MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – October 23, 2014

 

Ottawa Attack

• If you only read ONE thing on this post …. “‘You are so loved’: Ottawa lawyer describes trying to save Cpl. Nathan Cirillo”
• “Nathan Cirillo will have a full military funeral in Hamilton, likely on Tuesday, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders say ….” – “Cpl. Nathan Cirillo will have full regimental funeral in Hamilton” – “Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and his best friend from Hamilton, Ont., were standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa because they “earned it” by being good soldiers, a member of their regiment said Thursday. And when a gunman fired point-blank at Cpl. Cirillo, his friend, Cpl. Branden Stevenson, continued being a good soldier ….” – “Nurse Margaret Lerhe tried to save Nathan Cirillo” –
  
• “How events unfolded” – “Ottawa shooter’s movements tracked in RCMP video” – “Ottawa gunman’s mad charge took less than 90 seconds” – “Video of Zehaf-Bibeau attack released” 
• “As Ottawa shooting broke out, Stephen Harper hid in a closet, unknown to his own caucus in the same room” – “MPs fashioned spears out of flag poles after hearing shots”
  
• “Shooter not among 90 being probed, RCMP say” – “Suspected killer in Ottawa shootings had a disturbing side” – “Canada’s police reveal Zehaf-Bibeau:  acted alone, delayed passport application possible motive, had radical links” – “Ottawa shooter attempted to rob McDonald’s with pointed stick” – “Suspected killer in Ottawa shootings had religious awakening” – “Gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau wanted to travel to Syria” – “Ottawa gunman smoked crack on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, says shelter resident”
  
• “Susan Bibeau, Mother Of Suspected Gunman, Says She Is Crying For The Victims” – “Ottawa Shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s Mom: ‘I Am Mad At Our Son’ “ – “Susan Bibeau:  5 Fast Facts You Need to Know” – “The unique anguish of a terrorist’s mother”
  
• “Canadian Muslim groups denounce violence, brace for backlash following Ottawa shooting” – “Canadian Muslim group calls Ottawa attacks ‘repulsive’ “ – Statement:  “Canadian Muslims stand united with fellow citizens in condemning Ottawa attacks” – “In wake of Ottawa shootings, Police Chiefs send letters to Muslim leaders inviting Muslims to contact them if they fear “backlash” “
• “Factbox: Canadian links to militant plots or attacks”
• PM Statement (YouTube – includes standing ovation for Sergeant at Arms):  “Canada will never yield to terrorism, & neither will the House of Commons. We carry on.”
  
• Commentary  MILNEWS.ca’s “Canada, Let’s Do It Right” – “Attack in Ottawa cannot silence voice of the people” – “Canadian Muslims have a role to play in defeating ISIS ideology” – “Canada is not immune from Islamist terrorism” – “Security and freedom must always be balanced” – “In aftermath of Quebec terror, let’s see to all our lines of defence”
• Alternative/conspiracy theory commentary  “Canada’s Attacks Were Predictable – Western Security Agencies are Prime Suspects” – “Gunmen in Ottawa : Questioning Canadian militarism” – “…. What is being treated as Canada’s 9/11 is a day that recalls the comments made half a century ago by the great Malcolm X, who commented that the assassination of President Kennedy was a case of “chickens coming home to roost,” a result of a “climate of hate” fostered by a U.S. political and corporate establishment regularly overthrowing governments and assassinating (or plotting against) a variety of leaders from Patrice Lumumba to Fidel Castro ….” – “Soldiers are legitimate targets. #somethingaboutroostingchickens”
  

Saint-Jean Attack

• “Patrice Vincent, soldier killed in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, was close to retirement”
• “‘No indication’ radicalized Quebec man was violent, lawyer says”

Way Up North

• “Why Canada, U.S. must resolve their Arctic border disputes”

Other

• “CF-188s scrambled in Lithuania to intercept a Russian Il-20” – “NATO intercepts Russian jets over Baltic Sea”
• “Best law enforcement, military snipers in world to compete in conference in Gastonia (North Carolina) — Teams from 13 states and Canada are looking to improve their skills and capture honors during a competition in North Carolina ….”
• “Omar Khadr wins right to sue federal government for conspiring with U.S.” – “The Education of Omar Khadr”

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MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 22 Nov 11

