Our Forces need more muscle
Graham: 5,000 new troops to bolster ability to fight overseas
Mike Blanchfield, The Ottawa Citizen, Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Canadians should prepare for a meaner, tougher version of the peacekeeper because almost all of the promised 5,000 new personnel for the Armed Forces will go to the army as Canada moves to double its foreign fighting force, Defence Minister Bill Graham says.
"The nature of peacekeeping itself has changed," he said yesterday in a year-end interview.
"You have to fight your way in. You're going to have to go into a situation where you're going to have to fight to establish stability first and then you're going to have to bring democracy, and institution building and humanitarian aid."
That characterization is squarely at odds with the kinder, gentler peacekeeper image that Prime Minister Paul Martin put forth last year when he promised the additional troops during the federal election campaign.
"What we've got to do is give (the Armed Forces) more muscle," Mr. Graham said. "The vast majority (of new recruits) would go towards the army, but not 100 per cent." The navy and air force would see limited personnel increases, he added.
Canada will return to Kandahar next year and will likely work with the French on a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan's volatile south. Mr. Graham announced he would travel to Kabul next month to consult with Canadian soldiers stationed there as part of the NATO protection force for Afghanistan.
As the Canadian Forces nears completion of its defence review, Mr. Graham said the new realities of fighting terrorism and other unconventional threats has rendered obsolete the familiar perception of Canadian peacekeepers "patrolling a line" in less-threatening locales such as Cypress or the Suez.
Mr. Graham said he believes Canadians realize the world has changed and will accept more of their soldiers, in greater numbers, operating in harsher conditions on foreign soil.
He said he'd be ready to present his defence review to Parliament before the House of Commons reconvenes in early February.
The defence review is part of Mr. Martin's broader foreign policy review, which included his campaign promise of 5,000 additional full-time personnel for the Forces. At the time, Mr. Martin predicted the new troops could be dedicated to a new peacekeeping brigade.
But Mr. Graham made clear the additional troops -- which he conceded would take years to recruit and train -- would bolster existing units, such as the JTF-2 elite special forces commandos.
Mr. Graham said the army currently has the capacity to sustain two groups of 1,200 troops abroad at any given time, in addition to another 800 to 1,000 support troops.
"If we add the 5,000 we should be able to ... almost double that," he said. "So we could keep a substantial large number of troops abroad for a sustained period of time."
Canada has scaled back its record number of 4,000-plus foreign troops, including the 2,000 soldiers it had in Afghanistan until the end of last summer. Canada now has 700 soldiers in Kabul as part of the NATO-led force. Mr. Graham would not say whether all the additional troops would end up in Afghanistan.
But the landlocked Central Asian country -- whose former Taliban rulers hosted al-Qaeda terrorists while they plotted the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- is now the focus of Canada's foreign military efforts for the foreseeable future.
Canada ended its 13-year commitment to the Balkans this year and maintains about 80 officers with the new European Union force there.
Mr. Graham met last week with Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the chief of the French defence staff, and the two agreed that it would make sense for Canada to team up with French forces in southern Afghanistan next year.
Kandahar was the birthplace of the Taliban, and remains a hotbed of resistance to the international efforts to bring stability to the country.
Canadian troops spent six months in Kandahar in 2002 working with American commandos. They took part in search and destroy missions that targeted al-Qaeda and Taliban remnants and their snipers excelled at killing enemy combatants.
Gen. Bentegeat told Mr. Graham that Canada's expertise in the French language and the long historical military links between the two countries would make a Kandahar mission a natural fit.
"While it's a complicated and tough area, it's one where you're in good company and guys you can work with well," Mr. Graham explained.
"There are other areas of Afghanistan where maybe the threat isn't as big but you'd be exposed and alone. When you're analysing the threat, it seems you have to look at more than, is it a tricky place? You've got to look at who you are going to be there with."
During his trip to Kabul next month, Mr. Graham said he wants to hear "what's going on in Kabul and how can we translate that success in Kandahar."
Canadian soldiers have already proven they can earn the trust of people in Afghanistan, but the public better not forget they're capable of using force when necessary, he said.
"I think where they're good is they're willing to walk down the street, they've got a machine-gun, and they don't open up every time a cat walks in front of them," Mr. Graham said. "They actually work with the local population to create a situation of stability."
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On the web for seven-day subscribers: 'A complex array of defence and security challenges.' Read Bill Graham's first speech after being named defence minister.
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