Category: Afghanistan

As most of you already know, Canada’s calls for more troops from our NATO “allies” to reinforce the ISAF in Afghanistan have, so far, been met with nothing but a chorus of crickets. It’s disgusting in its moral cowardice.

The Americans can be excused, as can the British, being entangled in Iraq as they are. And let’s face it, the only time the French ever want someone to go to war is when the German army is busy knocking up mademoiselles left and right and buggering off with all the croisants, so you really can’t expect a damn thing from them. Speaking of Germans: historically, Krauts and Canucks on the same battlefield has been, shall we say, problematic (for the Germans); so they’re off the hook too.

But the deafening silence from other NATO nations, particularly some who owe their very freedom to the blood price paid by our courageous fighting men (yes Holland, I’m looking at YOU), just leaves me shaking my head. For God’s sakes, even the Polish are kicking in some more help.

So just what the hell are we going to do? That’s a no-brainer: we dig in our heels and keep on getting the damned job done ourselves. That’s right, we’re beefing up the Afghanistan deployment, with the first injection announced today:

The reinforcements include an infantry company from Quebec’s Royal 22nd Regiment, a squadron of Leopard tanks from Edmonton, some military engineers to bolster Canada’s provincial reconstruction team, and a special anti-mortar unit.

NATO/Europe wants to sit on their sorry arses and let us do the work yet again? Fine. Just don’t call us the next time Germany goes apeshit.

Here’s a little something that was found in Wednesday’s online edition of the Globe & Mail and written by Lewis MacKenzie, who could probably be accurately described as being the best Governor General Canada never had. Considered the most experienced peacekeeper in the world, Major-General (ret’d) Lewis MacKenzie encapsulates what being a leader truly is. He also has a bullshitometer permanently set on a hair trigger and isn’t afraid to sound off when some bonehead sets it off. Check it out:

The Afghan mission is not a failure
There’s ‘tradition’ and then there’s getting the job done, says retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie

LEWIS MACKENZIE

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

As the leader of a party that has little chance of governing the country, the NDP’s Jack Layton can accept the political risk of holding up a mirror to the government’s decisions and occasionally acting as our national conscience. On the subject of Canada’s role in Afghanistan, however, I fear he is dead wrong and am left to wonder if he is following the polls and playing domestic politics on the backs of our soldiers.

Mr. Layton says that he and the NDP support our soldiers but question the wisdom and achievability of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan. And, having said that, he goes on to say the mission is the wrong mission for Canada and is, at the very least, unclear. I can only assume Mr. Layton’s call for a withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2007, to pursue more traditional Canadian roles involving mediation and negotiation, is based on a widely held myth that we are better than the rest of the 192 nations in the United Nations at the dated concept of “peacekeeping.”

Peacekeeping between states that went to war and needed an excuse to stop fighting worked relatively well during the Cold War and Canada played a role in each and every mission. Mind you, at the height of our participation in UN missions during the 1970s and ’80s we had a maximum of 2,000 soldiers wearing the blue beret deployed abroad in places such as Cyprus and the Golan Heights. At the same time, we had 10,000 personnel serving with NATO on the Central Front in Germany, armed with nuclear weapons, ready and waiting for the Soviet hoards to attack across the East German border. Peacekeeping was a sideline activity. We did it well, along with others such as Sweden, India,

Norway, Brazil — but it was never even close to being our top priority.

The other Canadian myth that might have influenced Mr. Layton’s ill-timed call for our withdrawal is the oft-quoted description of Canada’s policies being “even-handed,” “neutral” or “impartial.” We never take a stand for fear of upsetting someone. But the facts surrounding even our exaggerated peacekeeping role explode this troubling myth. For example, in the approval process preceding the very first UN lightly armed peacekeeping mission — stick-handled by Lester Pearson through a hesitant Security Council in 1956 — Canada voted against the British and French and, by default, sided with Egypt. We took a stand.

To suggest, as Mr. Layton does, that we should pull out of the Afghan mission next year and return to our more “traditional” roles ignores one compelling fact. There will be no significant capability for any nation to carry out those “traditional” roles of nation-building in southern Afghanistan until those who are committed to stopping such undertakings are removed from the equation.

In other words, by leaving, we would be saying to the remaining 36 nations on the ground in Afghanistan, “Hey guys, this is getting pretty difficult. We have decided to leave and go home, but don’t worry, when the rest of you have put down this insurrection and things are peaceful, we will return and offer our vastly superior skills in putting countries back together. So please, call us as soon as the shooting stops — for good.”

For all those who, like Mr. Layton, say the mission is imprecise, unclear, without an exit strategy, etc., let me disagree and say that to a NATO military commander the mission is crystal clear.