• Canada imposes new sanctions on Syria – more here, here, here and here.
• A former Canadian envoy to the U.N. warns Canada to think twice about getting stuck in with Iran.  “…. Major Canadian interests are potentially at risk, including the integrity of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, respect for international law, the safety of friends and kin in the region, the health of the global economy and the preservation of the public peace at home. Canadians need to engage and come to as common a view as possible on how to protect our interests and project our values in the Middle East before we find ourselves drifting into war. This issue is too important to be left to politicians and politics as usual.”
• Canada’s navy boss to talk to media about HMCS Vancover’s Med mission this afternoon.
• Ceremony to be held this Thursday in the Senate to “recognize the efforts of Canadian military personnel who took part in the NATO mission in Libya” (and to give the Canadian mission commander a medal).
• Afghanistan  Mark Collins on how media coverage shapes how we see the fight.
• Private members bill to end CPP clawback of CF, RCMP pensions makes it through First Reading – more on the proposed bill here (where it’s at) and here (what’s in it).  Caveat:  private members bills rarely become legislation.
• U.S. National Guardsmen to join Canadians in command post ex in Petawawa later this month.
• So, whazzup with Canada buying into an expensive U.S. comms satellite system that has the opposition up in arms?  More from Question Period yesterday here and here.
• What’s Canada Buying? (1)  Toronto Star catches up on explosive event recorder (since the Star isn’t sharing, you can check out the bid document here or in “What’s Canada Buying?” section here) and outside-the-wire training (bid document here or in “What’s Canada Buying?” section here) bids – remember, you read it here first!
• What’s Canada Buying? (2)  Wanted:  someone to cart hazardous waste from abandoned radar sites in Canada’s far north for ~$20 million.
• Is Canada up to taking custody of a convicted terrorist?  “Omar Khadr, the first Canadian convicted of murder, spying, and terrorism and held at Guantanamo Bay, needs another first before he can go home to serve out his sentence in a Canadian prison. Canada must first be certified as a fit place to send a convicted terrorist, a nation not likely to permit him to attack the United States, and one that has control of its prisons. That certification must be delivered to Congress signed by U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta with “the concurrence of” U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton. It’s new, but hardly trivial. It’s a part of the 2011 National Defence Authorization Act, the annual funding legislation for the entire U.S. military that, among other things, outlaws using U.S. taxpayer funds to airlift a Guantanamo detainee to the United States ….”
• Hmmmm….  “Police in Cobourg, Ont., say a military rocket launcher was among weapons seized in a search of a home in the town east of Toronto. Police said Monday that two men and a woman were arrested last Friday when officers entered the home during a weapons investigation. Investigators say they located two long rifles, a shotgun and an M72 rocket launcher used by the military. No ammunition for any of the weapons was located inside the home, but officers say suspected crack cocaine was also seized. Mark James Gordon, 23, Mark James Snider, 24, and Susan Ellen Coombes, 49, are facing weapons and drug charges ….”
• New book just out on the “Crazy 8’s” in Italy during WW2. “Anybody who’s ever been to Moncton’s Centennial Park has probably noticed the big Sherman tank between the steam engine and the ship’s anchor, but might not know the significance of the word “Coriano” in yellow lettering on the side. The Sherman that has been sitting peacefully at the park since 1972 is a tribute to the men of the 8th Princess Louise’s (New Brunswick) Hussars, one of Canada’s oldest military regiments. Coriano is the name of a little farming village in Italy where the Hussars and their tanks fought a vicious, deadly battle in September of 1944. The story of the New Brunswick tank regiment is told in a new book called Steel Cavalry: The 8th (New Brunswick) Hussars and the Italian Campaign. The book was released just before Remembrance Day. It was written by Lee Windsor, Deputy Director of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society at the University of New Brunswick and is Volume 18 in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series published by Goose Lane Editions ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 2 Nov 11

