MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 15 Sept 11

15 September 1114 September 11 ~ milnews.ca ~ 1 Comment

Libya Mission (1) “CTV News has learned Canada will extend its military mission to Libya by up to three months to help the country get back on its feet. CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported the development, which is expected to be formally announced next week when Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with other NATO leaders in New York ….”
Afghanistan (1) More (again) from the Minister’s spokesperson on how the years of the Afghan fight aren’t going to be carved onto the National Cenotaph just yet. “…. “These men and women in uniform are in harm’s way and it is clearly inappropriate to commemorate a mission which has yet to be completed,” wrote Joshua Zanin, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay said in an e-mail Wednesday. “When the last troops return home to their families at the conclusion of the mission, the full scope of Canada’s contributions in Afghanistan, including all the work of all those who have sacrificed and fallen in the service of their country, will be appropriately recognized and commemorated.” ….” In case this looks familiar, here’s what the spokesperson told The Canadian Press earlier this week: “…. “These men and women in uniform are in harm’s way and it is clearly inappropriate to commemorate a mission which has yet to be completed,” said Joshua Zanin, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay. “When the last troops return home to their families at the conclusion of the mission, the full scope of Canada’s contributions in Afghanistan, including all the work of all those who have sacrificed and fallen in the service of their country, will be appropriately recognized and commemorated.” ….”
Afghanistan (2) On how long it’s taken to recognize previous wars: “…. It took almost 20 years after the devastation of the Second World War for the federal government to design and erect the national war monument in Ottawa. The inclusion of that war as part of the monument didn’t take place until 37 years after it ended. The 26,971 Canadian soldiers who fought in the Korean War were ignored by both Canadian media and government until 1982 as well. “At the end of the war, Canadians returned to a peaceful nation that almost seemed to be unaware of the conflict across the ocean that had taken 516 Canadian and hundreds of thousands of others’ lives,” Senator Yonah Martin, who has championed the cause of recognizing Korean War veterans, said recently ….”
Afghanistan (3) One columnist’s view on why more Afghan interpreters should be allowed into Canada: “…. This is not just an issue of fairness and moral obligation, but of national security. The world is an increasingly dangerous place, and there is every reason to expect that the Canadian Forces will again soon find themselves deployed abroad in hostile lands. Co-operation from the locals during these future missions will be essential. Giving the people of the world’s trouble spots reason to avoid dealings with our soldiers will make the jobs of our military personnel not only harder, but more dangerous.”
Afghanistan (4) Something to look for as part of coming changes to the Canadian International Development Agency: “…. as Canada winds down its military involvement in Afghanistan, the Canadian International Development Agency will be “normalizing” aid to a level comparable to its 19 other “countries of focus.” This confirms a poorly-kept secret: aid to Afghanistan was always more about Canadians, candy and Kandahar than about sustainable long-term development. With aid levels frozen, there will be fierce competition for the freed-up funds. We should probably expect new assistance to Libya, where Canadian companies are already jockeying for important reconstruction and oil contracts ….”
Afghanistan (5a) More CF story recycling – 27 Aug 11: Army News tells us about how CF engineers are converting sea containers into lodging for ANA troops. 14 Sept 11: CEFCOM Info-Machine uses same article to remind us CF engineers are converting sea containers into lodging for ANA troops.
Afghanistan (5b) How is the ANA going to get those converted sea containers? CF logisticians, UP!
Ronald Kevin Megeney, 1982-2007, R.I.P.: Second trial of Reservist charged in killing Megeney continues, with reporter noting the blisteringly obvious. “A Canadian soldier who was in Afghanistan when a member of his section was fatally shot at Kandahar Airfield in 2007 says everyone in the group had been given extensive weapons safety training …. everyone in the section of 10 soldiers had been given extensive briefings on weapons handling and safety before leaving Canada and again on arrival in theatre in December 2006 ….”
