MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 8 Nov 11

• Royal Military College Academic:  Iran strikes might be the CF’s next shooting stint?  “Canada may get pulled into military strikes against Iran if it comes to a showdown between western powers and the rogue state. And things could get messy considering a new report from the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog that’s expected to indicate Tehran is on the brink of being able to develop a nuclear warheads, said Houchang Hassan-Yari, an expert in military and strategic issues at the Royal Military College of Canada. “If it gets to a military campaign, I think Canada will participate with the Americans and their allies,” the international relations professor said. “If sanctions are the next avenue, Canada will participate in that.” ….”
• What a surprise:  the military appears to be planning and weighing how to deal with evacuating Canadians in trouble overseas.  “Plucking Canadians out of the world’s hot spots is a growing area of concern and study for military planners, who until a few years ago didn’t have their own tools or the resources to carry out such missions.  Internal Defence Department documents obtained by The Canadian Press show that in the aftermath of the Libyan crisis, the Canadian military is examining not only its war-fighting skills, but its newly enhanced ability to quickly organize evacuation and rescue missions.  Planners have been quietly taking stock of the world’s flash points and considering how to get military forces into those troubled regions, while at the same time smoothly getting civilians out of harm’s way …. internally at the Defence Department there has been angst about future evacuations, especially in light of expected budget cuts, suggest the documents obtained under Access to Information.  Among the most worrisome trouble spots is South Korea, where frequent and increasingly violent outbursts from the hermit kingdom in the North have military planners concerned and looking for guidance.  “With over 20,000 Canadian citizens resident in the (Republic of South Korea), in the event of a full-scale crisis (censored) the evacuation efforts required could significantly exceed those of the Lebanon evacuation,” said a Nov. 30, 2010 briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Peter MacKay ….”  I’ve asked if CP plans to share the obtained documents online for anyone interested to read – no word back yet.
• Canada is taking part in U.S. Northern Command Exercise Operation Vigilant Shield ’12.  “The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, as well as the Canadian military, have begun an extensive annual field training exercise for the U.S. Northern Command. “Operation Vigilant Shield 12” is the biggest multi-spectrum, high-level exercise for the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command. Northern Command is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States military, formed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 to protect the United States homeland and support local, state, and federal authorities. Operation Vigilant Shield 12, or VS 12, is a joint exercise supported by the Joint Coalition Warfare Center and conducted as a command post exercise with a supporting field training exercise in Key West, FL. The exercise is also linked to a Canada Command exercise called “Determined Dragon,” and runs concurrently with the Arizona’s “Vigilant Guard” exercise. It runs Nov. 1-10 ….”  More from the Pentagon Info-Machine here.
• Scumbags, continued.  “A recently restored First World War memorial that stands outside an east end high school has been vandalized. Neighbours of Malvern Collegiate, near Victoria Park Avenue and Kingston Road, awoke Sunday morning to find the granite statue wrapped in blue duct tape. With the help of about $44,000 in donations and grants, the statue had been restored and rededicated days before, just in time for Remembrance Day ….”
• Remembrance Day (1)  Veterans’ Ombudsman on Veteran’s Week.
• Remembrance Day (2)  Unambiguously Ambidextrous on Remembrance Day and Canada’s newest vets.  “…. There is a new generation of soldiers returning from war, something that has not been seen in Canada in about 50 years, or two generations. That’s not to trivialize Rwanda or Bosnia, but our country hasn’t had to deal with the reality of war dead in a half century and we have not handled their sacrifices very well. In fact, it would be fair to say we have broken faith with the dead, choosing not to carry on their torch and honour their sacrifices by seeing through the mission to success. It was a political decision made to pacify the pacifists created by two generations of peace. Today’s young people know nothing of war, and so their only reaction to it is revulsion ….”
• “An audit into Veterans Affairs Canada and how it handles privacy issues will be released in early 2012, Canada’s privacy commissioner said Monday. The news came as a third veteran went public with complaints into the number of times civil servants accessed his file, and how his file was handled at the agency. Sylvain Chartrand, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Bosnia, says his file was accessed more than 4,000 times between 2003 and 2010. HIs complaint is similar to one by Sean Bruyea, another veteran who advocates for veterans’ rights, and whose private medical information was shared with both Liberal and Conservative ministers of veterans affairs. A statement by a spokeswoman for Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says an audit into how Veterans Affairs handles private information is coming soon ….”