• MCPL Byron Greff, 3PPCLI, R.I.P.  He’s home – more here.  Photos of his ramp ceremony in Afghanistan on Facebook here (thanks to Senior Airman Kat Lynn Justen of the USAF Info-machine).
• Afghanistan (1)  Meanwhile, the CF Info-machine shares a backgrounder on part of the training mission.  “The Kabul Military Training Centre (KMTC) is the Afghan National Army’s (ANA) flagship training institution. Located on the eastern outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital city, the KMTC can house and train up to 12,000 trainees at a time. Over 60,000 soldiers graduate from courses at the KMTC annually. Two hundred and thirty-five Canadian Forces advisors serve at the KMTC as part of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan. Thirty-five members have been with the KMTC since mid-June and the remaining 200 recently arrived in October ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  Canadian ingenuity as we continue to pack up in Kandahar.  “The Armour Removal Platoon of the Mission Closure Unit is responsible for removing the armour added to the combat vehicles used by Canadian troops in Kandahar Province and packing it for shipment back to Canada. The process of dismounting the armour from the vehicles is difficult, labour-intensive and inherently dangerous. Because safety had to be our highest priority, it was difficult to achieve any speed on the production line. That was the case until Private Bryan Capiak and Corporal Bradley Van Olm developed a new way to take the heaviest pieces of armour — the four Z bars — off the Light Armoured Vehicle Mk III (LAV III) ….”
• Afghanistan (3)  Well done.  “On October 20th, 2011, Canada’s Acting Head of Mission Philip MacKinnon and Detective Ken Brander, a member of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), donated 11 Kobo e-readers to a group of female students of the School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA). Each e-reader comes with 50 classic books pre-loaded, which will greatly increase the number of books available at the SOLA library and allow young Afghan students to perfect their reading skills. The funds to purchase the e-readers were raised by Detective Brander’s EPS colleagues including a group of dedicated resource officers, local business, friends, and family, on behalf of Ross Sheppard High School in Edmonton, Alberta ….”
• Afghanistan (4)  “The Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary does not appeal to all students. But some are more interested in war studies than peace studies. For them, the interest and focus they bring to class ensures an enormously fulfilling experience, particularly for us who teach them. Ryan Flavelle is one such student. Like several others, he is also a member of the military. Unlike his colleagues, he has written a riveting book. It deals with his service in the southern Panjwaii district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan. Flavelle’s motives for writing The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan were both universal and personal. Like every historian from Thucydides to the present, he wanted to ensure the memory of the immediacy of his experiences would not be lost in oblivion. But the personal side of his story is far more compelling ….”
• Libya  NATO flies its last air mission.  “…. a NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircraft (AWACS) conlcuded the last flight of Operation Unified Protector. With this, a successful chapter in NATO’s history has come to an end. Since the beginning of the NATO operation, NATO air assets conducted over 26,500 sorties, including over 9,700 strike sorties to protect the people of Libya from attack or the threat of attack ….”
• F-35 Tug o’ War (1)  LOADS o’ questions on the F-35 (transcripts from Hansard here, here, here and here) during Question Period in the House of Commons so far this week.
• F-35 Tug o’ War (2)  “Military planners are concerned the Harper government is buying too few F-35 fighters with almost no room for any loss of the stealth jets throughout their projected lifetimes, according to internal Defence Department briefings. “Canada is the only country that did not account (for) attrition aircraft” in its proposal, said an undated capability-and-sustainment briefing given to senior officers late last year ….” No indication of The Canadian Press sharing the briefing notes in question.
• F-35 Tug o’ War (3)  Postmedia News Columnist:  “…. Harper has often shown an ability to execute tactical retreats with lightning speed, if he feels he’s lost the high ground. Look for that to happen with the F-35, sooner rather than later, as the economic gloom deepens south of the border.”
