From Cork to Toronto

The Irish Minister of Defence, having announced a commitment of 350 troops to Chad, now wants the UN to tell him they'll be safe . I'm hoping that what he means by that is that the troops will have sufficiently robust Rules of Engagement and that when he meets the Sudanese Foreign Minister he will receive assurances that the latter's visiting oil workers (and alumni of the People's Liberation Army) will stay near to their rigs rather than freelancing with the Janjaweed.

Apparently the families of Martin Peake and Karen Reilly who were shot by then-Private Clegg at a west Belfast checkpoint in 1990 don't want him posted to Afghanistan . Convictions for murder and attempted wounding were set aside in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Mark Thompson, from Relatives for Justice declared: "It is an insult to have people like him there. Those countries need to establish their own legislative framework and at the head of that needs to be human rights. "It is a contradiction to send people like him." Well, his current post is as a combat medic, no-one said he was going to re-write their constitution or give lessons to their armed response squad. On the other hand, I bet the guys who drive the first truck down IED Alley wouldn't mind if now-Sergeant Clegg took those duties off their hands.

There are certain similarities between the civilian emergency services and the military, not least that they tend to be as much vocations as jobs, rarely overpaid or undertasked and in our heart of hearts those of us who aren't members of either find it hard to see what the attraction is, at least to the point of signing up for a contract. It's not altogether surprising then that members of Toronto's Fire and Emergency Medical Services organised the placing of "support the troops" decals on their vehicles. That the Canadian Forces are involved in a harder task than at any time since Korea is surely undebatable. Yet there is a cohort of people in Toronto and Canada generally that oppose the war - fair enough - but target the Forces in doing so. The Forces, as I have noted previously, are politically directed. It is in my opinion perfectly logically coherent to wear a yellow ribbon while holding a sign calling for an end to the Afghan deployment - although those...

I had heard that some Quebec activists opposed to the Canadian Forces deployment in Afghanistan had been writing letters to soldiers near CFB Valcartier to dissuade them from following their orders to deploy.   What I didn't know until today was that to do this is a breach of Section 62 of the Criminal Code  which is an offense with a tariff of up to five years imprisonment on indictment (or 14 years if charged as Sedition under section 61 or Incitement to Mutiny under section 53) - although I doubt any convictions here would attract more than trivial punishment since combat is not occurring on Canadian soil, in the unlikely event that prosecutions were even brought.

The Irish Defence Forces are just completing what had until then been a highly successful three and a half year UN deployment to assist with the stabilisation of Liberia which included the escort of Charles Taylor to his expulsion to Sierra Leone's UN international tribunal. During the deployment Ranger Sergeant Derek Mooney was killed in a road accident near Monrovia. It is appalling that a couple of clowns have marred the image of the Defence Forces by uploading to Youtube a video showing them pointing weapons at local civilians in acts of horseplay . It's not like idiots in other armies haven't done similar things in the past and the soldiers superiors should also take some blame in failing to sufficiently impress on their subordinates the damage such videos can do.

I have been following the story of Tul Bahadur Pun VC over the past week or so, and how he was refused entry to the UK for medical treatment by some bureaucrat peon. Andrew Stuttaford quotes Kipling , but not " Tommy ", a usual source of outrage in the face of abandoned Service personnel. Instead it was a poem I was not familiar with, " the Last of the Light Brigade ", a riposte to Tennyson's " Charge of the Light Brigade ". The brief excerpt made me seek out the full text . UPDATE: Labour has caved, Pun has been granted a settlement visa .

Rick has posted on his blog a long write-up about his trip which he made with the Chief of Defence Staff and several entertainers to Kandahar and the various Forward Operating Bases, including how he ended up going in the first place: Gen. Hillier is a very persuasive man. He is also a Newfoundlander. And while he is the chief of the Canadian Forces it has been suggested that he might think he is the chief of all Newfoundlanders. He'll call you up and suggest to you that on Dec. 25 there is only one place you should be and it's so special that by agreeing to go there you render your life insurance null and void. You aren't asked so much as you are voluntold.

