Tougher, meaner breed of peacekeeper needed: Graham
MIKE BLANCHFIELD
Ottawa Citizen
(Printed in
Edmonton Journal - 22 Dec 04)
OTTAWA
Canadians had better prepare for a meaner, tougher version of the stereo typical peacekeeper because almost all of the new 5,000 personnel for the Armed Forces will go towards army soldiers in the hope of doubling Canada's foreign fighting force, Defence Minister Bill Graham says.
â Å“The nature of peacekeeping itself has changed,â ? he said Tuesday in a year-end interview. â Å“You have to fight your way in. You're going to have to go into a situation where you're going to have to fight to establish stability first and then you're going to have to bring democracy, and institution building and humanitarian aid.â ? That characterization is squarely at odds with the kinder, gentler peace-keeper image that Prime Minister Paul Martin put forth last year when he promised the additional troops during the federal election campaign.
Canada will return to Kandahar next year and will likely work with the French on a provincial reconstruction team in Afghanistan's volatile south. Graham announced he would travel to Kabul next month to consult with Canadian soldiers stationed there as part of the NATO protection force for Afghanistan. As the Canadian Forces nears completion of its defence review, Graham said the new realities of fighting terrorism and other unconventional threats has rendered obsolete the familiar perception of Canadian peacekeepers â Å“patrolling a lineâ ? in less-threatening locales such as Cypress or the Suez. Graham said he believes Canadians realize the world has changed and will accept more of their soldiers, in greater numbers, operating in harsher conditions on foreign soil.
He said he'd be ready to present his defence review to Parliament before the House of Commons reconvenes in early February. The defence review is part of Martin's broader foreign policy review, which included his campaign promise of 5,000 additional full-time personnel for the Forces. At the time Martin predicted the new troops could be dedicated to a new peacekeeping brigade.
But Graham made clear the addition al troops â †which he conceded would take years to recruit and train â â€would bolster existing units, such as the JTF2 elite special forces commandos. â Å“We've got a good structure at the moment ... What we've got to do is give it more muscle,â ? Graham said. 'The vast majority would go towards the army, but not 100 per centâ ? The navy and air force would see limited personnel increases. Graham said the army currently has the capacity to sustain two groups of 1,200 troops abroad at any given time, in addition to another 800 to 1,000 support troops. â Å“If we add the 5,000 we should be able to ... almost double that,â ? he said. â Å“So we could keep a substantial larger number of troops abroad for a sustained period of time.â ?
Canada has scaled back its record number of 4,000-plus foreign troops, including the 2,000 soldiers it had in Afghanistan until the end of last summer. Canada has 700 soldiers in Kabul as part of the NATO-led force. Graham would not say whether all the addition al troops would end up in Afghanistan. But the landlocked Central Asian country, whose former Taliban rulers hosted Al-Qaeda terrorists while they plotted the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, is now the focus of Canada's foreign military efforts for the foreseeable future. Graham met last week with Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the chief of the French defence staff, and the two agreed that it would make sense for Canada to team up with French forces in southern Afghanistan next year.
CanWest News Service