• Big Honkin’ Ships  Duelling academics:  “…. Marc Milner, naval history professor at the University of New Brunswick, said the vessels will let the navy cruise the Canada’s Arctic waters later in the fall and earlier in the spring, though winter access will still be the domain of the Coast Guard. The ships also give the navy full year-round access to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. He said that, while the new Arctic patrol vessels fit into the Harper government’s Canada First Defence Policy, which is looking to expand the reach and scope of the country’s military, the ships are not designed for serious combat. “Nobody anticipates getting into a real big dustup in the Arctic,” Milner said. “More effort will be put into their sensor suite and communications equipment than in their weapons.” The Arctic vessels will fulfil a constabulary rather than a combat role, Milner said. The icebreakers will let the navy patrol emerging shipping routes in the melting Arctic ice. The Russian route through the Arctic, from Europe to China, is “pretty much commercialized,” he said, with several ships having passed through this summer escorted by Russian icebreakers. “There’s good reason for us to be up there with a little more presence than we have at the moment,” Milner said. Paul Mitchell, a naval historian with the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., said the Arctic ships will likely have little more than an anti-aircraft Bofors gun on their bows. “Despite the growing interests in the Arctic, the area is well handled by diplomatic efforts,” Mitchell said ….”
• Associate Minister of National Defence Julian Fantino set to say something in Richmond, B.C. today.
• What’s Canada Buying?  Event recorders for armoured vehicles in Afghanistan, loads o’ flashlights and rain jackets for sailors.
• “A new silver coin will commemorate Canada’s Highway of Heroes, as a tribute to the country’s war dead and the people who line the route to honour them. The Royal Canadian Mint says $20 from the sale of each coin will be shared between the Afghanistan Repatriation Memorial and the Military Families Fund. The silver coin, which has a face value of $10, will retail for $69.95 and only 25,000 will be produced ….”  More from the Royal Canadian Mint here and here.
• New Library of Parliament paper:  “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and the Mental Health of Military Personnel and Veterans”
• Remember the chap threatening a hunger strike over how he’s been treated by Veterans Affairs Canada?  Here’s what the Minister is saying about the issue in Question Period:  “When our brave soldiers are deployed to theatres of operation, such as Rwanda or Bosnia, they may suffer serious injuries. That is why we are implementing specific and effective programs and services that are based on the most recent scientific data. When we implemented improvements to the new veterans charter, it was specifically to help veterans who had the most serious injuries or illnesses. As soon as I was made aware of this situation, I asked the officials in my department to take the necessary measures.”
• Whazzup with Khadr Boy’s return?  “The Conservatives are continuing to play coy over whether or not they’ll allow convicted war criminal Omar Khadr return to Canada. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Tuesday he will decide in good time if and when Toronto-born Khadr can return home to finish his sentence for murdering a U.S. Army medic in Afghanistan. “I put the safety of Canadians first,” he said. “A decision will be made on this file, as on all applications, in due course.” The Conservatives were in the firing line from opposition parties, who accuse the Tories of trying to back out of a commitment they made with the U.S. government a year ago to allow Khadr to return to Canada after serving a year of his eight year sentence. “This fellow was arrested when he was 14-years-old and held since then and ought to have the benefit of Canadian laws,” said NDP justice critic Jack Harris ….”  More from Question Period on Khadr here, from QMI/Sun Media here and from Agence France-Presse here.
• “Canadians should “absolutely” be concerned about a call for young Somalis in Canada to kill non-Muslims made by a terrorist group linked to al-Qaida, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews warned Monday. Toews was responding to Al Shabaab, which released a recording on the weekend from a suicide bomber calling for a jihad in Canada and other countries. “If there are individuals with information that can assist us detecting any terrorist threat we would ask them to provide us with that information,” Toews said, adding that the Somali community works with Ottawa on security matters. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the RCMP, the Communications Security Establishment and the Privy Council Office – the bureaucratic arm of the Prime Minister’s Office – are Canada’s terrorist watchdogs. “We are aware of, and take very seriously, the threat posed by Al-Shabaab,” said CSIS spokesperson Tahera Mufti ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 27 Oct 11

