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Canada: A Dedicated Presence in Iraq COLIN CAMPBELL - Maclean's \|\| June 02, 2006 Related - Canada's "Secret" Contribution to the War in Iraq Yes, Canada has troops there. And they've been around for a while. Several times a year, a group of Canadians gets together at a place called the "Canadian building" in Baghdad. Tucked away in the relative safety of the guarded Green Zone, the building is actually Canada's soon-to-be-opened embassy in Iraq, staffed by a small number of Canadian consular officials. The informal parties are arranged by emails traded by Canadians who meet inside the Zone. Guests include security contractors, government officials, police officers -- a sampling of Canada's small but dedicated presence in Iraq. From the very first days of the U.S.-led Iraq war, Canadians have been deeply involved: setting up crime-fighting units, working as engineers with coalition forces, serving with the UN, flying planes that help guide missile attacks, even fighting. There are anywhere from 100 to 200 working in the country. Iraq may be an unpopular, troubled conflict, but it is a place everyone, from soldiers to high-ranking officials, acknowledges Canada cannot, and has not, ignored. Insp. Ron van Straalen, an Ontario provincial police officer, flew into Iraq in January 2005. "What caught me right away was the amount of security needed to move me around," he recalls. After flying to Kuwait, then hopping a military transport plane to Baghdad, he waited several hours to catch the next U.S. helicopter into the Green Zone, where he began his stint as one of two Canadian police officers advising Iraq's Ministry of the Interior. "That was my first taste of how things function and how you have to operate." Van Straalen was part of an RCMP program to help train Iraq's police force. (Canadians are also part of an international effort in Jordan to train Iraqi police officers.) During his year there, van Straalen was highly involved in the fight against the insurgency. His main task involved re-establishing the Iraqi police's forensic capabilities by rebuilding labs across the country. He also helped develop bomb disposal capability, decimated by lack of equipment, training, and the sheer number of bombings. "There's a strong insurgency," van Straalen says. "But the majority of what we're seeing is crime-related, like kidnapping, murder, extortion. What the police need are experts and the capabilities to deal with these major crimes." The rescue of the two Canadian Christian Peacemakers, James Loney and Harmeet Sooden, in March provided a rare glimpse into Canada's ability to operate in Iraq. Our officials were involved from the morning after the abduction. But the groundwork was laid much earlier, when the FBI was building a task force to fight major crimes in Iraq, including the rash of abductions. One source they looked to was van Straalen, because of his Interior Ministry connections. "Within a month we had a task force of 20 up and running," he says. In addition to Iraqi-American forces like that one, and the British and U.S. militaries, the Peacemaker rescue included the RCMP, the Canadian military and the Department of Foreign Affairs -- all working inside Iraq. When Canada reluctantly admitted to playing a role in the mission, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians shouldn't be surprised that a small number of Canadian soldiers are in Iraq. "That's been the case since the beginning of the war," he said. For three years, some Canadians troops have been in Iraq as part of a long-standing exchange program that places soldiers with U.S., British and other NATO forces. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com Maj. Ghislain Sauve, on exchange with the British, crossed into Iraq on March 22, 2003, wearing his Canadian Forces uniform "with flags and everything," he says. Sauve had been with the British military for three years, and had served in Afghanistan. A member of an engineer unit, he was second in command of a team charged with setting up military camps. "I was never exposed to any danger per se," says Sauve, now at CFB Borden near Toronto. "Did I hear gunfire and explosions? Sure. It was a war." Sauve was given the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a rare distinction for a Canadian. The award was pinned to his uniform by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The decisions to let Sauve and others serve in Iraq are made on a case-by-case basis, says Lt.-Col. Roland Lavoie, a Canadian Forces spokesman. No soldier has been pulled from an exchange because of Iraq. But Lavoie stresses that Canada does not send soldiers to Iraq -- soldiers follow their foreign unit. On average, there have been about five soldiers on exchange there at any one time (as of last month, there were two, both with the British). But at the beginning of the war there were as many as a few dozen, most serving as flight crews on exchange with U.S. forces. Canadians regularly flew AWAC surveillance planes, which help guide fighter jets, over Iraq. Joint programs between the Canadian and U.S. militaries have become increasingly common, especially since 9/11. U.S. Marine Sgt. Scott Crichton, a native of Edmonton, trained with his unit for a deployment to Iraq alongside a Canadian battalion at a U.S. military airport in Victorville, Calif. The exercises focused on urban warfare, something Crichton experienced first-hand during his two tours in Iraq. He describes the country in the matter-of-fact language of a soldier. "It was hot," he says on the phone from Camp Pendleton, a U.S. Marine Corps base north of San Diego. His advice for dealing with roadside bombs: "Keep your eyes straight." Finding other Canadians on the ground was also not uncommon, he says. Two others from his battalion have served in Iraq. In fact, more than 100 Canadians have gone south to join the U.S. military since the war began. Canada has good reason to be involved, says Martin Rudner, the director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University. According to CSIS, Canadians are also fighting in Iraq with the insurgency, and "the fear is they are going to return and bring the lessons they learned," Rudner says. Far better, he adds, for the insurgency to be crushed before such fears are realized. The other major Canadian concern in Iraq is oil -- Canada, like other Western countries, has a strong interest in making sure the Middle East is stable, to avoid major disruptions in the global economy. Canada has maintained an almost uninterrupted presence in Iraq since 1988, when it sent soldiers to the region, says Sean Maloney, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. Canadians have played important roles in a number of UN and U.S.-led efforts, as weapons inspectors and military observers, in a decade-long campaign to contain the Saddam Hussein regime, he says. In 1991, Canadian CF-18s supported the U.S.-led air campaign in the first Gulf War, and in 1998 Canada sent frigates to the Gulf to support U.S. operations. The unwavering involvement in Iraq amounts to an unwritten, though ambiguous policy, says Maloney. "Every time we send someone to the Gulf there's a reason for doing it. We're keeping an eye on it and remaining involved. We didn't just do this haphazardly," he says. "This is part of Canadian policy." About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Canada: A Dedicated Presence in Iraq

