling a little unappreciated after home improvement retail giant Lowe’s announced it would pull its discount program it said was offered by mistake – the discount program was only intended for U.S. military members. The U.S.-based company had offered the 10% discount since 2008 to members of the Canadian Armed Forces at four stores – two in Ottawa, one in Kingston, Ont., and one in Belleville, near CFB Trenton. The company said the program was never intended for Canada and just recently realized its error. “I’m not able to get into the specifics of our (Lowe’s) systems and processes, but it (the discount) was a combination of misunderstanding and miscommunication that unfortunately went undetected until now,” Joanne Elson, corporate communications manager with Lowe’s Canada, said Wednesday ….”
• Mark Collins’ impressions of testimony on organization of the CF at a recent Senate Standing Committee hearing.
• More back and forth in the House of Commons on east coast search and rescue.  “Mr. Ryan Cleary (St. John’s South—Mount Pearl, NDP):  Mr. Speaker, Canada has one of the worst search and rescue response times in the world. A recent incident off Bell Island, Newfoundland showed just how bad it was.  After emergency flares were fired in the area, the Coast Guard called in a provincial ferry, full of passengers, to help the search and rescue effort. It then took the Canadian Coast Guard vessel over three hours to arrive on the scene.  This is not about a limo service from a fishing lodge; this is about human lives. How long would the minister be prepared to wait in icy water before being rescued?  Hon. Keith Ashfield (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that the search and rescue system is made up of a network of potential responders that includes the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard auxiliary, the Canadian Forces and any vessel of opportunity. Any vessel within the vicinity of a search and rescue call can be asked to assist.  When the flares are discharged, the CCG will treat it as a matter of distress. If the member would like to be constructive, he would help us to take this message back to the public so that lives are not put at unnecessary risk.”
• Tory MP Tilly O’Neill Gordon (Miramichi) salutes women in the CF in the House of Commons.  “October is Women’s History Month in Canada. This year’s theme, Women in Canadian Military Forces: A Proud Legacy, highlights the important contributions of women to the Canadian military forces throughout Canada’s history. It is an ideal time to learn about the work of outstanding women who serve and protect Canada and Canadians through key roles in the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Women such as Elizabeth Gregory MacGill, the first woman aircraft designer in the world, Josée Kurtz, the first woman to command a warship, and Marie Louise Fish, the first woman to serve as a naval officer at sea, are inspiring leaders. Their milestone achievements helped pave the way for women in the Canadian military. On behalf of all Canadians, we thank them for being an important part of our national military history.”
• A Conservative MP presents a nuclear disarmament petition in the House.  “Canadians are well aware of the destructive power of nuclear weapons, a power that the world’s worst dictators and terrorists are trying to acquire. I would like to present to the House a petition from the Oakville chapter of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The petition is signed by 330 residents of Oakville. The petitioners ask the government to commit to the motion passed by the House on December 7, 2010, regarding the global disarmament of nuclear weapons. I am happy to present this petition for a response from our government.”  The text of the December 2010 motion:  “By unanimous consent, it was resolved, — That the House of Commons: (a) recognize the danger posed by the proliferation of nuclear materials and technology to peace and security; (b) endorse the statement, signed by 500 members, officers and companions of the Order of Canada, underlining the importance of addressing the challenge of more intense nuclear proliferation and the progress of and opportunity for nuclear disarmament; (c) endorse the 2008 five-point plan for nuclear disarmament of Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, and encourage the Government of Canada to engage in negotiations for a nuclear weapons convention as proposed by the United Nations Secretary-General; (d) support the initiatives for nuclear disarmament of President Obama of the United States of America; and (e) commend the decision of the Government of Canada to participate in the landmark Nuclear Security Summit and encourage the Government of Canada to deploy a major world-wide Canadian diplomatic initiative in support of preventing nuclear proliferation and increasing the rate of nuclear disarmament.”