• Minister of National Defence in the House of Commons on potential base closures:  wha’choo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?  “Mr. David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre, NDP):  Mr. Speaker, the Minister of National Defence has proven that he is good at misdirection, rhetoric and personal insults. What he is not so good at is giving straight answers. The minister hurls accusations of fearmongering, but the biggest source of fearmongering is the minister’s refusal to clear the air on base closures. The minister is the only who can put military families and their communities at ease. Will he please stand in his place and assure military base communities that they have nothing to fear? Hon. Peter MacKay (Minister of National Defence, CPC):  Mr. Speaker, me thinks he doth protest too much. When it comes to fearmongering, he is referring to a report that was late. The October 2011 departmental directive, which he is referring to, does not speak of base closures. What does reference in an accompanying news article is a Liberal senator musing about base closures. The only person who is causing alarm in the military community, their families and in the country and misleading Canadians about base closures is the member opposite. Christopherson:  Mr. Speaker, I have a copy of the directive to which the minister refers. It says: We will also reduce portfolio size, footprint and associated overhead costs by consolidating Defence operations and programs to fewer operational sites. Again, does this mean base closures, yes or no?  MacKay: Mr. Speaker, sound and fury signifying nothing. Let me be clear about what the NDP members are up to, and we have seen this before. It is an old opposition tactic. Create a crisis, panic people, put fearmongering out there among military families and then when it does not happen, claim credit. That is what they are up to. The member opposite is simply trying to create a crisis that does not exist. The NDP does not support the military, it does not support the investments and that is unfortunate.”
• Stuart Landridge, R.I.P.  “The family of a soldier who took his own life should receive federal dollars to fund their legal battle, the military police complaints commission says. The family of Cpl. Stuart Langridge has been fighting the military for three years to get details of the days leading up to the death of their son and the ensuing military police investigation. Langridge took his own life at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton in 2008. The Military Police Complaints Commission has launched a public interest hearing into the handling of the investigation. The family asked the commission to help their cause and ask the federal government to give them legal aid. Sheila and Shaun Fynes say they don’t have the financial means to cover all the legal costs that comes with being a party to a commission hearing. Earlier this month, their lawyer, retired colonel Michel Drapeau, argued that without funding, the family wouldn’t receive a fair opportunity to take part in hearings. On Wednesday, the commission agreed ….”  QMI/Sun Media’s version of the story here, CBC.ca’s here.
• “The federal government is planning to spend as much as $477 million to participate in a U.S.-led military satellite program that has been subject to delays and cost overruns over the past decade, Postmedia News has learned. The Wideband Global Satellite system has been advertised by the U.S. Defense Department as a communications system for “U.S. warfighters, allies and coalition partners during all levels of conflict, short of nuclear war.” The idea is to have as many as nine military satellites hovering over different parts of the world, ready to provide high-frequency bandwidth for U.S. and allied forces wherever they may be operating. Daniel Blouin, a spokesman for Canada’s Department of National Defence, said the Canadian Forces has identified improved communication capabilities as a necessity. “After Afghanistan and Libya, our efforts in those two countries have proven that the exchange of information between headquarters and deployed elements is critical to modern military operations and their success,” Blouin said ….”  More on the satellite system in question here (USAF Info-Machine), here (Wikipedia, with usual “garbage in, garbage out” caveats), and here (Facebook).
• Non-lethal weapons trade show coming to Ottawa.  “The 2011 North American Technology Demonstration (NATD) being held at the Ottawa Convention Centre is bringing together a thousand of the world’s leaders in defence and security. NATO’s three-day technology demonstration is hosted jointly by the Department of National Defence (DND) and the United States Department of Defence’s Non-Lethal Weapons Program and is expected to attract military and civilian members from over 30 different countries. The 2011 NATD will showcase non-lethal capabilities that can be acquired and fielded quickly in support of NATO and counter-terrorism operations …. Canada is the chairman of the NATO Defence Against Terrorism (DAT) programme of work’s 11th Initiative on non-lethal capabilities. The programme of work for the DAT’s 11th initiative serves to provide NATO forces with better response capabilities that minimize collateral damage ….”  More on the trade show here and here.
• One Royal Canadian Navy officer’s experience. “Whether it be navigating a 135-metre long frigate through international waters, taking fire off the coast of Libya or acting as aide de camp for Royal Canadian Navy commander Paul Maddison, not a lot of things make flag lieutenant Nadia Shields nervous. Shields — born and raised in St. Thomas — recently returned to Canada from Libya where she acted as a navigator for the HMCS Charlottetown, a 4,770-tonne frigate. Deployed in March as part of Canada’s involvement in the upturned, African nation, Shields returned in May to begin her new position as Maddison’s aid(e). “We got to go to a lot of different places that I never would have gone to and some places that I don’t want to go back to,” she told the Times-Journal Tuesday morning of her experiences overseas. Her newest naval job involves organizing trips for Maddison, planning his meetings and handling his scheduling. “It’s go, go, go all the time which is nice because I get to go to a bunch of different things and I get to see Ottawa but from a very strategic level at a very junior rank,” she adds ….”
• “Omar Khadr, Canada’s only convicted war criminal – a confessed murderer, spy and terrorist – is headed home soon. But just how soon remains unclear. Even murkier is when he will be freed. Mr. Khadr is eligible for repatriation any time after Monday, to serve the rest of his sentence in a Canadian prison. That could be years or as little as a few months, depending on whether he can successfully challenge the Guantanamo war crimes conviction in Canadian courts …. After spending most of his 25 years abroad, first as a child in Pakistan as the son of a leading al-Qaeda family, followed by a brief summer learning bomb-making with Islamic jihadists in Afghanistan and nine years in Guantanamo, the Toronto-born Mr. Khadr will be eligible on Halloween to seek repatriation to Canada. But it could take months or longer to hammer out his return, especially if Ottawa demands that he drop any further legal action as a condition of repatriation. Until then, Mr. Khadr remains one of only two convicted terrorists in a separate prison block in Guantanamo. This week, huddled with his lawyers, Mr. Khadr may be examining his options ….”
• “Tadeusz Sawicz, a decorated Second World War airman who was believed to be the last surviving Polish pilot to fight in the Battle of Britain, has passed away at the age of 97 in Toronto. Funeral home Turner and Porter confirmed Sawicz died on Oct. 19. Born in Warsaw on Feb. 13, 1914, his military career began in 1934 and ended in 1947 as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force. According to an obituary in London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sawicz was serving in Poland with the 114 Fighter Flight of No 1 Air Wing when the Nazis invaded his homeland on Sept. 1, 1939. “Despite flying an antiquated biplane fighter, he damaged a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (on the opening day of the invasion). On Sept. 5, he was appointed a deputy commander of his squadron, and over the next few days was credited with destroying two enemy bombers and damaging two more,” reads the obituary ….” – more here (Telegraph obituary article) and here.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 9 Oct 11