When I'm away for a weekend to relax, I hate getting roped into activities I don't feel like doing. I call it "compulsory fun", an obvious oxymoron. The same goes for enforcing patriotism or support of things like the military. I really hope what I've written about below plays out very differently. I don't know Jacques Beaulieu, the coach of the Quebec Major Junior league Saint John Seadogs but I can safely predict his name being mud on websites like rabble.ca and on various left leaning websites before the night is down, because he fired winger Dave Bouchard, a 20 year old left wing, for failing to sign a flag being sent to a Canadian Forces detachment in Afghanistan . Said M. Beaulieu: "Morally, we have standards with this hockey team and that's a standard that we believe in." "I mean, if Dave doesn't believe in it, that's fine. But he won't be part of it. He won't be part of this organization. That's the standard...

Britain is one of the countries that maintains a nuclear deterrent at present. Since the RAF's final withdrawal of air launched nuclear weapons in 1998, it is wholly composed of four Vanguard class submarines , built between 1993 and 1999, at least one of which remains at sea at all times. (Having four maintains redundancy for maintenance etc.) On board those submarines are up to 16 Trident II D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying multiple independent warheads . When Tony Blair looked likely to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom there was a certain anticipation of a move to scrap Trident before the 2018 missile life expiry and 2020 submarine life expiry (if not refitted) given his past as a CND supporter. Not only has he maintained the deterrent force but has proposed to extend its life to 2040 by joining the US D5 Life Extension Programme . This I find surprising and probably unwise. In the past I could see reasons why foreign policy options might cau...

Hansard, November 27 Hon. Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough—Agincourt, Lib.): next intervention Mr. Speaker, I realize how difficult this must be for the minister. Just today we had two soldiers killed in Afghanistan and tomorrow or the next day their remains will be brought home, draped in a Canadian flag and a nation will be very thankful of the work that they were doing in that part of the world, not a nation of nations, but a nation. I am sure that the minister will join me in recognizing that we are paying respect to them as a nation for the work that they are doing in fighting for human rights, justice and peace around the world. I am wondering what we tell the parents of the two soldiers who are coming back. Do we say that this is a nation which is grateful to your sons and daughters or is this a nation of nations which is respectful to your sons and daughters? I am wondering if the minister will share with us the exact expression that he is going to use when he meets those t...

Not content with having their harvest festival at a stupid time of year, the Americans have... oh let's just let Barbara Mair tell her story from today's Star letters page : In August 2006, my nephew left his wife and 5-year-old daughter for a 6-month tour of duty in Afghanistan. He, like so many other Canadian military personnel, did this for love of his country and to fight for freedom that too many of us take for granted. On Oct. 9, 2006, our family sat down to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We talked about Afghanistan and wondered if those stationed there would be able to enjoy a similar meal. Later we found out that because the food service at the Kandahar base is run by the American military, they did not observe our Canadian holiday. Being the passive Canadian family, we thought Thanksgiving would be observed on the American holiday, Nov. 23 and didn't voice our disappointment at the time. Can you imagine the shock and disappointment that our troops felt yester...

Don gave his usual "up the troops" spiff with photos from the troops. Fair enough, that's his usual. But he also devoted a large portion of his slot to every Canadian killed in Afghanistan since 2002, in chronological order , including Foreign Affairs civilian Glyn Berry. The difference between Cherry and the reflex support-Canada-at-war-coz-liberals-hate-the-army types is that I truly believe that these deaths deeply affect him. I don't think the fatalities affect a lot of politicians on all sides as much as they should. I understand Adrienne Clarkson is held in very high regard by former service members for her regard for the soldiers of which she was Commander in Chief. So, in answer to Robert McClelland's question , I'll pick hero for Cherry. If he asked the same question about Peter McKay and Gordon O'Connor I'd probably pick use less fool. The other thing I noticed about the game tonight was that because they sandwiched in the Hall of Fame...

"I make this simple request to the Afghan people: Reach out and grab on to the help we offer to you in good faith. Together, and only together, can we succeed," she said. Angela Reid, mother of Corporal Christopher Reid who was killed by a roadside bomb, speaking at his funeral in Truro, Nova Scotia. [ CBC video report - Realplayer ]

Security Council Resolution 1701 section 12: Acting in support of a request from the government of Lebanon to deploy an international force to assist it to exercise its authority throughout the territory, authorizes Unifil to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilised for hostile activities of any kind, to resist attempts by forceful means to prevent it from discharging its duties under the mandate of the Security Council , and to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, and, without prejudice to the responsibility of the government of Lebanon, to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence; What a pity it has taken several invasions of Lebanon to get these words which most people probably thought a UN force would have had befor...

