Articles found September 17, 2008
Boots on the ground, Canadian style
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Friday, October 17, 2008
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Spend a few weeks working with the Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, and you’ll notice that while they share a lot of things in common with U.S. troops, they also have their differences. Some of them are subtle, others are more distinct.
For instance, most of the basic small arms, equipment and vehicles are the same. Both militaries use the same rifles, squad machine guns and general purpose machine guns. But the Canadian version of the M-240 is called the C-6, the M-16 is known as the C-7, the M-4 is called a C-8, the M-249 SAW is the C-9, and all of them are made in Canada.
The workhorse vehicles of the Canadian infantry are the Light Armored Vehicle, or LAV, and the Bison. They’re basically the same vehicle, but the LAV has a turret on top with and 25 mm gun, and the Bison is a troop carrier. U.S. Marines use a variant of the LAV, calling it by the same name. The U.S. Army uses a version of the Bison, but calls it the Stryker.
Canadian troops refer informally to their LAVs and Bisons as "boats."
Both armies use the MRAP and Buffalo, mine-resistant vehicles. Canadian engineers also use the old U.S. M113 armored personnel carrier, but they call it the TLAV, for Tracked Light Armored Vehicle.
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Afghanistan chief is new Army head
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A former commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan who recently called for more troops to be sent to the country has been named as the next head of the Army.
Sir David Richards, the current Commander-in-Chief Land Forces, will succeed the outspoken General Sir Richard Dannatt as Chief of the General Staff in August next year.
At the same time, it was announced that Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope is to become the next head of the Royal Navy while Air Marshal Stephen Dalton will become the head of the Royal Air Force.
Both will take up their posts next July.
Gen Dannatt, the current head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, and the head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, will all retire when they stand down next year.
The announcement means that the next overall head of the services, the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), will be drawn from the new generation of service chiefs.
It was confirmed earlier this year that the current CDS, Sir Jock Stirrup, will remain in post until 2011. The move was widely seen as a sign that ministers did not want Gen Dannatt to succeed to the top job.
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Canadian terror messages worrying officials
Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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Quebec man has posted messages on the Internet encouraging al-Qaeda to attack Canada, the latest in a series of similar sentiments that are worrying counterterrorism officials.
The author of the messages, who uses the pseudonym Altar, praised terror leader Osama bin Laden and asked why al-Qaeda was focusing its efforts only on Europe instead of Canada.
"Allah is great and may Allah bless Sheikh bin Laden. That the sword held by the hand of al-Qaeda hits not only Europe, but that is hits all our enemies. Wherever they are," he wrote in a Sept. 25 posting.
"Me, I live in Canada and the Canadian government supports the Americans. The government of Canada supports Israel. Canadian soldiers are sent to Afghanistan and Iraq.
"Now it's Canada's turn."
A copy of the message, posted to a French-based Internet forum called Minbar-sos, was found by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors terrorist Web sites.
In his online biography, Altar writes that he is a Sunni Muslim who lives in Quebec and that: "I want to chase the non-Muslims from Canada. Only their deaths will make Islam triumphant. God is Great."
The message concludes: "May Allah guide us to always defend our religion. That the Crusaders whether in Iraq or in Ottawa, the sword of Islam will fall on their head. God is Great."
This kind of rhetoric has been appearing increasingly on the Internet, often the work of young radicals who join online forums that promote al-Qaeda.
"Don't forget, these al-Qaeda sites, normal people can't get onto them," said terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.
"They're password protected; you have to be vouched for personally. So the access is controlled, so you have to take something like this somewhat seriously."
The RCMP in Quebec could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Canadian counter-terrorism police have already investigated several similar cases involving online activities.
The RCMP arrested a Moroccan man in Trois-Rivières, Que., last September for allegedly posting messages on the Internet threatening terrorist attacks in Germany and Austria.
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Glance at Islamic terror money
By The Associated Press – 19 hours ago
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A look at the ways analysts say al-Qaida and other Islamic terrorist groups get money and how it has changed over time:
_ Soviet war in Afghanistan:
Many Islamic terror groups have their origins in the Soviet war in Afghanistan that started in 1979. During the war, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and other countries funded Islamic militants who eventually drove the Soviets to withdraw in 1989.
_ Al-Qaida's early years:
Saudi Arabia denied Osama bin Laden access to much of his inherited wealth in the early 1990s after he became critical of the Saudi royal family. He then relied more heavily on wealthy donors and Islamic charities in the Gulf.
A U.S. investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks said it cost al-Qaida an estimated $30 million per year to sustain its activities before the attacks — with almost all the money raised through donations.
A 2004 U.S. investigation found banks in the United Arab Emirates had unwittingly handled most of the $400,000 spent on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
_ Post-Sept. 11 attacks:
Crackdowns on banks and other financial institutions by the U.S. and its allies disrupted terrorist financing networks in the wake of Sept. 11.
The groups continue to rely heavily on wealthy donors and Islamic charities in the oil-rich Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia.
The groups have also benefited from the drug trade in Afghanistan that boomed after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Former U.S. drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey estimates al-Qaida and the Taliban are principally funded by some $800 million from the drug trade.