• “A military veteran on a hunger strike collapsed momentarily during the third day of his protest against the federal government Monday. (Pascal) Lacoste is trying to convince the government to recognize that he and other soldiers were poisoned while serving overseas. The 38-year-old former soldier was leaving a camper lent to him by a friend and heading back to his SUV when he fell to the ground. An ambulance was called as his mother rushed to hold him, clutching him to her chest. Lacoste eventually recovered after taking gasps of air from an oxygen mask. But the exhausted-looking man refused to go to hospital. He decided to continue his hunger strike instead ….”
• All of a sudden, Canada’s Liberal Party is keen on helping veterans – more in an online petition here and an e-mail soliciting signatures to said petition here (PDF).
• Libya Mission  How intelligence from HMCS Vancouver helped in the battle for Sirte (via the CF Info-Machine).
• Afghanistan  Author/blogger Terry Glavin reminds us that it’s Pakistan, the puppetmaster, that should be talked to, not the puppets.
• CF testing new helmets (via Army News)
• What’s Canada Buying?  Technical help in improving how explosives are detected via electronic beams (more details in excerpt from bid documents – PDF – here), and VICTORIA-class sub periscope simulators.
• CF looking for more military artists.  “The Canadian Forces Artists Program allows Canadian artists the opportunity to record Canada’s soldiers in Canada and around the world. It follows the long-standing tradition of Canadian war artists and is designed to portray today’s Canadian military experience through art while providing artists with a taste of military life. These artists, all volunteers, are helping usher in a new era of Canadian military art …. A new competition is currently being held for the selection of a new group of Canadian artists who wish to participate in the program. Selected artists will be able to participate in a military-related exercise for a period of approximately seven to ten days. This opportunity is designed to springboard their creativity, create works of art depicting military life and to provide memorable military experiences. There is no payment for artists, who in turn are not required to provide works to the program. However, artists may be asked to lend some works for promotional art tours or other uses. Deadline for applications is November 30, 2011 ….”
• Canada and Foreign Intelligence (1)  “As the Harper government prepares to re-introduce the anti-terrorism measures that were allowed to lapse because of opposition concerns about privacy and Charter rights, there are whispers Conservative plans to expand the role of Canada’s spy service to operate overseas are being dusted off. Currently, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is largely concerned with domestic intelligence and is able to conduct covert operations overseas only if there is a direct threat to Canada. In their 2006 election platform, the Tories promised to overturn this arrangement and set up a separate foreign intelligence service. Once elected, they were persuaded by the bureaucracy that it would be quicker and cheaper to allow CSIS to take on the role ….”
• Canada and Foreign Intelligence (2)  Why blogger/info curator Mark Collins is underwhelmed with the above-mentioned idea.
• Unlike how media treat reporters being kidnapped, right?  “Former Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler, whose kidnapping by al-Qaida made international headlines, says media “blackouts” of such events can prevent ransom demands from escalating to the point where they cannot be met. Fowler, then a United Nations special envoy in Niger, was abducted Dec. 14, 2008 on a highway outside the country’s capital, Niamey. He spent the next 130 days in the Sahara Desert with his captors, members of a shadowy jihadist group known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Fowler told the Ottawa Citizen’s editorial board Monday that his web-savvy captors viewed media coverage of his kidnapping on laptop computers and Nokia cellphones. From it, he said, they came to believe he was on a “secret mission” in Niger, a suggestion reported in the Globe and Mail. “Was it harmful to me? Yes, likely,” he said. “The idea that you can write things here that won’t impact there is just — in this globalized world — crazy.” ….” 
