WE KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. CANADIAN GROUND FORCES HAVE ENGAGED ISIS IN IRAQ. WE SHOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT PRIME MINISTER HARPER THINKS CANADIANS CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH — HE LIES TO PARLIAMENT AND THUS DISRESPECTS EVERYONE. If Canadians want their government to deploy (Special Forces) ground troops that may face attack, regardless of their stated mission (e.g., guiding air strikes, training Iraqi forces, etc.), then that should be made clear to everyone in parliament so they understand the commitment and possible repercussions. To say that special forces were only guiding air strikes to avoid civilian casualties, and had to defend themselves, is to misrepresent the facts. If ground troops are able to be attacked, and must defend themselves, then they are in harms way and actively engaging the enemy. Regardless of what one might like to call it. Prime Minister Harper and his Conservatives may think theyre protecting themselves from inconvenient scrutiny or protecting Canadians from undue concern. Both explanations are unacceptable. Presumably we still live in a representative democracy; politicians should represent the views of the people not act in secret on behalf of the people. Politicians must understand that Canadians may be targeted at home or abroad for the acts of their government and its forces. Canadians should not be ignorant of those acts. Whether we agree or disagree with the policies enacted by this government, unless its is deserving of top secret status, we all deserve to know what the Canadian government is doing on our behalf. — Kevin Davies, January 21, 2015. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Article Excerpt | Adrian Wyld, The Canadian Press, Jan 19, 2015. Opposition parties are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of misleading Parliament and Canadians about Canada’s mission in Iraq, after it was revealed that our troops were recently involved in a firefight with Islamic State militants. Canadian soldiers are not accompanying the Iraqi forces into combat, Harper had said on Sept. 30. But senior military officials revealed on Monday that Canadian special operations forces came under ISIS attack over the last week and returned fire to “neutralize” the threat. “Now that we know Canadian soldiers are involved in combat in Iraq, (the government is) trying to say they might be involved in combat, but it’s still not a combat mission,” NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told reporters Tuesday in Toronto. Mulcair later told CTV News Channel that he asked Harper “very specific” questions in the House of Commons last fall as Parliament debated Canada’s involvement in the fight against ISIS. Each time, the prime minister answered that Canadians would not be engaging in ground combat, Mulcair said. Brig.-Gen. Michael Rouleau said the special ops had just completed a planning session with Iraqi forces several kilometres behind the front lines when they came under mortar and machine-gun fire. “This is the first time that this has happened since our arrival and our reaction is wholly consistent with the inherent right of self-defence,” he said of the roughly 69 special ops deployed to Iraq in an advisory and training role. Rouleau also said that Canadians are “enabling airstrikes from the ground,” by actively finding targets with lasers for jets flying overhead. But he said that does not mean Canadian ground troops are in a combat role. “This is very much within the advise-and-assist regime,” Rouleau said. “We have the ability to help make the process involving the delivery of coalition aircraft kinetic effects better, safer, faster. We have those capabilities on the ground. We’re assisting Iraqi security forces who own the combat mission against ISIS.” However, Gen. Tom Lawson, chief of the defence staff, told CTV’s Question Period last October that Canadian special ops would not be on the ground, guiding air strikes with lasers. This is what he told Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife: Lawson: “For our air crews to be more effective, they need to be guided to targets by those who are on the ground and that’s something that will more and more come into force in coming months.” Fife: “OK, so we’re going to have these people on the ground pinpointing but it wouldn’t be Canadians, right? Because that would sort of end up being a semi-combat role?” Lawson: “That’s right.” On Tuesday, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson told CTV News that special forces were only guiding air strikes to avoid civilian casualties, and had to defend themselves. “With respect to the firefights, these are Canadian soldiers who were fired upon,” he said. “And no matter where you are in the world, if you fire on Canadian soldiers, we will defend ourselves.” ‘COMBAT IS COMBAT’ Mulcair told CTV’s Power Play Tuesday that “training is training” and “combat is combat.” The Conservative government insists that Canadian troops are not getting involved in ground combat and that they simply had to defend themselves. Retired Col. George Petrolekas, a former senior NATO advisor, told Power Play Tuesday that the facts, as they were presented by military officials on Monday, “don’t lend themselves to an interpretation of combat.” Petrolekas said using lasers to point out ISIS targets is “enabling the air function but it’s not actually involved in ground combat. “The reaction by political leaders and some academics and other commentators have to be taken in the context of the fact that we’re in an election year so everything is politicized,” he said. Defence Minister Rob Nicholson told CTV News that Canada will be providing more “non-lethal” assistance to Iraqi troops by sending 6,000 pieces of surplus winter equipment, such as coats, pants and boots. ARTICLE: Harper misled Parliament on Canadas mission in Iraq: Opposition (Jan 19, 2105). ctvnews.ca/canada/harper-misled-parliament-on-canada-s-mission-in-iraq-opposition-1.2197416
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:24:35 +0000
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