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Army not stretched to limit, documents indicate
Notes cast doubt on Tory position
NDP wants troops sent to Lebanon
Aug. 26, 2006. 01:00 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—Canada has 1,200 troops available to respond to global missions, a military briefing note says, contradicting claims by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor that the army is stretched too thin to consider other big deployments.
The document would appear to back Liberal assertions that, as a government, they committed Canada to the Afghan mission only after top military leaders assured them the Canadian Forces had the capacity to help elsewhere in the world, notably in Darfur.
Since then, the new Conservative government has cited Canada's deployment of 2,300 troops to Afghanistan as the big reason it cannot deploy troops elsewhere.
Calling for immediate deployment of troops as peacekeepers in Lebanon, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Prime Minister Stephen Harper and O'Connor haven't been "fully truthful" about the state of the military.
"Given that we quite clearly ... have the capacity to assist ... what's the real reason we're not responding?" Layton asked in an interview.
"The fact that Canadians have been denied the knowledge that we have the ability to assist is certainly shocking to me."
The capacity of the Forces was spelled out in a briefing book handed to O'Connor right after the Tories took power in February and he was sworn in as defence minister. The 231-page document was obtained by the federal New Democrats under the Access to Information Act.
The briefing states the Forces can remain in Afghanistan and have a contingent of soldiers ready "for other possible missions the government may wish to consider.
"The Canadian Forces currently have the capacity to maintain two land task forces for potential deployment to two different theatres of operation," the document says.
One task force is in Afghanistan and "the second task force includes approximately 1,200 personnel and forms the basis for contingency planning."
In April, O'Connor used the excuse of an overstretched military to deflect calls to send troops to help with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
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`Many Israelis and many Lebanese here ... would very much welcome this'
Jack Layton, NDP leader
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"We can maintain the commitment in Afghanistan into the future ... but we will be greatly challenged to take any substantial commitment anywhere else offshore," O'Connor said during a visit to CFB Petawawa.
At the same time, Harper dampened expectations that the military would be able to juggle two big missions, saying: "We certainly don't have the resources to sustain more than one mission the size of our commitment in Kandahar province."
Now the issue is Lebanon, as the United Nations struggles to muster an international force of soldiers to serve along the border with Israel.
"There's a clock ticking here. We have a temporary ceasefire here that is barely being held together," Layton said. "I know there are many Israelis and many Lebanese here in Canada who would very much welcome this."
O'Connor spokesperson Étienne Allard said the minister stands by his statements.
"The briefing book was prepared before the government committed to a two-year extension of the mission in Afghanistan and before the government committed to increasing the regular force by 13,000 and the reserve force by 10,000," Allard said in an email.
He noted O'Connor's testimony to the Senate defence committee in May, when he said: "We anticipate that as long as we are expanding the ... Forces, we will not be able to maintain two heavy lines of (international) commitment from the army."
The briefing document did take into account the fact the Forces would be expanding to meet a Liberal promise to add 8,000 full- and part-time troops.
Spokesperson Maj. Daryl Morrell acknowledged the army does have some spare capacity but said it is now far less than the 1,200 troops highlighted in the briefing document.
The contribution to the Kandahar mission, and need to train troops headed to Afghanistan in 2007, means the army only has 500 troops able to make up a second task force, he said.
MP Dawn Black (NDP-New Westminster-Coquitlam) said the government has no excuse not to dispatch troops to the Middle East.
"We have limited resources but we do have resources," the NDP defence critic said. "It's incorrect for the minister, the Prime Minister and others in government to indicate we don't have resources.
"The situation in the Middle East is crying out for participation from the international community," said Black.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1156542610767&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467
Notes cast doubt on Tory position
NDP wants troops sent to Lebanon
Aug. 26, 2006. 01:00 AM
BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA—Canada has 1,200 troops available to respond to global missions, a military briefing note says, contradicting claims by Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor that the army is stretched too thin to consider other big deployments.
The document would appear to back Liberal assertions that, as a government, they committed Canada to the Afghan mission only after top military leaders assured them the Canadian Forces had the capacity to help elsewhere in the world, notably in Darfur.
Since then, the new Conservative government has cited Canada's deployment of 2,300 troops to Afghanistan as the big reason it cannot deploy troops elsewhere.
Calling for immediate deployment of troops as peacekeepers in Lebanon, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Prime Minister Stephen Harper and O'Connor haven't been "fully truthful" about the state of the military.
"Given that we quite clearly ... have the capacity to assist ... what's the real reason we're not responding?" Layton asked in an interview.
"The fact that Canadians have been denied the knowledge that we have the ability to assist is certainly shocking to me."
The capacity of the Forces was spelled out in a briefing book handed to O'Connor right after the Tories took power in February and he was sworn in as defence minister. The 231-page document was obtained by the federal New Democrats under the Access to Information Act.
The briefing states the Forces can remain in Afghanistan and have a contingent of soldiers ready "for other possible missions the government may wish to consider.
"The Canadian Forces currently have the capacity to maintain two land task forces for potential deployment to two different theatres of operation," the document says.
One task force is in Afghanistan and "the second task force includes approximately 1,200 personnel and forms the basis for contingency planning."
In April, O'Connor used the excuse of an overstretched military to deflect calls to send troops to help with the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
`Many Israelis and many Lebanese here ... would very much welcome this'
Jack Layton, NDP leader
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"We can maintain the commitment in Afghanistan into the future ... but we will be greatly challenged to take any substantial commitment anywhere else offshore," O'Connor said during a visit to CFB Petawawa.
At the same time, Harper dampened expectations that the military would be able to juggle two big missions, saying: "We certainly don't have the resources to sustain more than one mission the size of our commitment in Kandahar province."
Now the issue is Lebanon, as the United Nations struggles to muster an international force of soldiers to serve along the border with Israel.
"There's a clock ticking here. We have a temporary ceasefire here that is barely being held together," Layton said. "I know there are many Israelis and many Lebanese here in Canada who would very much welcome this."
O'Connor spokesperson Étienne Allard said the minister stands by his statements.
"The briefing book was prepared before the government committed to a two-year extension of the mission in Afghanistan and before the government committed to increasing the regular force by 13,000 and the reserve force by 10,000," Allard said in an email.
He noted O'Connor's testimony to the Senate defence committee in May, when he said: "We anticipate that as long as we are expanding the ... Forces, we will not be able to maintain two heavy lines of (international) commitment from the army."
The briefing document did take into account the fact the Forces would be expanding to meet a Liberal promise to add 8,000 full- and part-time troops.
Spokesperson Maj. Daryl Morrell acknowledged the army does have some spare capacity but said it is now far less than the 1,200 troops highlighted in the briefing document.
The contribution to the Kandahar mission, and need to train troops headed to Afghanistan in 2007, means the army only has 500 troops able to make up a second task force, he said.
MP Dawn Black (NDP-New Westminster-Coquitlam) said the government has no excuse not to dispatch troops to the Middle East.
"We have limited resources but we do have resources," the NDP defence critic said. "It's incorrect for the minister, the Prime Minister and others in government to indicate we don't have resources.
"The situation in the Middle East is crying out for participation from the international community," said Black.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1156542610767&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467