• Letter to the editor:  let’s not forget the Aboriginal contribution to the War of 1812.  “Canadians are unaware of the full import of the role of First Nations and the pivotal role the War of 1812 played in the history of Canada’s treatment of aboriginal peoples. Many historians believe that Britain would have lost the war without the aboriginal military strength. Canada’s very existence depended on First Nations co-operation …. Native leaders like Tecumseh hoped for an alliance with Britain to help prevent the elimination of First Nations at the hands of the U.S. The British proclamation of 1763 had meant recognition and accommodation of aboriginal peoples by Britain. First Nations were military allies against the Americans ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 30 Jul 11

• Libya Mission  “Canada has joined an air war of a different kind in the skies over Libya, one where persuasion and sometimes insults are the weapons. Canadian CP-140 Aurora surveillance planes recently started broadcasting propaganda messages aimed at forces loyal to Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. “It’s a psychological warfare operation, or PSYOPS, initially started by the Americans but now overseen by NATO _ the kind of mission western militaries are reluctant to talk about openly. The Canadian broadcasts are relatively benign in comparison to some of the harsher messages NATO has aimed at Gadhafi’s troops, in which women’s voices are telling them to stop “killing the children.” The Canadian messages, in English, are read hourly during patrols along the Libyan coast over AM/FM frequencies that Libyans usually monitor. “For your safety return to your family and your home,” says the message, which can be heard over unencrypted frequencies the military uses to broadcast basic information. “The Gadhafi regime forces are violating United Nations resolution 1973.” The message goes on to urge Gadhafi’s troops not to take part in further hostilities and not to harm their fellow countrymen …. ”
• Afghanistan (1)  CF Info-Machine is starting to share more info on the new mission.  “In every practical sense, the Consolidated Fielding Centre (CFC) is the birthplace of the Afghan National Army. Located in the expansive Pol-e-Charki military reserve in Kabul’s eastern outskirts, the CFC is where the ANA forms its units, equips and trains them, and then validates that training before deploying them to operational corps. More than 100 Canadian Forces members deployed in the Kabul area on Operation ATTENTION serve at CFC. Most of them are advisors to the experienced Afghan soldiers of the CFC training staff ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  More from the CF Info-Machine on the training mission (video – transcript). 
• Afghanistan (3)  It’s not just military folks leaving Afghanistan.  “A contractor for the Canadian military will be bringing its 370 employees home from Afghanistan as the Canadian mission there winds down. More than 60% of those employees call eastern Ontario home. “I would be lying if I said a lot of our folks weren’t looking for jobs online, even though they’re stationed in Afghanistan,” Derek Wills said from his Inverary home yesterday. Wills is a human resources manager with SNC-Lavalin PAE Inc. — the company with a $600- million contract to support Canadian Forces missions overseas. The company started with an office in Kingston in 2003. Since then, it has expanded from a one-person operation on Queen Street to the main civilian support system for the Canadian mission in Kandahar. Wills said employees in Afghanistan know their jobs will be terminated, but they don’t know when ….”
• “Canada’s military police received 784 complaints of physical and sexual assault, death and other incidents causing physical harm in 2010 — more than in any of the past four years, according to the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal’s annual report. The force received 176 reports of sexual assault and 518 of assault during the year — numbers one military expert says are worrisome. “Here, we have individuals who are well-paid, disciplined and operating within a hierarchical system,” said Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel who now practises and teaches military law. The numbers are up from 2009, when the police force received 166 reports of sexual assault and 514 of assault, according to the report. “Forces are there to protect Canadians and Canada . . . . Men and women are working alongside each other. There’s cause for alarm there.” ….”  The latest annual report is accessible here.
• “A Congolese man accused by the Canadian government of being complicit in war crimes, and facing deportation, says he’s never so much as killed a cat. Abraham Bahaty Bayavuge says he was a simple computer technician in his native land and has denied any wrongdoing during a detention review Friday before the Immigration and Refugee Board. Bayavuge is the fifth person arrested from a list of 30 alleged war criminals publicly posted last week by the Conservative government. But he scoffed at the attempt to depict him as a threat to society. In the seven years he lived here, openly and freely between 2000 and 2007, he said the worst thing he ever did was get parking tickets for failing to move his car. “Not yesterday, not today, not tomorrow, can anyone prove that I killed even one cat, one cat, he told the hearing. “I wouldn’t take a human life, I respect human beings” ….”
