Close X
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

Canada Sending Several Dozen Military Advisers To Iraq As NATO Ramps Up Defences

Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press, 05 Sep, 2014 12:34 PM
    NEWPORT, United Kingdom - Prime Minister Stephen Harper quietly bowed out of the NATO Summit on Friday, announcing a commitment of military advisers for Iraq but skipping a photo-op meant as a display of solidarity in the face of growing international threats in eastern Europe and the Middle East.
     
    Other leaders joked and chatted as transport planes and a flight of fighter jets — including a Canadian CF-18 — swooped low over the rolling Welsh countryside in a demonstration of military precision meant as a signal to both a resurgent Russia and Islamic extremists.
     
    Harper didn't attend, but instead sat down with a handful of his officials in the nearby meeting hall before the morning session, which was meant to put the finishing touches on NATO plans to respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
     
    Before his departure, Harper announced the 30-day deployment of several dozen military advisers to Iraq to work with U.S. forces providing tactical guidance to Iraqi troops and Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, a brutal al-Qaida splinter group.
     
    Those advisers are expected to be drawn from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. Two Canadian military cargo planes are also ferrying weapons to the Kurds.
     
    The prime minister said the new deployment is not without risk, but it's not a combat mission, something for which the Conservatives have traditionally sought the blessing of Parliament.
     
    He also signalled very clearly that it's not the end of allied action, and that Canada would evaluate further participation as events unfold.
     
    "The measures taken to date, particularly in the north of Iraq, have certainly been successful in halting the advance of ISIL and to some degree pushing back on it," Harper said. "But this is far from truly turning back the advance of ISIL or diminishing its long-term threat."
     
    The allies are also considering further sanctions on Russia, which Canada fully supports, he added.
     
    Despite being one of the harshest critics of President Vladimir Putin's actions, the prime minister was not part of a Thursday meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened by the U.S., Britain, Germany, Italy and France.
     
    Harper later met separately with Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose opening remarks on Friday underlined another sore point, a call for NATO members to increase defence spending to a consistent level.
     
    "We must increase capacity," Cameron said. "I hope today we can reaffirm our public commitment to spend two per cent of our GDP in defence and 20 per cent of that money on equipment. This will send a strong message to those who threaten us that our collective resolve is as strong as ever."
     
    Harper resisted the call even before the summit, with his staff declaring it an "arbitrary target" while the prime minister told a British business audience that a nation should be measured by its contribution, not by how much it spends.
     
    The defence budget will increase, as will the tempo of operations for the military, he said on Friday.
     
    "I don't, in any area of government, set a budget and say we'll spend a certain amount and go out and try to spend it no matter how we can spend it," Harper said during his only question-and-answer session with Canadian journalists.
     
    "That's not how we do business and I'm certainly not going spend on a massive military expansion for the sake of doing so. As I say, our allies can be assured and are assured that Canada will spend what is necessary."
     
    NATO rolled out plans Friday to bolster its rapid reaction forces, which will be capable of deploying to countries under Russian threat within days. The alliance's military leaders are still working out the details, including a spearhead force of ultra-high readiness troops.
     
    Harper made no immediate commitment to this effort, saying he has seen "very little in the way of detail." He said he wants to see plans take shape before deciding to spend money on them.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    B.C. Tour Bus Crash: RCMP Say They Have Footage; Speed Not Factor

    B.C. Tour Bus Crash: RCMP Say They Have Footage; Speed Not Factor
    MERRITT, B.C. - The Mounties say a dashboard camera from a tractor-trailer captured a tour bus rollover that injured dozens of people on a B.C. highway and it appears speed is not a factor.

    B.C. Tour Bus Crash: RCMP Say They Have Footage; Speed Not Factor

    Diner en Blanc Vancouver 2014

    Diner en Blanc Vancouver 2014
    The normally green David Lam Park in Vancouver’s Yaletown district turned into a sea of white for the third annual Vancouver Dîner en Blanc outdoor dining phenomenon last week. 

    Diner en Blanc Vancouver 2014

    Remains found in B.C. matched to 20-year-old Ontario man missing since 2003

    Remains found in B.C. matched to 20-year-old Ontario man missing since 2003
    NORTH VANCOUVER, B.C. - Human remains found in the mountains near North Vancouver have been identified as those of a 20-year-old Ontario man who went missing more than a decade ago while visiting his grandmother in British Columbia.

    Remains found in B.C. matched to 20-year-old Ontario man missing since 2003

    9-Year-Old Surrey Girl Abducted From Bedroom, Sexually Assaulted

    9-Year-Old Surrey Girl Abducted From Bedroom, Sexually Assaulted
    SURREY, B.C. - Police say a nine-year-old girl was abducted from her bedroom while she slept and sexually assaulted by a man who then left her in a nearby yard in Surrey, B.C.

    9-Year-Old Surrey Girl Abducted From Bedroom, Sexually Assaulted

    Tour Bus Rolls Over On B.C. Highway, Dozens Of Passengers Injured

    Tour Bus Rolls Over On B.C. Highway, Dozens Of Passengers Injured
    MERRITT, B.C. - RCMP say dozens of people have been injured, six of them critically, after a tour bus rolled over on a mountain highway in British Columbia.

    Tour Bus Rolls Over On B.C. Highway, Dozens Of Passengers Injured

    Way To Go Flo! Alberta Athlete, 101, Wins Silver In Javelin At Seniors Games

    Way To Go Flo! Alberta Athlete, 101, Wins Silver In Javelin At Seniors Games
    SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. - Florence Storch held the javelin high with her right hand and balanced herself with the other by gripping her walker.

    Way To Go Flo! Alberta Athlete, 101, Wins Silver In Javelin At Seniors Games