Op IMPACT: CAF in the Iraq & Syria crisis

[Eye In The Sky]

For some reason that now eludes my memory, after reading the...I am hesitant to say "article"...I let myself continue to the reader comments.    :facepalm:

 

[Eye In The Sky]

And reading that, does this mean the Griffons will be under adult leadership?

As it would be under the current commander of the ATF; a TacHel type.

Personally, I sometimes wonder why all this info is so available open-source but...

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1020939

•Following a ceremony on October 19, 2015, at Camp Patrice Vincent in Kuwait, Colonel Shayne Elder assumed command of Air Task Force-Iraq (ATF-I) from Colonel Sean Boyle.
•Before joining the CAF in 2011, Colonel Elder had a distinguished career as a tactical helicopter pilot with the Australian Army and retired after 26 years of service at the rank of brigadier.

 

[SupersonicMax]

And between the two choices, I'd rather have the first instead of the second.  It's harder to stir up outrage when the message is "look at all the checks and balances we need to use our weapons."

We should refrain from discussing this further...

 

[Good2Golf]

Advice passed.

 

[SupersonicMax]

So Max, later on in your career you will look back on your interaction here and (hopefully) draw the conclusion that as a young fighter jock, you would sometimes lose the wrestle between your ego wanting everyone to know how much you know and your sense of discretion, which hopefully will get stronger as the years past.

This wasn't the point of the post...  But I will edit. Thank you.

 

[The Bread Guy]

And between the two choices, I'd rather have the first instead of the second. 

Agreed.

It's harder to stir up outrage when the message is "look at all the checks and balances we need to use our weapons."

Which is why the story angle is "why is it soooooooooooooo complicated and hard to read?"

 

[Eye In The Sky]

From the RCAF Facebook page:  video on link

Article Link

"The Aurora is an incredible asset. The sensor package allows us to locate ISIL in the battlespace." (Colonel Shayne Elder, Commander of Air Task Force-Iraq)

The Air Task Force-Iraq mission transition parade was held in Kuwait on March 5, 2016.

CP-140 Aurora aircraft continue to conduct aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions in support of coalition air operations during Operation IMPACT.

More info on the CP-140 Aurora: http://bit.ly/XG7hZm

 

[Old Sweat]

The Globe and Mail, in this story reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act, reports that Canadian troops in Iraq can "shoot first."

Canadian soldiers can shoot first against Islamic State threats: General

STEVEN CHASE
OTTAWA — The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2016 11:48AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 08, 2016 11:53AM EST

Canadian soldiers are allowed to shoot first in Iraq to ward off a potential Islamic State threat, MPs were told Tuesday as the House of Commons prepares to vote on the Trudeau government’s enlarged and more dangerous ground deployment there.

These rules of engagement are fuelling more controversy among critics who argue this operation does not sound like the “non-combat” role pledged by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Liberals, who made a campaign promise to “withdraw from a combat role” in Iraq, are determined to frame the enlarged commitment of 220 special forces soldiers as a “non-combat” mission.

General Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, was asked Tuesday to explain what rules Canada’s elite troops are operating under in Iraq.

These soldiers are providing leadership to Kurdish Peshmerga fighters battling Islamic State forces and this includes spending time on the front lines with troops.

Canadian soldiers will also be authorized to call down air strikes by sending location information to the U.S.-led air campaign, which commands the skies over Iraq.

“The rules of engagement allow Canadian Forces to defend themselves, [to] anticipate their defence so that they can engage a hostile act or ... intent before it materializes,” Gen. Vance told the Commons defence committee.

“In other words … we can anticipate to protect ourselves.”

The Liberal-dominated House of Commons is set to vote Tuesday afternoon on the revised commitment to the fight against Islamic State. The government holds a clear majority, and the vote approving the mission is expected to easily pass.

The government has withdrawn CF-18 fighters from the aerial war against the jihadists and expanded Canada’s ground commitment.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Via CBC.ca:

The Liberal government's motion to adopt Canada's refocused mission against ISIS passed a House of Commons vote today by a margin of 178-147.

The NDP and the Conservative parties voted against the motion in a poll that saw former prime minister Stephen Harper among the first MPs to cast a nay vote ...