• “Chilling admissions of machine-gunning villages, assisting in torture and throwing bodies from a helicopter were made by one man on the government’s recently released list of most-wanted suspected war criminals. And he’s still at large in Canada. “In November 1987 I was part of a helicopter crew involved in the murder of two civilians. They were shot in my helicopter, in my presence, by army personnel on suspicion of being terrorists,” Jose Domingo Malaga Arica admitted to immigration officials. “Their bodies were weighted down with rocks and pushed out of the aircraft into a river.” Malaga, a former soldier in the Peruvian army, described his years of service in a written statement to a Convention Refugee Determination Division board ….”
• Niiiiiiiice…. “Emotions are running high in Forest Lawn where a group with ties to known white supremacists seems intent on recruiting like-minded people through a poster campaign. The black-and-white posters, with statements like “Immigration costs Canadian taxpayers $23 billion annually” coupled with statistics purporting to reflect Canadian immigration and unemployment, have been glued to bus stations, light standards and telephone poles throughout the southeast neighbourhood. At the bottom, the words “Does this seem right to you?” are followed by “If not, contact.” A phone number and e-mail address are printed, along with the website to the international white supremacist group known as Blood and Honour ….”
• “A watchdog has given Canada’s overseas eavesdropping agency a good report card, but has hinted that the secretive organization may occasionally push the boundaries when it comes to collecting information on Canadians. Communications Security Establishment Canada collects foreign intelligence for Ottawa, but is not allowed to spy on Canadians, whether they’re living at home or abroad. But an annual report by CSEC commissioner Robert Decary suggests the agency “may use information about Canadians” when seeking new sources of foreign intelligence. Decary says CSEC only pursues such methods “when other means have been exhausted” and when it believes they are likely to turn up new sources of information. “CSEC conducts these activities infrequently, but they can be a valuable tool in meeting Government of Canada intelligence priorities,” Decary writes in his latest report, which was released last week ….”  Full report available here.
• “Canada’s ability to comply with its international obligations could be compromised if a decision staying the extradition of Abdullah Khadr is allowed to stand, the federal government said Friday. In asking the Supreme Court of Canada to take up the case, Ottawa argues the lower courts were wrong to prevent an “admitted” terrorist from facing trial in the U.S. “This case raises issues of national importance that require consideration by this court,” Ottawa states in its leave-to-appeal request obtained by The Canadian Press. Principles of fundamental justice “should not be used to impose the technicalities of our criminal law on a foreign partner.” ….”  More on this here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Mar 11

• No Fly Zone Libya (1) – CF-18’s from Bagotville on their way.
• No Fly Zone Libya (2) – Libya declares ceasefire. Sort of.
• No Fly Zone Libya (3) – Column:  ceasefire a ruse?
• No Fly Zone Libya (4) – PM Harper heads to Paris to talk Libya. More from CBC.ca here.
• No Fly Zone Libya (5) – DefMin MacKay: “…. Our response to the instability in Northern Africa demonstrates once again that our Canadian Forces are a highly trained and motivated team that is ready to deploy anywhere in the world on short notice. I am sure I speak for all Canadians when I say how proud I am that our soldiers, sailors, airmen and airwomen stand for freedom and democracy. oday’s deployment shows the readiness and professionalism of the Canadian Forces as we work with our allies in this important mission to protect Libya’s civilian population against tyranny. The agility of our Canadian Forces personnel and the support of their families make this rapid deployment possible.”
• No Fly Zone Libya (6) – What Libyan ceasefire? “Pro-Gaddafi tanks are inside Libya’s rebel stronghold of Benghazi, a BBC journalist has witnessed, as the city came under attack. A jet appears to have been shot down over the city in spite of a declared ceasefire and a UN no-fly resolution. World leaders are due to meet in Paris to discuss military action. The rebel leader has appealed to the international community to stop the pro-Gaddafi bombardment, but the government denies claims of attacks. “Now there is a bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi,” Mustafa Abdul Jalil told Al Jazeera television. “There will be a catastrophe if the international community does not implement the resolutions of the UN Security Council. “We appeal to the international community, to the all the free world, to stop this tyranny from exterminating civilians.” ….” Can you say “human shields”?  More from Bloomberg here, Reuters here, and Xinhua here.