• Looking for a hand from Canada in Darfur.  “Canada’s help could be critical in assisting the development of a “new roadmap” for the Darfur peace process, the head of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur, Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, said in talks with senior Canadian Government officials during a three-day visit to Ottawa. Canada has been a major backer of peacekeeping efforts in Darfur and in particular of the two-year peace process among the parties to the Darfur conflict in Doha, Qatar. In addition to leading UNAMID, the AU-UN peacekeeping mission, JSR Gambari is also the interim Chief Joint Mediator in the Darfur peace talks. “Canada has played an important and substantial role in the development of a comprehensive peace in Darfur,” JSR Gambari told Margaret Biggs, president of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in a meeting Wednesday. “We now have a unique opportunity for a new beginning, an enduring peace and a way forward towards a better future for all Darfuris.” ….”  More here.
• Afghanistan (1)  Covering the troops training (but not from in Afghanistan – note “Edmonton” placeline, meaning that’s where the story was written).  “As a reservist charged mainly with the security job of driving people around Kabul in 2008, Jennifer Scott of Edmonton imagined that if she ever returned to Afghanistan, her next role would be one in combat. “But we’ve moved past that, which is a great thing,” the now 22-year-old corporal said last week, calling from the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. Scott is among roughly 40 Edmonton-based soldiers assigned to train, advise and mentor Afghan soldiers at Camp Shaheen as they, in turn, train new recruits. “This time I get to actually interact a lot more with the Afghan National Army,” Scott said. “I’m learning a lot from them, and you know, they’re learning a lot from us. It’s going pretty good so far.” ….”
• Afghanistan (2)  More on starting the process to bring Khadr Boy back to Canada.  “The bureaucratic process has begun to bring Omar Khadr back to Canada. Brydie Bethell, one of Khadr’s Canadian lawyers, confirmed Friday the application had been made to repatriate the 25-year-old. The process is reportedly now in the hands of the Correctional Service of Canada ….”
• What’s Canada Buying?  “L-3 MAPPS (has) announced …. that it has been awarded a contract to supply degaussing systems for the Royal Canadian Navy’s 12 KINGSTON-Class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels. These advanced degaussing systems will be delivered and supported locally in collaboration with SAM Electronics, an L-3 company, which produces one of the most effective means of ship protection against modern sea mines. The SAM Electronics solution reduces the magnetic signature of ships to safe levels mitigating the threat from sea mines and has been successfully delivered to 15 of the world’s leading navies ….”
• “The military has ordered a detailed survey of two Second World War shipwrecks off Newfoundland for fear recreational divers might accidentally trigger leftover explosives. The two wrecks are among four sunk by torpedoes fired from German U-boats prowling the waters off Bell Island, N.L., in 1942. The iron-ore transports SS Saganaga and P.L.M. 27 each carried defensive arms to counter such attacks as they travelled to and from the busy steel mills in Cape Breton. Since the sinkings 69 years ago, recreational divers have flocked each summer to the two well-preserved wreck sites, located in relatively shallow, cold waters ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 8 Oct 11