It is to leave Afghanistan as quickly as humanly possible — having turned the security of the country over to competent Afghan military and police forces controlled in their efforts by a democratically elected national government. Sounds pretty clear to me.

(Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie was the first commander of United Nations peacekeeping forces in Sarajevo.)

“When the RAF flew over, the Germans ducked. When the Luftwaffe flew over, the Allies ducked. When the Yanks flew over, everybody ducked.” – often-repeated quip by soldiers in WWII

It’s an old, sick joke; probably better left forgotten. Nonetheless, it’s been clattering around in Canadian skulls like some malignant revenant, taunting us, for the past few days now.

In case you’re one of the four people that haven’t heard yet, our boys in Afghanistan were struck early Monday morning by yet another “friendly fire” airstrike by the Americans. The tally: 1 dead, over 30 wounded. And while it is tempting (damn tempting) to rail against the Gang Who Can’t Shoot Straight, there are a few things that we should keep in mind before getting our national panties in a bunch.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, the Canadian in charge of NATO forces in southern Afghanistan, made one good point:

“We do have procedures. We do have communications. We do have training and tactics and techniques and procedures to mitigate the risk, but we can’t reduce those risks to zero.”

No, you can’t. Combat is Murphy’s Law run amok. A day in the field is ten hours of trying to find the enemy and ten minutes wishing you hadn’t. Pick a cliche. They all have the same grain of truth to them: in battle, sometimes shit just happens.

But just how much coincidence are we prepared to accept? This latest incident brings the proportion of Canadian fatalities in Afghanistan due to American air to ground fire to nearly twenty percent. Of all Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, nearly one in five were killed by American FW aircraft. These are supposedly the most advanced combat aircraft the world has ever seen, with sophisticated friend-or-foe identification systems.

So what the hell keeps screwing up? Even our men in the field, who normally maintain a professionalism and discipline respected worldwide, are beginning to chafe at the American Air Farce’s apparent myopia:

“We should spray-paint a big circle around us, with an arrow that says ‘Not here, asshole,’ ” one soldier said, packing up his sleeping gear.

Soldiers go into combat expecting that some of them are going to die; it’s just part of the job. But when nearly a fifth of your fatalities are being inflicted by those who are supposed to be on your side, it begins to erode morale. You start feeling like George Patton… with a French division behind you.

You would think that, even at altitude, a pilot could be expected to tell the difference between Taliban and Canadians travelling with a bunch of armoured vehicles that the Taliban just don’t use. But perhaps there is a more disturbing question here. It’s this:

Those A10s didn’t just come from nowhere. Ground troops weren’t set to move in and begin the assault for over another 30 minutes. Who the hell called in the airstrike?

Damn. This makes twice in one day that I’ve been outdone. I must be getting old or something.

This time it was John Gleeson at the Winterpeg Sun who outdid me. I was thinking up a response to several emails I’ve gotten lately when I came across John’s article which pointed out, amongst other things:

The Afghanistan mission, exactly as it now stands, was a commitment made by successive Liberal governments. It’s not open to the kind of debate that’s raged for years about whether JFK would have escalated in Vietnam as his successor did — Harper was handed this file and his position of seeing it through is a mere continuation of the Liberal position.

There are those on both sides of the political spectrum who would like to spin it another way — either to depict Harper as more stalwart than the ethically shaky Grits or as a willing pawn of the Bush White House. Neither view, however, stands up to scrutiny. Harper’s motion to extend the mission by two years, which narrowly passed a Commons vote in May with only 30 Liberal MPs onside, was inevitable, given the Liberals’ stepped-up commitment last year.

The full article, which you can see here, is definitely worth the read. It both asks hard questions and states blunt truths, even if I don’t agree with his final conclusion. Check it out and see for yourselves.

I have to admit it, this isn’t something that I thought I’d be writing about. I probably should have expected it sooner or later though, given the nature of today’s menagerie of wee technological beasties. Even worse, I’m not sure what my opinion on this is (which is definitely a strange land for me to be in). What’s got me so befuddled, you’re wondering.

Numerous media sources (starting, it seems, with the TO Sun) are in something of an uproar about some home videos made by some of our soldiers in Afghanistan that have ended up on the net. I’m not sure if I should be posting this in the “Stupidity” category or not. Here’s why:

I’m of two minds on this one; really. On the one hand, as the old saying goes, loose lips sink ships. On the other, the Canadian public seems to be in dire need of a severe wakeup call as to just what soldiers really do. We’ve had our collective heads nestled so far up our national backside for so long now that is seems that we have no idea what a soldier’s job really is.