_ Related groups and sympathizers:
Spanish officials have said illegal drug sales funded the Madrid train bombings in 2004. The U.N. estimated those attacks cost only about $10,000.
British officials say the terrorists who carried out the 2005 London subway bombings financed themselves by defaulting on a personal loan and overdrawing bank accounts. The British estimated those attacks cost about $15,000
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Military preparing reserves for Afghanistan experience
Derek Putz, Leader-Post Published: Thursday, October 16, 2008
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REGINA -- Soldiers are to invade the city of Moose Jaw this weekend.
Before the alarm bells sound and mass panic ensues, Moose Javians can relax, because it's completely safe and just an exercise.
Saskatchewan army reserve units will be training in the Moose Jaw area today until Sunday. They will be practising scenarios on civilian secondary road networks based out of 15 Wing Moose Jaw ranging from Pense/Drinkwater in the east to Mortlach in the west.
According to Maj. Brad Hrycyna, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan Dragoons and the exercise director, army reservists from across Saskatchewan will be taking part in the training exercise.
"We're training in what we call the contemporary operating environment. We're training for tasks that we could be faced with in the immediate future, such as what we could (face) in Afghanistan," he said.
Hrycyna will have the troops practising convoys and convoy escorts. He will be conducting a scenario where 15 Wing Moose Jaw is a coalition air base that is under siege from insurgents in the surrounding area.
Officer Cadet Donna Riguidel, public affairs officer for 28 Canadian Brigade Group, ensures that residents of the area will not face any danger and have nothing to worry about.
"It's absolutely safe," Riguidel said. "Any ammunition they use will be blank ammunition and they are going to pick up anything after. They are not going to be using any live fire (or explosives) at all."
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US plan to help Pakistan fight insurgents
The Pentagon wants to send more F-16 fighters. Critics say the jets could threaten India.
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the October 17, 2008 edition
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Washington - The American military is beginning a training effort inside Pakistan this week that holds promise as the US helps Pakistan fight tribal militants blamed for much of the increase in violence there as well as in neighboring Afghanistan.
But a separate initiative to provide jet fighters to the Pakistani Air Force that Bush administration officials believe will be instrumental in the fight has been held up over concerns that Pakistan will use the planes against India, not against extremist elements in its border with Afghanistan.
The US deployed a small unit of about 30 special forces personnel into Pakistan this week to bolster the ability of Pakistan's Frontier Corps to fight its own insurgency.
The team, which also includes some British special forces, is significant, not for its size, but for the expectation that it can give Pakistan the tools to fight militants on its own. That is key to American defense officials who are desperate to reverse violence in the region but say any counterinsurgency there must have a Pakistani face.
That is why a long-proposed sale of new and refurbished F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan has become so critical to the Bush administration, which believes the old fleet of fighters the Pakistani Air Force is using now aren't effective.
The older planes aren't able to fly night missions, and they aren't equipped to drop the kind of precision munitions that could be instrumental in the ground fight against militants.
"Right now, they're basically dropping dumb bombs in the daylight, a fact that does not escape the enemy," says one defense official.
But Congress isn't so sure the Pakistani government can be trusted to use the planes against the tribal militants thought to be responsible for violence in Pakistan as well as in neighboring Afghanistan.
Members of Congress want to know why Pakistan would need a jet fighter that has "air-to-air" fighter capability when all the Pakistanis really need to fight militants from the air is a plane or helicopter with "air-to-ground" or "close air support" capabilities to support its efforts against militants on the ground.
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Afghanistan investments offer risk but also reward
Updated Fri. Oct. 17 2008 11:23 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
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A Canada-Afghanistan matchmaking effort is underway in Markham, Ont., with the goal of teaming Canadian businesses up with partners in the war-torn region.
It's a land ripe with opportunities for Canadian investors, and the time has never been better to buy-in, said Aziz Amiri, the president of the Canada Afghanistan Business Council, which organized the event.
He told CTV's Canada AM there are dangers to investing in Afghanistan, but companies that take that "calculated risk" stand to make high returns.
"There are challenges as well as opportunities. Canadian companies are in places that aren't safer than Afghanistan. It's a calculated risk," Amiri said.
The primary areas of opportunity, Amiri said, are in reconstruction and mining, so the conference has targeted Canadian and Afghan companies that work in those industries.
Governments around the world have committed to helping rebuild Afghanistan, and money is available to finance appropriate projects, he said.
Mining is also is a major resource in Afghanistan, with largely untapped resouces of copper, aluminum and oil. The nation also has an iron mine worth $60 billion, Amiri said.
"Afghanistan is located very strategically, close to China, we have a border with China, and close to India. So a lot of these raw materials from Afghanistan have a good market in that area becuase of the emerging markets in China and India and Central Asia."
There is also room for development in the export of Afghanistan's natural gas resources, agricultural products and hand crafts, he said.
And while investing in Afghanistan has the potential to be financially rewarding, it is also a vital part of helping the nation emerge from the shadow of the Taliban, Amiri said.
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