• “A Canadian man has been indicted in Seattle for allegedly conspiring to support the Sri Lankan terrorist group the Tamil Tigers nearly six years ago. The single-count indictment against Ramanan Mylvaganam, 34, is the result of a jurisdictional dispute between federal prosecutors in New York City’s Brooklyn borough and Mylvaganam’s attorneys. Mylvaganam is a former Bellevue resident. Brooklyn prosecutors in 2006 had indicted Mylvaganam along with nine others in connection with an alleged plot to pay to import surface-to-air missiles and other military equipment to the Tamil Tigers. The charges also alleged the group was attempting to bribe U.S. officials to have the Tamil Tigers removed from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. Mylvaganam’s attorneys had argued that federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York had no jurisdiction over Mylvaganam’s alleged crimes because he was living at the time in Bellevue, according to court papers ….”

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 – 9 Feb 11

• Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai seems to want to eliminate the middleman and get rid of Provincial Reconstruction Teams, allowing aid, assistance and services to be delivered by the Afghan government. What’ll this mean for Canada?  Apparently, the BIG TICKET work’ll still get done:  “…. The eventual closure of the bases won’t affect legacy projects such as the refurbishment of the Dahla Dam, a Canadian official at Kandahar’s provincial reconstruction team (PRT) said Tuesday. “Canada’s signature projects are not linked to this issue, as they have a completion date of 2011, and President Karzai’s comments consistently refer to a transition date of 2014,” spokesman Adam Sweet said in an email …. “ Follow-up question:  what happens to all the OTHER work Canada does through Kandahar’s PRT now?
• And Canada’s lead Minister on the possibility of PRTs being shut down? “Canada is defending its development and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan amid calls from President Hamid Karzai for NATO partners to wind down their efforts. “Canada supports the Government of Afghanistan’s desire to have more international aid channelled through the Afghan Government,” Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon acknowledged in a statement Tuesday. “But this must be accompanied by meaningful public sector reform that addresses corruption and that is founded on the principles of good governance.”  ….”
• “Veterans Affairs is failing former Canadian soldiers who’ve reached a mental health breaking point, Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent told a House of Commons committee Monday. “People at Veterans Affairs need to be trained to deal with people in crisis,” he said, noting the department is currently unable to help veterans who need quick access to care. “The complexity of the process doesn’t allow for a response to immediate needs.” The bureaucracy and red tape involved can also be harmful to people suffering mental illness, Parent told the all-party committee. “The more times people have to tell their stories, the harder it becomes for them.” ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Attacks alleged in Kandahar, Uruzgan.
• Hello, hello, hello, what have we here? “Customs agents in Cincinnati are trying to figure out why someone in Canada wanted 300 sets of military-grade night vision goggles that were seized here last month. Agents grabbed several boxes of the goggles as they passed through the DHL hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in January. Officials with Customs and Border Protection said the Russian company that was shipping the goggles to a customer in Canada did not have the necessary license from the U.S. State Department. “The big question is, who needs 300 night vision goggles?” said Brian Bell, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman. “That’s the question that really sparked a lot of concern.” He said investigators have tracked the shipment back to a Russian company and believe the goggles were headed to a business in Canada ….”
• More on the mystery goggles here:  “U.S. Customs agents said they seized a sizable shipment of military-grade night vision goggles at the DHL facility at CVG last month. The agency said agents identified the parcels, conducted research and working with other resources determined that the 300 sets of night vision goggles were military grade. Further research indicated that the exporter did not have the correct licenses to export this type of equipment, the agency said. The goggles were bound for an address near Toronto, Canada, said Customs spokesperson Brian Bell ….”
• F-35 Tug of War (1):  “Lockheed Martin will be cutting it close if it intends to deliver F-35 stealth fighters to Canada on schedule in 2017, according to a revised timetable released by the U.S. defence giant. An extended flight test and software programming plan was ordered by the Pentagon over a year ago and the changes mean the aircraft will not exit its full development phase until late 2016. The aircraft-maker, the world’s largest defence contractor, is scrambling to hire over 100 software engineers to complete the three-stage development of computer programs that will fly and control the advanced stealth fighter in combat. A senior company official said the version of the F-35 Lightning II that Canada wants to buy — the A model — should have its final set of software codes by early 2016 ….”