• “Canada’s top soldier is defending the use of Challenger jets in an email to all the staff at the Department of National Defence ….”  Here’s the text of the e-mail sent to all CF members this week – media coverage here, here, here, here and here.
• Latest to the defence of the Minister, CDS on Challenger use:  former Ministers Graham and Pratt & former CDS’s Manson and Henault:  “…. We the undersigned, having served in the past respectively as ministers or chiefs of defence, view with concern the recent attacks regarding the use of government jets by the current incumbents. Alarming the Canadian public with dollar figures that dramatically inflate the real cost of using the Challengers, while misconstruing the context and realities of that use, does a disservice to the Minister of National Defence, the Chief of Defence Staff and the people they serve.”
• Blogger/info curator Mark Collins on future missions for the CF (if the U.S. gets its way).
• Afghanistan (1)  A timeline, ten years in – more here.
• Afghanistan (2)  Quebec Senator welcomes Valcartier troops back from Afghanistan.
• Afghanistan (3)  Khadr Boy on his way back to Canada?  “Omar Khadr has started the process to come back to Canada. Lawyers for Khadr, who is serving eight years in a U.S. prison for killing a U.S. soldier when he was 15, have filed the paperwork required to start the repatriation process. Corrections officials have received the request for transfer and now have to determine if Khadr is eligible to return to Canada to finish out his sentence. Once Canadian officials determine that, they send an official request to American officials. If U.S. officials agree, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has the final say. He has the option of refusing the transfer if he decides Khadr is a risk to public safety. The process is expected to take about 18 months ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch  Ten years after Americans hit Afghanistan, Taliban claim “divine victory is with us alike the previous ten years”.
• One Naval Reservist’s job in the fight against pirates.  “When she arrives at work each morning in a northwest suburb of London, Lt.-Cmdr. Susan Long-Poucher steps into the North Arabian Sea. Her windowless office at the the NATO shipping centre in Northwood is lined with maps of exotic locations such as the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Somali Basin and the Persian Gulf. From here, Long-Poucher, 49, helps keep tabs on pirates who, equipped with tiny speed boats and a handful of small arms, prey on a fortune of commercial shipping. “Even though I work in the United Kingdom, when I come to work I am in the gulf,” said Long-Poucher, commanding officer of HMCS Cataraqui, the local naval reserve unit. Long-Poucher is in the midst of a six-month assignment to the shipping centre as part of an international anti-piracy campaign. Long-Poucher is the senior of three Canadian officers assigned to the centre as part of Operation Saiph, Canada’s commitment to increasing maritime security in the waters around the Horn of Africa ….”
• Changes proposed to military law, specifically in how courts martial are run and military judges get to be more independent – more here and here.
• Talkin’ search and rescue way up north. “Delegates from eight circumpolar countries met in Whitehorse this week for a conference on Arctic search and rescue co-operation. The purpose of the meeting of members of the Arctic Council Oct. 5 and 6 was to study the Arctic Search and Rescue agreement signed in May in Nuuk, Greenland, and to examine ways to enhance search and rescue capability and response across the North. Besides Canada, the members of the Arctic Council are Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia and the United States. It took 30 hours for some of the delegates to get to Yukon ….”
• “Come lookit our non-lethal weapon tech” conference and trade show scheduled for Ottawa 25-27 Oct 11.
• What’s Canada Melting Down?  Loads of old pistols, apparently.  “Despite all its bluster about saving money and honouring Canada’s armed forces, the Conservative federal government is poised to melt down millions of dollars worth of military memorabilia. Specifically, the Department of Defence is planning to send 19,000 highly collectable Browning Hi-Power pistols made in Toronto more than 60 years ago to the smelter and destroy them, instead of allowing licensed firearm owners to buy them for hundreds of dollars each. As reported recently, the Canadian Forces are replacing the Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistols starting in the fall 2015. The decommissioned sidearms, the standard military issue pistol for the forces since 1944, are set to be destroyed ….”  Just a reminder – the process to replace the Browning HP has been “cancelled” – still no word from Public Works Canada re:  why.
• Congrats on hour #3000.  “Major Miguel Bernard joined an elite club on Aug. 15, 2011 when he flew his 3,000th hour in the CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft while transiting from Bagotville, Que. to Trapani, Italy, to support Operation Mobile. “It’s a significant milestone because not many people have it,” he said from Trapani. “It just takes time.” Maj Bernard is one of only two active CF-18 pilots with 3,000 hours in the aircraft ….”
• “Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman, Guy Parent, will travel to Quebec City to host a public town hall session (on 12 Oct 11) for Veterans, RCMP members, military members, families and other interested parties. Mr. Parent will deliver a short presentation outlining the mandate and services of the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman. This will be followed by a question and answer period with the audience ….”
• (Alleged) Terrorist Bad Guy Update  “Two men from a group accused of plotting terrorist attacks in Canada appeared briefly in court in Ottawa (this week) to learn some of the conditions of their upcoming trials. Misbahuddin Ahmed and Khurram Syed Sher and a third man, Hiva Alizadeh, were arrested and their homes raided last year in an RCMP investigation dubbed Project Samossa. All three were charged with conspiracy to facilitate terrorism. Police accused the three men of plotting with others in Canada and abroad to aid terrorism activities. Ahmed, an Ottawa X-ray technologist, is also charged with possessing an explosive substance with the intent to harm. On Wednesday, an Ontario court judge set aside a time from June 18 to July 13 next year for the pre-trial for both Ahmed and Sher ….”
• (Maybe) (Alleged) Terrorist Bad Guy Update  “The RCMP was last night interviewing a man in connection with a plot involving the national security of Canada. The man was first seen on Oct. 1 at a DocuServe Etc., store at 20 Dundas St. E., Mississauga, the Mounties. “We believe he can corroborate some information that we have received,” Const. Richard Rollings said. Rollings refused to comment on specifics citing an ongoing national security probe. Police said the man, who may be a suspect, holds answers regarding the legitimacy of a plot or where an incident may occur ….”  More from Postmedia News here, and a copy of the RCMP news release downloadable here (via Milnet.ca).
• Oopsie…. “Researchers in Winnipeg’s National Microbiology lab must now obtain extra approval before they transport lethal pathogens, after a “miscommunication” three years ago left senior officials scrambling to find out why a shipment of Level 4 viruses was sent out of the secure lab ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 5 Aug 11