• No Fly Zone Libya (7) – Libyan fighter plane drops from sky. More from CNN here.
• More news on the latest in Libya here (Google News), here (EMM News Brief:  Libya),  here (NewsNow), and here (BBC).
• In other CF-related news, Alberta’s policing watchdog and the CF’s National Investigation Service is looking into the death of a Canadian soldier in custody at CFB Edmonton. “A Canadian soldier is in hospital after being found without any vital signs in a detention cell at the Edmonton Garrison. The soldier, who was under military police custody, was found Wednesday evening and rushed to hospital. There is no word on the soldier’s condition or extent of injuries. The Alberta Serious Incident Reponse Team (ASIRT) is investigating with the help of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service. Part of ASIRT’s investigation will focus on the actions of the military police in relation to the incident.” More from the Globe & Mail here.  An online obituary for soldier in question is here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 19 Jan 11

• Corporal Jean-Michel Déziel, R.I.P. “A soldier died at approximately 10:00 hrs Monday morning after falling from the roof of a building at CFB Valcartier. Corporal Jean-Michel Déziel, a member of the Headquarters and Signals Squadron, was in the process of installing a telecommunications antenna when the incident occurred. The soldier was immediately evacuated to the Laval Hospital, where he was pronounced dead ….” More from CBC.ca here and QMI Media here.
• Taliban Propaganda Watch:  The bad guys allege blowing up a Canadian “tank” in Panjwai – no confirmation on that.
• “Secret talks are underway in the Afghan capital and in the country’s south to replace the governor of a tumultuous district of Kandahar that is under Canada’s watch, The Canadian Press has learned. The backroom dealing centres around finding a replacement for the illiterate and mercurial Haji Baran, the current governor of Panjwaii. A security shura, or meeting of Afghan elders, was cancelled on Monday because Baran was in Kabul for meetings. Reached by telephone, Baran confirmed he was in the capital this week. Speaking in Pashto, he told a local journalist working for The Canadian Press that he has heard the talk that he will soon be replaced as Panjwaii’s governor. But Baran insisted he’s not going anywhere ….”
• Canada’s military research arm has just published a military chronology of Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan – downloaable here (via Army.ca).
• Remember this guy who said an unarmed Afghan teenager had been killed by Canadian troops in 2007?  The investigation says not so. “The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS), the independent investigative arm of the Canadian Forces Military Police, has concluded its investigation into the allegations made by Mr. Ahmadshah Malgarai before the House of Commons’ Special Committee on Afghanistan on April 14, 2010 with respect to his time spent employed as a language and cultural advisor in Afghanistan from July 2007 to July 2008. The CFNIS investigation determined that no service or criminal offences were committed ….” More from MSM outlets here, here, here, here, here and here (note the CBC’s choice of headline – “No proof of Afghan adviser’s shooting claims” – compared to the wording of the CF statement above).
• CBC’s happy to be pretty declarative with this headline, though:  “JTF2 command ‘encouraged’ war crimes, soldier alleges“.   Note my highlights and what factoid is buried pretty far into the story:  “A member of Canada’s elite special forces unit says he felt his peers were being “encouraged” by the Canadian Forces chain of command to commit war crimes in Afghanistan, according to new documents obtained by CBC News.  The documents from the military ombudsman’s office show the member of the covert unit Joint Task Force 2, or JTF2, approached the watchdog in June 2008 to report the allegations of wrongdoing he had first made to his superior officers in 2006.  The soldier told the ombudsman’s office “that although he reported what he witnessed to his chain of command, he does not believe they are investigating, and are being ‘very nice to him,’ ” according to the documents, which CBC News obtained through access to information.  As such, the soldier alleged, the chain of command helped create an atmosphere that tolerated war crimes.  The ombudsman’s documents state the soldier was subsequently directed to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, CFNIS, which in turn launched its own investigation.  The CFNIS told the ombudsman the investigation was “now their No. 1 priority.”  The member alleged that a fellow JTF2 member was involved in the 2006 shooting death of an Afghan who had his hands up in the act of surrender. That CFNIS probe ended without any charges ….”