Canada’s CDS is dropping by to visit his Russian equivalent. “The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Walt Natynczyk, is conducting a three-day visit with his Russian counterpart, Army General Nikolay Yegorovich Makarov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation / First Deputy Minister of Defence and General of the Army. The purpose of the visit is to gain the Russian perspective on a range of issues to improve and develop Canada’s bilateral military relationship with Russia. “During my first meeting with General Makarov last January in Brussels, I received his invitation to visit Moscow to expand on our initial discussions,” said General Natynczyk. “This visit is an important opportunity to strengthen Canadian-Russian military ties, and exchange views on some of our common defence interests. I hope that General Makarov will honour us with a visit to Canada so we can continue to build on our relationship.” This is the first time in almost a decade that a Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff has visited Russia to meet its top military leadership ….”
Defence Minister Peter MacKay highlights the highlights of his visit to Australia. “…. While in Australia, Minister MacKay met his counterpart, Australian Minister for Defence, Mr. Stephen Smith, Minister for Defence Materiel, The Honourable Jason Clare, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, The Honourable Warren Snowdon, and Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd. During the meetings, they discussed defence reform, procurement practices, general Asia-Pacific defence issues, and the transformation of the Australian Defence department …. Canada and Australia worked closely together in Afghanistan, and continue to build on their strong bilateral defence relations. Minister MacKay agreed to loan two Husky armoured vehicles and one Buffalo mine-protected vehicle to Australia until the end of 2012, which will allow their engineers in Oruzgan province to detect explosive hazards with low metal content, such as mines and improvised explosive devices.”
What’s Canada Buying: Used Sub Edition (1) Harsh, but with a kernel of truth. “When Britain held a scratch-and-dent sale in 1998 to get rid of some surplus submarines, Canada went shopping. Our 30-year-old fleet was long past its prime and Ottawa wasn’t ready to commit to the cost of new ones. That was 13 years ago. The deal seemed too good to turn down at the start: Just $750 million for an eight-year lease/purchase — about a quarter of the estimated replacement value — for four barely-used diesel-electric submarines that had been mothballed only because Britain had moved to an all-nuclear fleet …. As with a lot of cool stuff we bring home from yard sales, it didn’t take long for the deal to seem a little less of a bargain. Within a year, the National Post was reporting that hidden costs and a wish list for upgrades had pushed the real tab for the four used subs to somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2 billion ….”
What’s Canada Buying: Used Sub Edition (2) Where “independent research, advocacy and consulting group”, read “think tank that has yet to take a pro-CF position”: “Canada’s naval submarine program is a bust and the time is perfect for the federal government to scrap the four-vessel fleet, says the president of the Rideau Institute, an independent research, advocacy and consulting group in Ottawa. I don’t think we’ll ever see all four submarines operating all together and at their full capacity,” Steven Staples said Tuesday. Two weeks ago, the HMCS Corner Brook was put dockside until at least 2016 as a result of damage caused by hitting the ocean floor back in June. As a result, none of Canada’s four Victoria-class submarines are in action …. “I think an argument could be made by the government that they are still committed to the navy by spending upward of $30 billion on a new surface fleet …. I think it is becoming painfully clear that the sub fleet is providing no benefits to Canada in terms of our defence and, in fact, is probably more of a hazard to submariners than any benefit to the navy.” ….”
Didn’t MP Bob Dechert get the memo that Communist governments have been known to use journalists as spies, or have their spies pretend they’re journalists?
Ooopsie…. “As a spy, he was said to be sloppy. So sloppy that his masters would complain he “compromised” security and “jeopardized” their credibility – just by showing up for work. But Marc-André Bergeron, fired four years ago for alleged incompetence, has been vindicated by winning his claim of wrongful dismissal. In doing so, he has revealed a rather remarkable state of affairs at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. CSIS, whose bosses lament that they are held to impossible legal standards in court cases involving terrorism, couldn’t muster sufficient proof to fire one of their own. “The employer failed to discharge its burden to present the necessary evidence,” a federal tribunal ruled in mid-August, ordering Mr. Bergeron’s reinstatement or an alternate “appropriate remedy.” ….” Public Service Labour Relations Board decision here, decision summary here.

TALIBAN PROPAGANDA WATCH – 080250UTC Jul 11

7 July 11 ~ milnews.ca ~ Leave a comment

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