• Nanook 2011  “Canada is deploying unmanned surveillance aircraft to the High Arctic for the first time, as part of the largest military exercise ever in the Far North. Catapult-launched Boeing ScanEagle unarmed drones similar to those used by the Canadian army for surveillance in Afghanistan are to assist in a major air disaster scenario in an extremely remote area near Resolute, which is about 3,000 kilometres north of Ottawa. They will also assist in a major maritime disaster exercise being overseen by the Canadian Coast Guard in waters between Canada and Greenland. “It’s precedent setting. There will be small UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) in the High Arctic,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in an interview. “They are a harbinger of things to come” ….”
• Afghanistan  “NATO trainers will continue to mentor and train Afghan army and police for years past the pullout deadline of 2014, said Col. Peter Dawe, deputy commander of the Canadian contribution to the NATO training mission. Dawe told Postmedia News that as many as half of NATO’s total training contingent will remain after 2014 to continue their job of helping Afghans build a professional security force that by 2012 will number 352,000 strong, including 157,000 police. NATO’s goal is to withdraw gradually all combat troops by March 2014. There are 132,000 coalition forces in Afghanistan. Building and sustaining Afghan security forces beyond 2014, however, requires continued NATO commitment in Afghanistan, Dawe said in an interview. “You can’t view 2014 as an absolute deadline,” he said. He added however that “it is unequivocal” that Canada’s 950 trainers and support staff, whose main job is to train Afghan trainers, will be gone by 2014. “NATO will continue to be engaged for the long haul,” he added ….”
• “Canada and the United States oppose military intervention in Somalia despite evidence the Islamic militant group al-Shabab is blocking famine relief in parts of the drought-ravaged nation that are under its control. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from their first bilateral meeting on Thursday united in their approach to ending the humanitarian disaster in Somalia and responding to the Syrian regime’s violent crackdown on protesters. “At this time, we are not contemplating military action” in Somalia, Mr. Baird said. “Obviously, both countries have experience from that.” He was referring to the participation of Canadian and U.S. troops in the 1992-93 United Nations-sanctioned effort to clear the way for food and medical aid after the Somali government’s collapse ….”
• What’s Canada Buying?  “…. The Department of National Defence (DND) has a requirement for the supply of 24 Chemical Identification System (Chem-IS) kits; Spare Parts and Consumables up to a maximum cost specified in the RFP; Initial Cadre Training (ICT); Repair and Overhaul services for a perod of three (3) years; 24/7 Reachback services for three (3) years; and clearance decontamination. The Chem-IS will be manufactured in accordance with DND’s Statement of Work (SOW). The goods are to be delivered to Canadian Forces Base Montreal, Quebec. Delivery is to commence no later than 9 months after contract award and be completed within 18 months after contract award ….”
• “Convicted war criminal Omar Khadr stunned his longtime Canadian lawyers …. by giving them the boot just months before he is due to be repatriated to Canada from Guantanamo Bay. For years, Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling championed Khadr’s cause, fighting protracted and successful legal battles on his behalf in Canada. His decision to fire them took both men by surprise. “I have no idea what pressures are being placed on Omar Khadr in Guantanamo to make that decision,” Edney told The Canadian Press. “I presume he made the decision with full information and Nate and I wish him all the best.” ….”  More here.
• “Canada has the lowest risk of terrorism among major western economies, says a new global security report. The 2011 Terrorism Risk Index, by the respected British risk analysis company Maplecroft, ranks Canada 86th out of 197 countries. The United Kingdom placed 38th, the highest among major western nations, which Maplecroft attributes to deteriorating security conditions in Northern Ireland, with 25 reported terrorist attacks last year, none fatal. Greece had the worst showing of any western nation, placing 27th with a “high risk” classification. No major western economies, however, fell within the “high” or “extreme risk” risk bracket — the U.S. (ranked 61), Germany (62), France (45) and U.K. all remain in the “medium risk” category. China, meanwhile, ranked 39th ….”  More here and here.