I’ve been going over the footage at youtube.com (yes, that’s where it is and no, I dont feel like a loose-lipped bugger; it’s already out there) and it seems like it could be educational to a great many. Our boys are conducting themselves in a manner that would make any soldier proud.

And, in my opinion, should make us proud, too.

So take a look at it, make up your own mind, and let us know what you think. Comments to follow, I’m sure.

UPDATE:
Okay, kids. After numerous emails and a comment or two, I’ve decided to post links to the vids in question so people can make up their own minds. Like I said before, this stuff has been out there for some time now so I don’t feel like I’m giving away anything the rest of the world doesn’t already know. Here are the links (I still can’t get the embedded video to work without totally buggering up the layout of the site):

1. An undated forefight in Afghanistan
2. A short vid of pre-deployment training (the soldiers in Canadian uniform are training for Afghanistan deplpoyment, the men with the ski masks and AK-47’s are also Canadian soldiers attempting to simulate the conditions in Afghanistan.)
3. A firefight from July 8, 2006 (Troops from Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, “Red Devils” from Edmonton, Canada engage in a fierce firefight with Taliban insurgents on July 8, 2006 in Panjawi, Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan.)
4. A July 13, 2006 dawn raid on a Taliban compound ( Troops from Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, “Red Devils” from Edmonton, Canada conduct a dawn raid on a Taliban compound on July 13, 2006 in Hydarabad, Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.)
5. Canadian soldiers being ambushed on July 15, 2006 ( Troops from Alpha Company, 2nd Platoon, “Red Devils” from Edmonton, Canada are ambushed as they conducted battle damage assessment in the village on July 15, 2006 in Sangin, Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. Also known as the “I can’t believe that guy’s not dead” video.)
6. Four part video of an undated firefight ( Operation ZAHAR, joint Afghan National Army/ Coalition Forces security operation to remove Taliban forces from the Zjarey District 25km West Kandahar, Afghanistan.)
7. More footage from Operation ZAHAR
   
8. A two part video, also undated
   
9. There’s also a few user compilations and some rather moving tribute videos, along with a few “support our troops” vids.

Well, there they are. This is just a sampling of what I was able to fine in only one site. There’s a lot more out there. The question is: is footage like this a help or a hinderance? I haven’t had time to look at them all yet, but I haven’t found anything of any real tactical value to the enemy yet. So what do the rest of you think? Comments to follow, I’m sure.

Everybody’s favourite moving target, Osama bin Hidin’, hacked up his latest hairball and boy, was it a doozy. I don’t know whether to file this in the humour section or not.

In the newly released audio tape, the world’s most well known compulsory spelunker fawningly praised the Baghdad Beheader, the Zarkster, calling him everything from “one of our greatest knights and princes,” to “a symbol for our great Islamic nations,” to “an absolutely fabulous chap with a magnificent little bum.”

His burblings continue with the tired old threat to Western nations that “We will continue to fight you and your allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan to run down your resources and kill your men until you return defeated to your nation,” etc, etc, bibbity, bobbity, bullshit.

Dear Binky:

On behalf of the loyal Canadian soldiers of Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second (by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith), serving in Afghanistan, please allow me to extend to you this most sincere and heartfelt invitation:

Having heard of your earnest desire to make our acquaintance, we feel obligated, as servants of a tolerant and accommodating nation (a reputation which we humbly submit is well earned on our part), to assist you in this endeavour in any and all ways at our disposal.

As you are no doubt aware, we have been in Afghanistan for some time now and, we give you our word on this, we have been eagerly looking forward to making your acquaintance as well but, sadly (and we must confess to great embarrassment on our part over this unpardonable oversight, which we are certain is no fault of yours), we seem to have lost your address. Do forgive us. But we are certain that such a benevolent fellow as yourself can easily bear in mind how very busy we have been and excuse such a minor oversight.

Please inform us as to your whereabouts (this can be done with little trouble on your part, via such simple means as a note passed to any Coalition soldier that you may happen to bump into) and we give you our word as soldiers that we will arrange the introduction that you desire with all haste.

No, no need for you to come to us; we understand how extremely busy you must be and the dreadful constraints which that must place upon your valuable time. Just sit back, relax, enjoy the stalactites (or stalagmites, if that be your preference), and we will gladly take care of all the bothersome little logistic details of promptly arriving (we promise not to be tardy) to introduce ourselves in a proper manner before blowing your sorry arse to confetti.

We await your response with great eagerness and anticipation.

Sincerely,

• 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
• 2nd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
• 1 Combat Engineer Regiment
• 1 Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
• 12 Regiment Blinde du Canada
• 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron

PS – No need to supply refreshments. Time and distance permitting, we will bring coffee and timbits. We promise.