• More reaction to Jack Layton’s criticism of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan:  “…. By making exactly all the wrong comparisons to the Second World War and the great struggle against fascism’s European variants, Mr. Layton forgets that if we were fighting now the way we fought back then we would have turned Islamabad into Dresden by now and Tehran would be the name of a city we’d mention in the same breath with Hiroshima. We would have already forgotten the “war in Afghanistan” because it would have been over long ago ….”
• Canadians and Americans are working together in search ways to help wounded warriors heal, especially the wounds we don’t see.  “…. Lt. Col. Stephane Grenier, who returned from duty in Rwanda in 1994 isolated, depressed and eventually suicidal, said today’s language of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) puts too much emphasis on “combat.” Warfare has become the “culturally acceptable excuse,” but troops in any role can get an operational stress injury from fatigue, grief and moral stressors, he said. “What happens to the clerk who never steps outside Kandahar Airfield but whose job is to write those letters, write the inventory of the equipment being shipped back to mom and dad?” said Grenier, who now works on the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s peer project team. Grenier is among a group of Canadian and U.S. military experts who gathered Tuesday to collaborate on ways to help wounded soldiers. Canadian Forces physicians, psychiatrists, chaplains and injured soldiers met with their American counterparts to discuss innovative programs and treatments in a symposium at the University of Southern California called “Wounded Warriors – Healing the Mind, Body and Soul.” ….” More on the conference here.
• “Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters won’t be available to cover central and parts of Western Canada and the North until at least 2014 because of ongoing problems that have plagued the aircraft fleet, according to newly released Defence Department documents. The use of the helicopters for such missions was temporarily suspended in 2005. But last year the Defence Department quietly extended that until 2014, according to the documents. The area in question, equal to a million square kilometres, extends from the Prairies to Quebec and includes the Northwest Territories and much of Nunavut. Instead, search-and-rescue crews flying out of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Ont., will continue to use Griffon helicopters for those operations, despite critics’ warning that the smaller helicopter doesn’t have the capabilities for a large rescue operation …. “
• Testing high-tech at Gagetown.  “The future face of Canada’s army is being defined this week at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown. The scenario is being played out at the Combat Training Centre via computer war games based on a scenario in the Horn of Africa. Known as Capability Development Experiment 2010, it’s part of an effort to determine what shape this country’s ground forces will take by 2021. Lt.-Col. William Cummings, the experiment director, said the military is trying to validate what it describes as an “adapted dispersed operations scenario.” That involves four major events going on at the same time …. “
• Anonymous source, but interesting information nonetheless – highlights mine.  “…. Security intelligence authorities are warning that exiled Tamil rebel leaders are re-establishing their violent Sri Lankan separatist movement in Canada. “We don’t know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear — to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership. Some leadership is already here,” a well-placed federal government official told the Ottawa Citizen. The warning accompanied a report late last week to senior government officials revealing that two southeast Asian smuggling syndicates are arranging the launch of two more shiploads of Tamil migrants to British Columbia in the coming weeks. The boats are expected to carry as many as 50 former Tamil Tiger rebel leaders and fighters, according to intelligence estimates. “Why here? It doesn’t make any sense because it is much easier to go to Australia,” said the official. “This is the reason.” Two previous cargo ships, Sun Sea and Ocean Lady, arrived off the West Coast last year and in 2009 carrying a total of 568 migrants, including several men the government suspects are former rebels. “How many have made it through, how advanced they are is not clear, (but) we’re concerned,” said the official. “Canadians expect us to avoid becoming a haven for terrorists.” ….”

Shame on CNN…

…for its intial coverage of a story about the death of two children in southern Afghanistan.