The Secretary of State for External Affairs of Canada requests, in the name of Her Majesty the Queen, all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may necessary. This La Presse article ( Google Translate ) has caused a certain amount of stir in the blogosphere. On Vues d'ici, a blog I recently started reading regularly for its perceptive commentary especially with respect to equalisation, a post lambasted the report that permanent residents of Canada were to be denied evacuation by the Government of Canada's relief effort. The writer noted that her husband, a British permanent resident, could be stuck in Lebanon while she was evacuated. James Bow proceeded to make a similar point on his blog, having previously detailed the grief his wife got while becoming a permanent resident in the first place. There's only one problem - the La Presse article indicates (twice) that a...

Massive operations are currently underway to extract thousands of foreign citizens from Lebanon as Israel continues operations against anything they left standing from the previous week. The screeching from Montreal regarding a perceived failure of the Canadian Government to extract citizens with sufficient speed is getting really annoying, not because of the families concern (absolutely valid) but because the media makes no effort to make clear the differential difficulty Canada faces in comparison to other involved nations, instead having fun by taking Peter McKay to the woodshed as Peter Mansbridge did the other night. They also in the main leave the impression that every country is having an easy time getting their people out, when it's not true ( Detroit Free Press ) ( The Guardian ) and the CBC did report from Cyprus last night that the French had to leave 300 on the quayside because their time window to get the ship away unharmed ran out and once they got to Larnaca Port th...

With the advent of the Tories back to Federal government, one of the guns expected to be turned on supposed bastions of Liberalism within that organisation was thought to be aimed at the CBC. Private broadcasting can do just as well, we're told. Well, if you thought so too, today's evening news might give you pause. These were taken from various broadcasts from 7pm EST onwards in different timezones (courtesy of my digital cable box) Global top story - painted Canadians waving flags celebrating the victory of another country in a soccer match CityNews top story - painted Canadians waving flags celebrating the victory of another country in a soccer match CTV News top story - painted Canadians waving flags celebrating the victory of another country in a soccer match, second story about the discovery of a "kitten mill" CBC News top story - the death of Corporal Anthony Joseph Boneca in Afghanistan . Of course, this display of priorities, while appealing to those who ac...

Apparently there's a reason the media, camped on the road outside by order of the Prime Minister's Office , had such a good view of the return of deceased Canadian Forces personnel from Afghanistan as they did. Some of their colleagues stationed at CFB Trenton moved equipment that would have otherwise blocked the view . Meanwhile the Ontario Provincial Police provided traffic control. Harper failed the "Trenton test" - the CF and the OPP passed with flying colours. Meanwhile Lt-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the new Chief of the Army , had a very impressive interview with Craig Oliver on CTV this morning. Answering Oliver's quotations from a London thinktank with "when I was in Kabul" and "when the Croatians were coming at me with main battle tanks" showed this still relatively young officer has seen enough to know the challenges his subordinates will face executing the tasks Canada will expect in the next few years. Particularly tricky is the question of...

Apparently the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence are finalising their procurement requests for Cabinet . Procurement is a vexed subject in Canada as orders are made and then cancelled (Chretien and the EH-101), or equipment sold that it turns out we're now borrowing from others (Mulroney sold CF Chinooks to the Dutch, who are currently providing airlift to Canadian Forces in Afghanistan with the same aircraft). There seems to be a political consensus now that having the Canadian Forces abroad is a good thing, although there is some dispute about where they should be - the NDP and Lloyd Axworthy wants them in Darfur (where they're not wanted by the Sudanese government) and the Tories and the Ignatieff wing of the Liberals want them in Afghanistan (where they're not wanted by western college students and by the Talibs - though apparently not all of the latter ). In any case, Rick Mercer put it best when he said "if you want people to leave the best...

The left of centre blogosphere is apoplectic at the success of the Harper snap vote on the Afghan mission extension, not least because Harper approached and shook hands with Ignatieff after the vote - I can't understand the bile heaped on Ignatieff on that point, was he supposed to not shake Harper's hand? How petulant would that have looked? The true failure of the Liberals was not Ignatieff's, after all he was one of the few that voted with their interim leader (and Minister of Defence during the Kandahar deployment approval). He also at least showed up, unlike Paul Martin, Ralph Goodale, John Godfrey, Irwin Cotler and others who failed to represent their constituents either way. The real failure was Graham's, who as leader had a choice - vote for the deployment as a caucus or against. The vote against could have been premised with a plan agreed with BQ and NDP to strike a committee (they have the votes after all) to examine the existing deployment and recommend o...