And you just KNEW this had to be coming from the media - shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions,
Section 29, of the Copyright Act
Pricetag to send tanks to Afghanistan in the tens of millions: O'Connor
Canadian Press, 7 Nov 06
Article Link
OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's defence minister says it's costing taxpayers $189 million to send re-enforcements, including Leopard tanks, to Afghanistan to support Canadian troops.
Gordon O'Connor told a House of Commons committee Tuesday night that includes the cost of sending the tanks, a team of engineers and a counter-mortar unit. "That's transportation, plus what was necessary to get all the equipment up to standard for operations," said O'Connor in reply to questions from opposition MP's.
The military announced last summer that the 42-tonne Leopards would be deployed to Afghanistan.
Five of the 42-tonne monsters are already in operation with another 12 to be deployed in the next month.
Some military experts and others have expressed concern the Leopards could further alienate Afghans already suspicious of foreign troops.
During Tuesday's questioning, Opposition Leader Bill Graham questioned O'Connor on whether recent air strikes and the use of tanks against insurgents hiding in villages is interfering with the delivery of aid to the Afghan people.
"Are we concerned... that the use of tanks amongst the local population, and particularly the use of airpower, is such that it's destroying our capacity to reach out to the local population?" Graham asked.
But O'Connor was adamant that the tactics that NATO forces have used in Afghanistan are not out of line.
"It's quite appropriate for us to have tanks there," O'Connor said. "We're trying to reduce casualties."
"When these Taliban go into areas and fight from the equivalent of pill boxes that we don't have to send our infantry in to get them," he said. "We can use tank fire to take them out."
And the tactics of Canada's allies are also appropriate, O'Connor said, a reference to the air strikes that have accidentally killed dozens of Afghan civilians in recent weeks.
It'll be nice to create a 1/35 scale dio of the C2 tank with MEXAS armour.... if that's what it is 