• F-35 Tug of War (2):  “The Harper government has already spent almost $200,000 on the pan-Canadian promotion of its stealth jet purchase, records show. In a bid to counter opposition to the controversial decision to buy a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, federal officials have organized media events and a cross-country tour to justify the spending and explain why the government felt the need to make the acquisition without going to tenders. Federal documents show the department of National Defence spent $131,519 on travel and hospitality costs to organize one media announcement, a cross-country “outreach tour” and an industry visit to a Lockheed-Martin facility in Texas ….”
• WHAT’S CANADA BUYING? Training CF naval small arms trainers and who’s interested and qualified to refit the HMCS Athabaskan?
• “The 2011 Ottawa Conference on Defence and Security (hosted by the Canadian Defence Association) will be held at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Canada, on 24-25 February 2011.”
• You can tell it’s winter in the Rockies when the gunners come out to shoot down snow to prevent avalanches.
• Funny how universities are supposed to be bastions of free speech, expression and association – unless it’s speech, expression or association some don’t like.  “University of Toronto students and allies braved the weather on Wednesday to protest a recruitment session for the Department of National Defence hosted by the University’s Career Centre. A petition in circulation since last Saturday has attracted over 300 signatures, among them dozens belonging to faculty members. Signatories included former Canadian Senator the Hon. Lois M. Wilson and renowned scholar, author, and peace advocate Ursula Franklin …. Organizers of Wednesday’s demonstration have called for the University of Toronto administration to declare the campus a military-free zone. They are encouraging the community at large to join them in opposing the planned talk by Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance that the University’s Munk Centre will host on February 15th. The University of Toronto Career Centre has agreed to develop a set of guidelines against which invitations to potential employers can be measured.”
• How Canada is helping out a bit in the Democratic Republic of Congo:  “United Nations peacekeepers are making “important headway” on the difficult road towards bringing stability to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but shortfalls in funds and military equipment are constraining their efforts, a top official said today …. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon”s Special Representative for the DRC, Roger Meece, told the Security Council …. There are …. still significant weaknesses in the military and civilian justice systems, and the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) ” the peacekeeping mission which Mr. Meece heads ” has worked to bolster military prosecution capabilities with support from Canada and the UN Peacebuilding Fund, “but much greater efforts are needed,” Mr. Meece stressed. The Fund, which was set up in 2006 and relies upon voluntary contributions, supports efforts to augment peace and stability in countries emerging from conflict ….”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 15 Dec 10

• Huge storm in SW Ontario.  CF Hercules and Griffon helicopters help rescue stranded drivers.  Well done all who helped out. More from Reuters, the New York Times, the Detroit News,
• A reminder from an MP speaking in the House of Commons:  Canada Post is letting you mail parcels to a named, individual soldier overseas free of charge until 7 Jan 11 (letters you can send for free until 31 Dec 10). More details from Canada Post here.
• The process has begun to consider a new law, the Independent and Effective Office of the Veterans’ Ombudsman Act, to make the Veterans Ombudsman more arms length from the Department of National Defence. A caveat: As a private member’s bill, the chances of going all the way are slim, but let’s see how it goes.
• Interesting prediction for Afghanistan at the Flit blog by former OMLT’eer Bruce Ralston: “…. We should be assuming we will leave a civil war in our wake, or one will crop up shortly thereafter, and that we will have to manage that, and configure our forces now and in future to do so ….” (Hat tip to Mark at the Unambiguously Ambidextrous blog for that one).
• Another idea from Bruce:  think Rhodesia for answers to Afghanistan. “…. The sheer untapped potential of ANSF platoon houses with embedded enablers (not Western companies with a few doorkickers) in the cleared areas, combined with modern ISR- and CAS-enabled Rhodesian style pseudo-operators and fireforces replacing large-scale sweep ops in the uncleared Pashtun areas, with the highways patrolled by mine-resistant vehicles in the IED zones and Q-Cars (a land derivative of the Q-Ship) in the ambush zones simply boggles the mind ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Taliban suggests U.S. lack of success in Afghanistan killed envoy Robert Holbrooke.
