|
|
|
|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
February 10, 2016
|
|
|
Canada's
Liberal ISIS Strategy Revealed: Politics Trumps Pragmatism
by Scott Newark
Special to IPT News
February 10, 2016
|
|
|
|
|
Share:  
|
  Be the
first of your friends to like this.
 Justin Trudeau led
his Liberal party to victory in last October's Canadian federal election by
branding himself as the champion of "change" from the decade-old
Harper Conservative government that most Canadians wanted to be rid of.
"Change" was promised on almost everything; from taxation to environmental
policies to new relationships with indigenous peoples and much more.
"Change" was also the message on several international matters
with promises to increase the numbers on Syrian refugee resettlement from
10,000 to 25,000 by the end of 2015 and a promise to end Canada's combat
mission in Iraq.
The commitment to increase the number of Syrians resettled in Canada was
a blatant case of political one-upmanship on Trudeau's political rivals
and, as subsequent events would show, it was made without considering the
operational realities of what was necessary and if it was even possible.
This has been made clear since the election, as the supposed deadline of
10,000 persons resettled by the end of December was missed, the costs of the initiative rose from $250
million to $1 billion and the new arrivals are stuck in hotels as the
community readiness and support is not what was assumed.
When it became apparent that the original targets would not be met, the
government indicated that to expedite the process, screening would be done
post-arrival. Fortunately, the operational people at the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Canadian
Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) appear to have persuaded new Public
Safety Minister Ralph Goodale that, to put it mildly, this would be unwise.
The result was deployment of Canadian personnel in Lebanon and Turkey to
assist in the screening and creation of biographical and biometric data
which was shared with the United States for input before approval
and departure of the refugees for Canada.
This cross border co-operation was only briefly mentioned, but was
confirmed in a Jan. 20 letter from the Canadian ambassador to the
United States at Senate Homeland Security Committee hearings into Canada's Syrian resettlement program. In
short, appropriate security measures have been taken to address the
legitimate concerns created from a politically-motivated policy.
The second major international policy issue on which Trudeau committed
to change involves Canada's role in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria (ISIS). The previous government joined the U.S.-led coalition and was
contributing six fighter jets for air strikes against ISIS as well as
supplying aircraft for reconnaissance, targeting and refueling. Canada also
deployed 600 military personnel as part of the joint Iraq Task Force with
an additional 69 personnel in a "Train and Assist" mission to
help the Peshmerga in the Kurdistan province of Iraq.
A year before the election, Trudeau gained national attention (to put it
politely) when he gave a bizarre interview in which he mocked Canada's participating
in airstrikes as some kind of macho "whipping out our [fighter jets]
to show how big they are." He was rightly mocked for his vacuous
remarks at the time but the die was cast and pulling out of the combat
mission became Liberal mantra during the election. Once elected, the
challenge became how to achieve it without causing serious damage to
Canada's international relationships and to maintain some semblance of
credibility domestically.
Trudeau made a wise choice in selecting Harjin Sajjat as Canada's new
defense minister. Sajjat is a former Vancouver Police officer who also
served three tours with the Canadian military in Afghanistan, where he
specialized in developing on the ground connections to support intelligence
led operations. He has also had to stoically stick to the script that
"change is coming" while the details were being worked out and
the national media became increasingly skeptical.
On Monday, co-incidentally while Parliament was adjourned, Prime
Minister Trudeau, flanked by Minister Sajjat and the less-than-inspiring
Foreign Affairs Minister Stephan Dion, released the plan for 'change' in Canada's ISIS strategy.
The specifics of the new Canadian strategy include:
- Withdrawal of the six Canadian fighter jets from
the bombing mission by Feb. 22.
- Maintaining aircrew and support personnel for one
refueling aircraft and up to two aerial surveillance aircraft.
- Tripling (to 210) the number of Canadian Forces
members helping train local ground troops (in Kurdistan).
- Adding 230 Armed Forces members to the Joint Task
Force-Iraq.
- $840 million in humanitarian assistance over three
years.
- $270 million over three years to "build local
capacity" in Jordan and Lebanon to help them deal with refugees.
- An increased diplomatic presence in the region.
Trudeau's plan got polite "support" from Canada's major
international allies, including, most importantly, his intellectual soulmate,
Barack Obama. Domestically, there has been recognition of the potential
value in helping Jordan and Lebanon financially and in significant
"humanitarian assistance" funding, although it will also be
advisable to ensure these funds are not used for smartphone upgrades or
paying for human smuggling into the European Union.
The biggest question is how these measures can be honestly described as
ending a combat mission. Trudeau's claimed moral aversion to bombing in
Iraq and Syria apparently doesn't include conducting air surveillance and
refueling for other countries to conduct the bombing. It also seems somehow
to conclude that expanding the training and assisting of local ground
forces to fight ISIS is not part of a combat mission.
It is worth noting that the new policy does not include funding for
Turkey, and that the increased military training that is being provided to
the Kurds to whom the Turks are openly hostile and who are likely headed
towards independence from Iraq and Syria. Stay tuned because nothing is
ever certain in the Muddle East.
Domestically, however, "change" can now be claimed in Canada's
ISIS strategy as politics has trumped pragmatism.
Scott Newark is a former Alberta Crown Prosecutor who has also served
as Executive Officer of the Canadian Police Association, Director of
Operations to the Washington D.C.-based Investigative Project on Terrorism
and as a Security Policy Advisor to the Governments of Ontario and Canada.
|
The IPT accepts no funding from
outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
Print
Send
Comment
RSS
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment