The following story by Matthew Fisher from today's National Post is reproduced under the fair comment section of the Copy Right Act. It adds some balance to the issue.
Military rebuffs blogger’s call for top Canadian general to be fired
Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Canadian military in Afghanistan emphatically denied Wednesday a claim by an American blogger popular among soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan that Canada's commander, Brig.-Gen. Daniel Menard, should be fired for not having prevented an attack on a bridge near the Kandahar Airfield where an American soldier and four Afghan civilians died Monday.
Blogger Michael Yon, a former Special Forces soldier who has sometimes had strained relations with the U.S. and British military bureaucracy because of his writing, alleged Canadian troops were not providing security as they should have because they and Brig.-Gen. Menard were watching the Olympic men's hockey gold medal game on television at the time of the attack and that the U.S. should take over his command before a major offensive that will likely begin late this spring.
"Task Force Kandahar, responsible for security of the bridge that was blown up on Monday, happens to be under Canadian command," Mr. Yon wrote.
CanadianForces Lt.-Col. Danny Fortin said Mr. Yon's description was inaccurate. The bridge, which lies on Highway 4 a short distance from Kandahar Airfield, "does not fall within Canada's area of responsibility for security," he said.
All the land surrounding the airport has long been the responsibility of the Royal Air Force Regiment, a British infantry unit that specializes in protecting airports from attack. Most road checks in the area are carried out by Afghan National Police, while sweeps for improvised explosive devices on the major highways in Kandahar are done by a U.S. army Stryker brigade or by U.S. combat engineers attached to them.
"We are tasked to provide reinforcements in the area, if that is necessary as it was during recent floods," Mr. Fortin said. "We support the RAF when required."
While confirming that the general watched the hockey game with some Canadian and American troops, the game "was over hours before the incident at the bridge," Mr. Fortin said.
After Monday's blast the Canadian army sent explosives experts to investigate and engineers were dispatched to examine the damage caused to the bridge, he said.
"The issue is that the ANP mans two checkpoints on the bridge but if they checked every single vehicle it would be a major issue because this is a choke point," Mr. Fortin said. "They conduct random checks and look for suspicious behaviour and they do a good job. But it is very hard to prevent suicide bombers because you cannot check every single vehicle."
Having the bridge knocked out "is a very serious issue," Mr. Fortin said, because it was Kandahar's main link to Pakistan and a crucial supply line for Afghanistan's second largest city.
Canadian military engineers are to build a temporary, single lane "metal overbridge" in the next few days, he said.
"We want to minimize the time it takes to put it up so there are rehearsals taking place so that when they do it, they can do it fast."
There were ways for vehicles to bypass the destroyed bridge, but because water levels are very high right now after winter rains, going around it was difficult.
"It isolates Kandahar City from Pakistan so we need to fix that bridge," Mr. Fortin said.
Mr. Yon's demand that Brig.-Gen. Menard be replaced hinted at a growing frustration on the part of some Americans that NATO has put four U.S. battalions under Canadian command in Kandahar.
"I can see how someone in the American forces might say: ‘Why aren't we under U.S. command?'" Mr. Fortin said. "But the Americans answer to a Canadian who answers to a British major-general who in turn answers to an American. This is coalition warfare at its best."
An American colonel who serves in Brig.-Gen. Menard's headquarters was also part of the checks and balances that NATO had put in place to ensure that American concerns were heard, he said.
The issue of who commands what in Kandahar is particularly sensitive at the moment, with NATO planning a major offensive in the province later this spring. Additional U.S. combat units are expected to arrive in Kandahar in the near future, including thousands of troops from the 101st Airborne Division.