• By the way, it’s not just Canada wrestling with the best way to deal with detainees in Afghanistan. “DIGGER morale has taken a hit in Afghanistan, the Australia Defence Association says. The cause, says the association, is a rule allowing only 96 hours to determine the status of suspected Taliban after which they must be released, says the Australia Defence Association. The problem would particularly affect special forces soldiers who risked their lives to capture insurgents, including some who had been previously caught and released, said ADA executive director Neil James. Mr James, a former officer who wrote the army’s interrogation manual, said the situation was untenable. “There is a growing morale problem in the force, both among the troops who capture the people, only to see them released four days later (and) among the interrogators who aren’t allowed to interrogate,” he said ….” More on the new approach from the Australian Defence Minister’s news release here.
• Nice to see communities thinking about Canadian troops deployed overseas that AREN’T just in Afghanistan. “The words “Thank you” can go a long way, especially this time of year. Just ask Lt. Dean Pask, a member of a small Canadian Forces contingent stationed in Africa, who says a batch of Christmas cards sent from Sarnia were a pleasant surprise. “I would say there were over 100 cards,” said Pask, joined by eight other Canadians in Sierra Leone as part of the International Military Advisory Training Team (IMATT). Each soldier received a stack of cards in their latest mail batch, and Pask contacted The Observer to deliver a thank you message to the Sarnia community. “We started opening them and sharing them with each other,” he said. “Then I noticed that all of mine were from Sarnia. I went around asking the others, and they all had cards from Sarnia too ….” More on IMATT here, and on what other Canadian troops are doing with the UN Mission in Sierra Leone right here.
• Where to put search and rescue Hercs on the East Coast? “CBC News has obtained a report that suggests the Canadian Forces may be making a mistake by basing its search and rescue Hercules aircraft in Nova Scotia and not central Newfoundland. The National Research Council report says rescue response times would be faster if the fixed-wing aircraft was based at 9 Wing Gander. The report notes that the military’s own study confirms that a Gander-based Hercules would result in significant improvements in response times to distress calls ….” CBC has not posted a copy of the report they say they have, so take it as you will.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 28 Nov 10

• Cliché team, UP! “The new commander of Canada’s battle group in Kandahar will have an iron fist, but hopes to use a velvet touch with the war-weary population of this embattled province. Lt.-Col. Michel-Henri St-Louis, who is in charge of the 1st Battalion Royal 22e Regiment combat team, officially took charge Saturday and will carry the baton through to the end of the country’s combat mission in July ….” More from United Press International here.
• Uh, thanks mom – NOT! “The mother of a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan picketed outside Liberal MP Bob Rae’s office on Saturday to urge the federal Conservative government to bring the troops home next year. Josie Forcadilla is upset about the extension of a Canadian military presence in Afghanistan until 2014. The government announced this month that a contingent of troops will remain to train Afghan troops after the combat mission ends in July 2011.  “Whether the mission is combat or non-combat, the soldiers will still be at risk,” she said, noting some of the 153 Canadian soldiers who have died in support of the Afghan mission were trainers.  Forcadilla, 54, was among roughly a dozen people protesting outside Rae’s constituency office Saturday afternoon ….” Not the first time she’s been at it, either.
• Postmedia’s Matthew Fisher shares this story about an Afghan-Canadian going back to the old country to make a difference: “An Afghan-Canadian doctor has taken a drastic cut in pay to return to his homeland and open Afghanistan’s first heart clinic. “I feel that the nicest people in the world are Canadians, but I felt a duty to return to my homeland,” said Asmat Naebkhill, the director of the Alli Abad Cardiac Research Centre in Kabul. “I was not comfortable in Canada knowing how my people were suffering.” Naebkhill was living in Windsor, Ont., before relocating to Kabul ….”
• Anti-war British MP George Galloway brings his message to Canada (note to George:  “Afghani” is the currency, “Afghans” is what you call the people):  “Canada’s mission in Afghanistan has been “doomed from the start,” controversial British politician George Galloway told an Ottawa crowd Saturday.  “Does no one in Canada ever ask why the Afghanis need so much training? We have been training them for 10 years. No one is training the Taliban and they’re doing quite well,” said Galloway, a former British MP, who was refused entry by the Canada Border Services Agency in 2009 because he reportedly donated money to the Hamas-led Palestinian government …. The decision to refuse Galloway entry was recently overturned in a Federal Court decision critical of the government.   “Until this matter is resolved, I will be coming back again and again and again,” Galloway told his 900 listeners.  As he had in other stops on the 10-city Canadian tour, Galloway blasted Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying he is initiating legal proceeding against Kenney and would give any compensation awarded to the Canadian antiwar movement ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Attacks alleged in Kandahar, Uruzgan.