 

[McG]

Lee Berthiaume has a new article on our continued contribution.  We are going to train a Kurd SOF Bn or a conventional Kurd Bn or maybe both.  I am not sure.  The article states SOF Bn and then provides qoutes that describe something more of a conventional force ... but I think both comments refenrece the same thing.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/national/canadian+military+train+kurdish+special+forces+battalion+general/11768859/story.html

... and we will also be training Kurdish civilians to rotate into combat.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Via CBC.ca:

I see the CBC still hasn't been able to shed its "screw Stephen harper every time you can" attitude.

As if he was the one deciding when he is going to cast his vote in Parliament: Votes are called either by alphabetical order of ridings, which means as MP for Calgary Heritage, Harper would be the seventh to cast a vote in any events, or the more usual way, they are called in order of seat position, back row farthest from the President  to front row closest to the president on the Government side first (usually all "yeahs" for a Government motion), then on to the opposition side, again back row furthest from the president to front row closest to him/her. Since Harper sits in the back row and far from the president, he obviously would be amongst the first "nay" voters, by necessity.

So question: What was the point of even bothering to report such an insignificant fact, other than to make Mr. Harper look bad?

 

[jollyjacktar]

So question: What was the point of even bothering to report such an insignificant fact, other than to make Mr. Harper look bad?

For the same reason I like to get some folks goats about the Liberals, just for the sheer enjoyment of it all...

 

[The Bread Guy]

... So question: What was the point of even bothering to report such an insignificant fact, other than to make Mr. Harper look bad?

I'm about as cynical about some news coverage as you and many here are, but I don't see as much a dig as a "lookit what the former PM's doing in this vote" - he's an important, prominent person that still draws attention.  If he wasn't deciding when he was going to vote, you add "peculiarity" or "unusualness" to the story - what are the odds?

BTW, thanks for the education re:  how MP's vote.

 

[Journeyman]

So question: What was the point of even bothering to report such an insignificant fact, other than to make Mr. Harper look bad?

If they were a credible Canadian news source, they may have reported how Rona Ambrose and even Tom Mulcair voted.

If they were a shill for the Liberal Party they may have reported ....well, exactly as they did.


Does anyone honestly have different expectations of the CBC?  No crisis, just weight their 'journalism' accordingly, and move on.

 

[McG]

More details on the evolving Iraq mission are out.  Looks like there will be something similar to the SAT (from early in our Afghan mission) or the MAG (from the end of our Afghan mission) to work with security ministries in Baghdad, some senior pers plugged into a US intelligence organization, helicopters (already announced) and more SOF (already announced).  If any conventional force guys were hoping to get in on a training mission, it reads like that is not in the cards.

Canadian general to command coalition team working with Iraqi security before ISIL battle
Matthew Fisher
National Post
14 Mar 2016

Canadian Brigadier-General David Anderson is to command a coalition team — including as many as 12 other Canadians — that is to work with Iraq’s security ministries in Baghdad as they prepare battle plans for the long-anticipated offensive to drive the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant out of Mosul and northwestern Iraq.

Lt.-Gen. Steve Bowes — who commands all Canadian troops on operations at home and abroad — revealed the key appointment, during an interview with the National Post, in which he discussed details of what Canada’s new mission in Iraq and the region will look like when it becomes operational in July.

Anderson’s name was later confirmed to the Post by Commander Nathalie Garcia.

Anderson served with the infantry in Afghanistan before commanding an army brigade in western Canada. He is to be responsible for ensuring that “the lines of communication and the intents and actions fire both ways,” said Bowes, who runs Canadian Joint Operations Command.

Four RCAF Griffon helicopters being sent to Iraq are to be deployed exclusively with elite Canadian Special Forces Operations Command troops who are advising and mentoring Kurdish peshmerga forces, Bowes said.

Canada was conducting “a ground-air threat assessment” so the helicopters would be able to react to whatever ISIL might try to do to them, said the three-star general, who served two tours in Afghanistan. “They will certainly go with a defence suite.”

Griffons that Canada deployed to Afghanistan were armoured and equipped with lethal Gatling guns manned by door gunners.

Bowes confirmed that, as has been the case since the Harper government first sent military advisers to Iraq in late 2014, only elite and secretive Canadian special forces commandos — rather than conventional forces — would assist the Peshmerga, whose front-line troops are dug in on a strategically important ridge that looks down on Mosul and the Tigris River Valley.

