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RCMP to goto Iraq

  • Thread starter Thread starter DnA
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DnA

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our PM said that if Bush asks, we will send RCMP officers to help bring back law an order,an I would assume train Iraqi policeman

it was on the new‘s yesterday an on today‘s vancouver sun


anyone think Bush will take Crethion(spelling) up on this offer
 
What colour do you think the sky is in Chretein‘s world. We are one **** of a long way off from sending police officers to Iraq. I think it‘s a little late in the game to be showing our support now... Oh you won the war, 3 weeks really, yeah I guess we‘ll play too now. Gimme a break, hindsight may be 20/20 but it‘s time for the gang in Ottawa to take off the rose coloured glasses.

My 2 cents...
 
we only got chretion for a short while longer before he steps down
 
This move is perfectly consistent with the foreign policy attitude towards Iraq so far; not so sure what all the vitriol is about. We didn‘t support a war without UN approval; now that the war is over, we are willing to help restore civil order. I don‘t see anything "insane" about that. The RCMP are far more suited to keeping civil order than the Canadian (or any other) military would be.

Sounds like just what is needed over there now. General Mackenzie said on the CTV news the other night that soldiers can‘t police Baghdad, you would need the entire US Army to do that. And that is just one city.

So what‘s the big deal? I think it‘s a good move, and lets us contribute something to the most important part of this war - the reconstruction.

Let‘s think about the Iraqi people for a second and put our own selfish interests in the background.
 
The news didn‘t specify what role the 120 (+/-) RCMP members would play. Its true the RCMP are better suited for maintaining civil order or training a police force than militaries. Yet any police force working in-country will deal with armed civilians, possible tribal conflicts and acts of revenge, and people who may not want to be accountable to a civil authority for awhile.
Its going to be tough. A central government will have to communicate with regional and municipal authorities to get agreement and communicate with the people that a new force will be established.
This in itself will be a major challenge. One careful step at a time.
 
So what‘s the big deal? I think it‘s a good move, and lets us contribute something to the most important part of this war - the reconstruction.
Michael once again you make some good points and stand out as the voice of reason.
 
Just a little update...

The American‘s have decided to allow 150 members of the Iraqi police to come back to work to stop the looting and restore order to parts of Iraq.


What do you guys think about that happening?
 
General Patton got into big trouble in 1945 when he ran Bavaria after VE Day; he kept Nazis in key positions, mostly because they were the ones who knew how the infrastructure worked. Was he right or wrong? Who knows. But be aware, even Canada kept armed German soldiers on duty after the surrender in Holland and northern Germany - to keep civil order. You do what you have to do. If these Iraqis are going to be loyal to the new order, better their people are policed by some of their own.
 
Under international law, we have no obligation to send peace officers to help restore and maintain order in Iraq. That is the *Legal* job of the United States and other coalition members who participated in the invasion of Iraq. We‘re not required to contribute anything to the rebuilding and restoral of order in Iraq, but since we are, it is an indication that we‘re not enemies of the US in the Iraq policy (as we‘re clearly not leaving them hanging for invading), and that we‘re willing to work with the US in rebuilding Iraq, despite being neutral in the war phase.
 
Someone let me know, please, if they need customs officers, too, to teach Iraqi customs officers how to harass people at their borders in the nicest and coziest, warmest-hug way possible, as is instructed to customs officers like myself.

:D
 
portcullisguy-that is deffinatley one of the funniest thing i have read all night..
 
This pretty much ends this debate

Canada asked to help build Iraq

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/18/postwar_canada030418
 
Ok now I know who portcullisguy is. Can you give me a break and let me know your days off so I can schedule my trips out of the country accordingly.

Seriously I see little wrong in sending a contigent of Horsemen over, providing we have the assets avaialable, they‘ve been hit with budget cuts and over commitment by Uncle Jean too.

They‘ve done it before, with sucess, and to be honest are probaly better equipped/trained to help organise and train a new police force than the CF, or worse yet some other military/police.

Can you imagine the new Iraqi National Police being trained by cops from Libya, Zimbabwe, and/or Yeman.
 
CTV was reporting today that the 2RCR may go to Iraq. They did a television spot on them and the PAFO said the plans were in the works and the decision would be maid this weekend. On the CTV web site though, they report that the government is "unlikely" (their quotation marks, not mine) to send many ground troops.
On a related note, a poll was done in the u.S. that says almost half of those polled were not buying Canadian because of our stance on the war.
 
To my knowledge, 2 RCR was tasked for the second rotation for the Afghanistan tour...

I could be wrong, of course.
 
I heard the second tour was comong out of Quebec, of course, I could be wrong. Anyone know?
 
Roto 2 in Aghanistan is going to 3R22R, im pretty sure about that.
 