• New Veterans Ombudsman:  Not Your Old Veterans Ombudsman?
• Former newspaper magnate Conrad Black is throwing out his ideas on what the Canadian military should be looking like now, and down the road, via Postmedia News:  “…. The appropriate defence policy for Canada now would be to increase the forces by at least 75,000 (the Canadian Forces’ current strength is 67,000, plus 26,000 reservists) — a doubling of its size. Such a plan sounds radical, but in fact it would merely bring our per-capita spending up to the level of more militarily capable NATO countries. This increase in personnel could be deducted, directly or indirectly, from the ranks of the unemployed. Sensible use of these forces would confer greater stature on Canada than our recent failure to win a Security Council seat suggests we now enjoy. The most effective economic stimulus is advanced military-based research, and this should be pursued, especially in aerospace and shipbuilding. Stephen Harper is defence-friendly, and Peter Mackay is an excellent defence minister. They could sell such a program on economic grounds, as well as it being an indication of Canada assuming its rightful place in the world. I understand budgetary restraint, but constructive nationalism and economic largesse are not hard political, or in this case, policy, sells.”

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 12 Nov 10

• A recurring theme this time of year:  Time remains the real assassin as the number of World War 2 vets decline over time at Remembrance Day ceremonies. This from the Canadian Press:  “…. The Historica-Dominion Institute says the average age of Canada’s 125,000 remaining Second World War veterans is 88 years. They are passing away at a rate of 400 to 500 a week, meaning that in another five years or so, all but the hardiest of Canada’s 1.1 million Second World War vets will be gone….”
• Families of the fallen travel to Kandahar remember.
• Soldiers are getting a chance to say goodbye to their fallen colleagues in a way that may help the survivors heal. More on that from Postemedia News.
• “Your parents could be taken away by their job for just a weekend and it might seem like forever, but some kids may never see their folks again.  It’s a feeling 16-year-old Madeline Mills knows too well. She’s spent most of her teen years helping care for her younger siblings while her dad fought in Afghanistan. She doesn’t want attention for her challenge, but attention may soon surround her.  Madeline shared her story in a new documentary about Canadian children whose parents have seen combat in Afghanistan. The National Film Board of Canada marked Remembrance Day with the national simultaneous release of the film, Children of Soldiers ….”
• An interesting tidbit buried in this Globe & Mail piece, quoting military writer/publisher Scott Taylor:  “Only a “small sliver of the society is being impacted by the war in Afghanistan.” Most of the troops now are the sons and daughters of other soldiers, he said, explaining that 40 per cent of recruits either have one or both parents in the military ….” As others smarter than me have said, could this suggest Canadians’ support for the military is a mile wide and a millimeter deep?
• “Soldiers serving in Afghanistan were the first to receive the newly designed poppy coins on Remembrance Day. More than 3,000 troops stationed throughout Afghanistan were the first to receive the special 25-cent memento from the Royal Canadian Mint, each batch delivered in velvet pouches ….” More on the new coin here.
• Again witrh the “should Parliament decide Canada’s next mission in Afghanistan?” question, but this time, with an answer from the PM.  This from the Globe & Mail:  “My position is if you’re going to put troops into combat, into a war situation, I do think for the sake of legitimacy, I do think the government does require the support of Parliament,” he said. “But when we’re talking simply about technical or training missions, I think that is something the executive can do on its own.”
• So, is this a flip-flop on the Prime Minister’s part?  It sure is, according to Norman Spector writing at the Globe: “…. as the even the Prime Minister himself had to (very slightly) concede in the CTV interview, leaving any troops in any role in any region of Afghanistan would constitute a major shift in his position….”