Although the Trudeau government withdrew the RCAF’s Kuwait-based CF-18s from combat operations over Iraq and Syria last month, the number of Canadians helping Iraq fight ISIL is to grow to 830 from about 600. The exact locations and jobs of those Canadians who are to be based in Iraq and neighbouring countries was discussed recently at a conference with U.S. Central Command and partner nations.

“A lot of positions were vacant within the coalition structure. We are picking up some of them,” Bowes said.

“At the moment, in what they call the building partner capacity sites, they are oversubscribed in trainers and undersubscribed in troops to train, but the mission will evolve. So, in a year’s time, who really knows.”

The Canadian Forces were aware of reports ISIL has been using chemical weapons but his troops had excellent equipment and training to deal with such threats, the general said.

“The enemy, ISIL, Daesh (its acronym in Arabic), has shown an ability to metastasize and change tactics and we try to keep abreast of them,” he said.

“For example, how they have been converting dump trucks, putting armour plates on them and creating vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. That shows the degree to which they are capable of taking anything and changing it into a weapon.”

Brig.-Gen. Shane Brennan, who led a Canadian team that mentored Afghan security forces in Kandahar, is to be the next public lead of Joint Task Force-Iraq. Like the previous three JTF-I commanders, who were from the RCAF, Brennan, who is an army officer, is to be based at an airfield in Kuwait that serves as the joint coalition headquarters.

Some of the Canadians being sent to the Middle East are to join another Canadian Afghan vet, Brig.-Gen. Greg Smith, on the staff of a U.S. army major-general in Baghdad. Others are to be part of an expanded Canadian intelligence capability or tasked with supporting troops in Iraq by expanding the logistics footprint in Kuwait.

“The mission is complex, as you can imagine, with people all over the place,” Bowes said. “What we have to go through is a very human process of identifying the people and matching them to the positions and then giving themselves sufficient time to prepare themselves professionally with pre-deployment training.”

As well as weapons and other specific military training, those troops selected for what the defence department calls Operation Impact would undergo cultural training specific to their assignments with the Iraqi Kurds or Iraqi Arabs.

“Be mindful that ours is a small mission,” that should not be compared with the much larger combat operation that Canada undertook in Kandahar, Bowes said, adding that not only the military was involved in Iraq but there were “significant whole-of-government initiatives underway in Ottawa to support the mission.”

Bowes was upbeat about the somewhat expanded ground duties that Canada was taking on in Iraq.

“No fears and nothing that keeps me awake,” Bowes said. “What I think about a lot is whether I am doing everything I can to enable the chief (Gen. Jon Vance) and other leaders to ensure that our (political) leadership in this country understands the environment in which we have deployed personnel.”

The general’s mornings began early, reading reports from international news organizations such as Al-Jazeera before attending classified briefings with his staff who monitor everything from volcanoes to terrorist attacks and conflicts and potential conflicts worldwide, especially in eastern Europe and the Middle East.

“You can’t just look at northern Iraq, or Baghdad or Kuwait in isolation,” he said. “You have to be able to look at the region. You have to be able to monitor what is going on around it and understand how things can shift. On the political level this is an extraordinarily complex part of the world.”

Follow link for source article and video:  http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-to-command-coalition-team-working-with-iraqi-security-before-isil-battle

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-to-command-coalition-team-working-with-iraqi-security-before-isil-battle

 

[dapaterson]

A photo of BGen Anderson from 2014.

 

[MJP]

A photo of BGen Anderson from 2014.

Picture from 2014

'Stache from 1814

 

[MarkOttawa]

And what about those CAF members supposed to be going to Lebanon (and Jordan)?

Saudi Arabia targets Hezbollah, and Lebanon will pay the price
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/SOMNIA/article29252724/

Feb. 8:

Canada’s new approach to addressing the ongoing crises in Iraq and Syria and impacts on the region: promoting security and stability
…
Military efforts
…
Regional Capacity Building: subject to further discussion with regional partners, Canada will enhance its capacity-building efforts with security forces in Jordan and Lebanon to help prevent the spread of violent extremism…
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/02/08/canadas-new-approach-addressing-ongoing-crises-iraq-and-syria-and-impacts-region

Are the government and military clear about what they may be getting into?

Mark
Ottawa

 

[The Bread Guy]

Are the government and military clear about what they may be getting into?

It'll be a lot of plates to keep spinning when you throw those places in with Syria and Iraq ...