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| Great White North | ||
| JTF-2 to Hunt Al-Qaeda | ||
| 2005-07-16 | ||
| Ottawa — Canada's elite JTF2 soldiers are heading to Afghanistan as part of a 2,000-troop deployment that will target the "detestable murderers and scumbags" behind the rise in international terrorism, General Rick Hillier said yesterday. In a blunt briefing that signalled a new aggressiveness at the top of the Canadian Forces, the Chief of the Defence Staff said the impending operations are risky but necessary in light of last week's bombings in the British public-transit system. "The London attack actually tells us once more: We can't let up," Gen. Hillier told reporters. He said terrorists are ready to target Canada as much as any other Western country and that Canadians have to be aware that their soldiers are in for some "risky business" as they head out to Afghanistan. It was the first time Gen. Hillier has confirmed that members of the Joint Task Force 2 -- the country's secretive commando team -- will be involved in combat missions against the remnants of the former Taliban regime and supporters of al-Qaeda. "These are detestable murderers and scumbags, I'll tell you that right up front. They detest our freedoms, they detest our society, they detest our liberties," Gen. Hillier said. He stressed the new face of the Canadian Forces, which he said are now focused on the first job at hand: protecting Canadian interests at home and abroad. "We're not the public service of Canada, we're not just another department. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people."
Gen. Hillier said Canada is already in the crosshairs of the terrorists, and he does not believe it becomes a bigger target by participating in military operations that give hope to the Afghans. "We're not going to let those radical murderers and killers rob from others and certainly we're not going to let them rob from Canada," he said. He pointed out that during the Second World War, Canadian soldiers did not shy away from fighting the Nazis. "Did they say, 'No we might be attacked over here if we actually stand up against those despicable murderers and bastards?' No, they did not," Gen. Hillier said.
He would not speak about the number of potential casualties among Canadian troops in Afghanistan, while stating there is no such thing as a safe mission. "You can't reduce the risk to zero," he said. The recent Canadian rotations in Afghanistan have been centred at Camp Julien in Kabul. Gen. Hillier said that the coming missions will "shift the centre of gravity to Kandahar," the area of southern Afghanistan that saw the rise of the Taliban. The goal is to bring stability and democracy to the area, he said, adding that this is "the exact opposite of what people like Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and those others want." Later this month, 250 Edmonton-based soldiers will head out to southern Afghanistan to form what is known as a Provincial Reconstruction Team. The soldiers will be accompanied by officials from the RCMP and the Canadian International Development Agency, the federal aid agency, to develop ties with local officials and help with the reconstruction of the war-torn area. In addition, 700 soldiers from Petawawa, Ont., are heading to Kabul to help the Afghan authority conduct a general election, planned for September. After the vote, a large portion of the forces will move down south to join the PRT and prepare for the arrival of the biggest deployment in Kandahar. In February of next year, about 1,100 soldiers will set up a new camp in the area, heading up a new multinational brigade that will eventually operate under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, alongside American troops already in the area. | ||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Good! I pray they have the fortitude to stay the course. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-07-16 15:15 |
| #4 Regardless of the "governments" Tranzi inclinations the armed forces of Canada know how to fight and who the real enemy is. Good hunting to them and may they all make it back home safe and good health. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-07-16 19:52 |
| #3 ...THAT'S the Canada I served alongside. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-07-16 19:35 |
| #2 Canada Fuck Yeah! |
| Posted by: Classical_Liberal 2005-07-16 16:08 |
| #1 Good! I pray they have the fortitude to stay the course. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-07-16 15:15 |