• Further to the right on the media political scale, QMI/Sun Media columnist Michael den Tandt wonders: “What took the Harper government so long? Why all the strenuous denials, month after month, that such an outcome was even possible? Because it was always likely, if not inevitable, given the situation on the ground and Canada’s alliances, that we would keep an armed force of some kind in Afghanistan beyond July, 2011 ….”
• This, from former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier, on the prospect of Canadian troops training Afghan forces while avoiding combat:  “You can come up with all kinds of schemes to hide away in camp and train people for the Afghan army, but they lack credibility …. If you try to help train and develop the Afghan army … you are going to be in combat.” CBC.ca says this is a quote from a “recent” interview with Macleans.  The original Macleans article where this was quoted is from October 22, 2009 (more from Hillier here).  Also, a point I raised about a year ago (or “recently”, using the CBC clock/calendar):  if the Canadians train Afghan troops and don’t go out to fight with them, how long will the Taliban Info-machine take to start the “they come to help, and send you to die” message track?
• A new approach promised by Canada’s new Veterans Ombudsman – this, via CBC.ca:  “Canada’s new ombudsman for veterans affairs said Thursday he’ll try to keep “buoyant” the issues raised by his predecessor, Pat Stogran.  “Mr. Stogran has brought the issues to the surface,” Guy Parent said in an interview with the CBC News program Power and Politics.  “I think my responsibility is to keep them buoyant now and to make sure we separate the issues into ‘chunkable’ pieces and that we can provide specific recommendations based on the issues.”  But Parent, whose term began Thursday, made it clear he would be taking a different approach to the role than Stogran did.  “I would definitely say so,” he said, laughing, when asked if he and Stogran had different styles.  “Sometimes you accomplish much more through negotiations than you do by being vocal.” ….”
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Alleged Taliban Boss in Kandahar City Op Claims Taliban Rules the Night, “tried our best to completely end any civilians casualties on our part”.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 6 Nov 10

• Shortly after the Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting some ISAF soldiers in Helmand province (ISAF says they’re investigating an incident there, one account suggests it may have been an accident, while the Taliban claims – the statement on their Voice of Jihad (VOJ) page here, and a copy at a non-terrorist page here – an Afghan soldier killed three foreign troops and defected to the Taliban), the bad guys are claiming they did the same thing to some Canadians (VOJ version here, copy at non-terrorist page here):  “Reports from Shah Wali Kot district say that Wali Muhammad Aka, a 75 year old Mujahid and a resident of this districts Kajoor village opened fire with a Kalashnikov on Canadian invaders who were sitting around in the village yesterday at 12:00 pm and as a result 6 Canadian terrorists which includes a female invader were instantly killed before the brave Mujahid was Martyred (we ask Allah to grant him the highest ranks in Paradise) ….” As of this posting, there’s been NO mainstream media confirmation of the incident alleged by the Taliban’s web page report (it’s been carried by a Pakistani paper online, but the paper routinely cuts and pastes Taliban claims straight from VOJ, even giving a by-line to the appropriate Taliban spokespersons, as it does in this case).
• P.S.:  This is the first Taliban claim of responsibility for Canadian casualties since 19 Jun of this year.

MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – 4 Nov 10

• More from Postmedia News on Canada’s next ROTO of troops headed to Afghanistan from Valcartier, Quebec:  “At first they were smiling, holding hands or hugging each other. But as the roll call neared, tears started to flow, turning into uncontrollable sobbing. Families and friends bade farewell at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier Wednesday to 145 Quebec-based soldiers deployed to Afghanistan as part of the last combat rotation before the Canadian mission ends next summer ….” (More from the R22eR web page – en français – here.)