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=B7E3921A-86E2-435F-A3F9-B3FAC6A8E77F

Ottawa may send troops to Iraq
Disaster relief unit: Proposal held up by ministers opposed to military involvement

Chris Wattie and Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief
National Post


Saturday, April 19, 2003

CREDIT: DND Photo

A member of the Canadian Forces‘ Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) treats a child while on a mission in Honduras.

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The federal government is considering sending more than 200 Canadian soldiers to Iraq, sources told the National Post yesterday, but the proposal has been tied up by infighting in the Liberal Cabinet.

Military and government sources said Ottawa wants to send a special Canadian Forces disaster relief unit to help restore order and rebuild Iraq, but some ministers are objecting to any Canadian military presence there.

Defence sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the military has drawn up plans to send the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to help with the rebuilding of Iraq.

"They‘re ready to go," one officer said. "And they‘d be perfect for that environment ... although it‘s a bit different than their other deployments."

The DART is not a combat unit, although it includes a security platoon. It was formed in 1996 to react to humanitarian crises around the world, but until now has primarily been sent to help with the aftermath of natural disasters rather than a war.

In 1998, the team was sent to Honduras to help with the effects of Hurricane Mitch, which killed more than 6,000 people and left nearly 20% of the nation‘s 5.3 million people homeless.

In 1999, it was sent to Turkey to help with the damage left by a massive earthquake. The DART helped treat survivors, repair the damage to buildings and restored electricity to the area in northwestern Turkey hit by the quake. The team designed and built a 2,500-person tent camp for those left homeless.

John McCallum, the Defence Minister, and John Manley, the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, have been pushing to send the DART to help restore order and provide emergency assistance in the wake of the collapse of Saddam Hussein‘s regime.

But sources say the proposal has become bogged down in a turf war within Cabinet, with Bill Graham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Susan Whelan, the Minister for International Co-operation, blocking the plan in favour of sending aid only through the Canadian International Development Agency.

Canada has pledged $100-million for the Iraqi relief effort.

Stockwell Day, the Foreign Affairs critic for the Canadian Alliance, said the Canadian troops should already be on their way to Iraq.

"We sat out the war, we shouldn‘t sit out the peace," Mr. Day said. "If it is the case that some ministers are blocking this, then those ministers need a wake-up call."

He said Canadian involvement in the post-war rebuilding of Iraq would help repair damage done to Canada-U.S. relations by a string of anti-American comments by Liberal MPs and Cabinet ministers.

"It would be a good move [because] while they‘re rebuilding bridges in Iraq they would also be rebuilding bridges and mending fences with the United States."

Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, has said that Canada is prepared to offer RCMP officers and humanitarian aid to Iraq.

The United States has formally asked Canada to contribute to an international stabilization effort in post-war Iraq, a spokesmen for the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday.

But Reynald Doiron would not give details on what was offered or requested. "This remains to be discussed in government circles early next week."

The DART, a composite formation made up of elements of a number of Canadian Forces units, is based in Kingston, Ont., and was set up to allow Canada to react to international emergencies within days, or even hours.

It focuses on providing medical care, purified drinking water, rebuilding and emergency engineering services, and a stabilizing command and control structure for UN and civilian aid agencies.

However, it can only be sent in response to a request for aid from a host nation and can only operate in what one military source called "a permissive environment" where there is no combat or organized resistance.

Another problem may come from the Canadian Forces‘ ageing fleet of CC-130 Hercules transport planes, the DART‘s primary means of transportation to and from disaster scenes.

The air force this week grounded 20 planes of its 32-plane fleet after discovering cracks in the wings. The fatigue cracks were found on the oldest models of the Canadian Hercules, which are between 28 and 43 years old.

The team‘s equipment is already in place at a warehouse on CFB Trenton, the air base in eastern Ontario from which it can fly to any emergency in the world.

Captain Steven Hawken, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces, said the team can be on its way to a disaster scene within hours of getting the go-ahead from Ottawa.

"They start to move within 12 hours," he said. "The deployable main body goes inside 48 hours."

Capt. Hawken said the members of the team are currently on standby, but have not yet received any orders to deploy to Iraq.

"If the government makes the decision to send them, they‘re on their way," he said. "But right now they are carrying on business as usual."

If Ottawa approves the mission to Iraq, the team will send a reconnaissance team of about 12 officers to find a base for the operation and determine what will be needed.

The DART normally includes communications experts, a troop of engineers, a medical hospital unit and a defence and security platoon, most of which will be drawn from CFB Petawawa in northeastern Ontario.

The military engineers can help rebuild or repair needed infrastructure and the team includes a water supply section, which can produce about 100,000 litres a day of bulk and bagged water from a reverse osmosis water purification system.

cwattie@nationalpost.com; rfife@nationalpost.com

© Copyright 2003 National Post
 
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