• Building on the “Do We Arm the Tribes/Militias?” debate, this, via the Canadian Press:  “The Canadian military says it would rather boost the number of police officers in Kandahar than use militias to protect locals. Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner says that while the Afghan Local Police initiative is still a possibility, recruiting more police officers is a better option.  The ALP is a controversial program launched this summer to provide weapons and training to villagers in the hopes they will defend themselves against insurgents. Milner, who heads the Canadian mission in Kandahar, says he will be deploying fresh resources to help increase the numbers and broaden the training of Afghan National Police officers …”
• CBC columnist/commentator Brian Stewart alleges Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s arm could be getting twisted soon (at an upcoming NATO meeting in Lisbon) in the hope that Canada will keep at least some troops in Afghanistan to train Afghan security forces: “…. the rumour is that NATO will badger Harper for as many as 400 trainers, to be based in Kabul and other areas away from direct combat. That number would still leave Canada with a significant role in the nearly decade-long conflict. But, politically, that kind of request would seem a safe political sell for the PM, as many Liberals, as well as many in Harper’s own caucus, are open to the idea of maintaining non-combat trainers after next summer. Harper, however, has not indicated in any way that he’ll consider changing his mind ….” My guess:  PM’ll still say “no”, with unnamed sources telling media, “where was NATO when Canada was fighting it out in Kandahar four years ago, asking for other NATO countries to help in the fight?”  More of my venting on this here, here and here.
• Blog Watch: Lookit what Mark Collins over at Unambiguously Ambidextrous has managed to dig up:  “I’ll bet you didn’t know about this American military contract for helicopter services to a Canadian company (will our major media notice?) ….” Good question.  Even more at defenceindustrydaily.com here and the U.S. Federal Business Opportunities page announcing the award here.
• According to QMI Media, “Canada’s outgoing veterans ombudsman says he has “no confidence” that the $2 billion dollars the Conservatives recently announced in new benefits will find its way into the pockets of injured vets. Pat Stogran told senators Wednesday that too many conditions are tied to the Tories’ proposals and numerous policies are not retro-active, so injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan won’t benefit.  “I’m concerned it is too piecemeal,” he said of the policy changes. Stogran pleaded with senators to massively reform the way the federal government treats former soldiers.  He said he has “no confidence” staff are briefing the minister in an (unbiased) way.  He told the Veterans Affairs subcommittee he is recommending 11 ways the government can “break the culture of denial and often poor treatment of our veterans and their families that is firmly entrenched in Veterans Affairs Canada and the Veterans Review and Appeals Board.” ….”
• Guess who Canadians surveyed by Abacus Data found scarier:  Child soldier-terrorist Omar Khadr or disgraced former military multi-killer-rapist Russell Williams? QMI Media tells you here.
• Remember Beverly Giesbrecht, a.k.a.Khadija Abdul Qahaar, the B.C. woman who was kidnapped in November 2008 while visiting Pakistan to share the Taliban’s story with the world via her web page (which no longer seems to be working – here’s a taste of the site via Archive.org, and the domain name should be coming up for sale early next year as it expires then)?  This, from the Indian Express:  “A woman journalist from Canada, who was abducted by militants in November 2008, has died following prolonged illness in the custody of the Taliban somewhere in northwest Pakistan or Afghanistan, sources said on Tuesday …. Khadija Abdul Qahar, 55, who was known as Beverly Giesbrecht before she converted to Islam, was abducted along with her translator Salman Khan and cook-cum-driver Zar Muhammad while travelling to Miranshah in the restive North Waziristan tribal region …. Salman Khan and Zar Muhammad were released after eight months of captivity due to efforts made by the head of a religious party.  Khan disclosed after his release that Qahar was suffering from hepatitis and was mentally prepared for death.  She was not very optimistic about her release, he had then said.”  (More from Postmedia News here, QMI/Sun Media here, the Georgia Straight here, with a bit of a timeline/commentary on the story at Army.ca here).
• Taliban Propaganda Watch: Taliban Claim Responsiblity for Allegedly Killing 5 “Intelligence Officer” in Kandahar – Meme o’ the moment – “minion”
• In Ontario, Conservative Member of the Legislature for Nepean-Carleton, Lisa MacLeod, is introducing a Private Member’s Bill today making Remembrance Day a statutory holiday across Ontario. According to QMI, Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec are the only provinces where it isn’t recognized as such.  Private Member’s Bills have a very, very small “pass through to Royal Assent” rate (more on this here – PDF from the Legislative Library of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario), but it might just get public debate going.

Have a great day!