COLIN CAMPBELL - Maclean's || June 02, 2006

Related - Canada's "Secret" Contribution to the War in Iraq

Yes, Canada has troops there. And they've been around for a while.

Several times a year, a group of Canadians gets together at a place called the "Canadian building" in Baghdad. Tucked away in the relative safety of the guarded Green Zone, the building is actually Canada's soon-to-be-opened embassy in Iraq, staffed by a small number of Canadian consular officials. The informal parties are arranged by emails traded by Canadians who meet inside the Zone. Guests include security contractors, government officials, police officers -- a sampling of Canada's small but dedicated presence in Iraq. From the very first days of the U.S.-led Iraq war, Canadians have been deeply involved: setting up crime-fighting units, working as engineers with coalition forces, serving with the UN, flying planes that help guide missile attacks, even fighting. There are anywhere from 100 to 200 working in the country. Iraq may be an unpopular, troubled conflict, but it is a place everyone, from soldiers to high-ranking officials, acknowledges Canada cannot, and has not, ignored.

Insp. Ron van Straalen, an Ontario provincial police officer, flew into Iraq in January 2005. "What caught me right away was the amount of security needed to move me around," he recalls. After flying to Kuwait, then hopping a military transport plane to Baghdad, he waited several hours to catch the next U.S. helicopter into the Green Zone, where he began his stint as one of two Canadian police officers advising Iraq's Ministry of the Interior. "That was my first taste of how things function and how you have to operate."

Van Straalen was part of an RCMP program to help train Iraq's police force. (Canadians are also part of an international effort in Jordan to train Iraqi police officers.) During his year there, van Straalen was highly involved in the fight against the insurgency. His main task involved re-establishing the Iraqi police's forensic capabilities by rebuilding labs across the country. He also helped develop bomb disposal capability, decimated by lack of equipment, training, and the sheer number of bombings. "There's a strong insurgency," van Straalen says. "But the majority of what we're seeing is crime-related, like kidnapping, murder, extortion. What the police need are experts and the capabilities to deal with these major crimes."

The rescue of the two Canadian Christian Peacemakers, James Loney and Harmeet Sooden, in March provided a rare glimpse into Canada's ability to operate in Iraq. Our officials were involved from the morning after the abduction. But the groundwork was laid much earlier, when the FBI was building a task force to fight major crimes in Iraq, including the rash of abductions. One source they looked to was van Straalen, because of his Interior Ministry connections. "Within a month we had a task force of 20 up and running," he says. In addition to Iraqi-American forces like that one, and the British and U.S. militaries, the Peacemaker rescue included the RCMP, the Canadian military and the Department of Foreign Affairs -- all working inside Iraq.

When Canada reluctantly admitted to playing a role in the mission, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canadians shouldn't be surprised that a small number of Canadian soldiers are in Iraq. "That's been the case since the beginning of the war," he said. For three years, some Canadians troops have been in Iraq as part of a long-standing exchange program that places soldiers with U.S., British and other NATO forces.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

Maj. Ghislain Sauve, on exchange with the British, crossed into Iraq on March 22, 2003, wearing his Canadian Forces uniform "with flags and everything," he says. Sauve had been with the British military for three years, and had served in Afghanistan. A member of an engineer unit, he was second in command of a team charged with setting up military camps. "I was never exposed to any danger per se," says Sauve, now at CFB Borden near Toronto. "Did I hear gunfire and explosions? Sure. It was a war." Sauve was given the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a rare distinction for a Canadian. The award was pinned to his uniform by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

The decisions to let Sauve and others serve in Iraq are made on a case-by-case basis, says Lt.-Col. Roland Lavoie, a Canadian Forces spokesman. No soldier has been pulled from an exchange because of Iraq. But Lavoie stresses that Canada does not send soldiers to Iraq -- soldiers follow their foreign unit. On average, there have been about five soldiers on exchange there at any one time (as of last month, there were two, both with the British). But at the beginning of the war there were as many as a few dozen, most serving as flight crews on exchange with U.S. forces. Canadians regularly flew AWAC surveillance planes, which help guide fighter jets, over Iraq.

Joint programs between the Canadian and U.S. militaries have become increasingly common, especially since 9/11. U.S. Marine Sgt. Scott Crichton, a native of Edmonton, trained with his unit for a deployment to Iraq alongside a Canadian battalion at a U.S. military airport in Victorville, Calif. The exercises focused on urban warfare, something Crichton experienced first-hand during his two tours in Iraq. He describes the country in the matter-of-fact language of a soldier. "It was hot," he says on the phone from Camp Pendleton, a U.S. Marine Corps base north of San Diego. His advice for dealing with roadside bombs: "Keep your eyes straight." Finding other Canadians on the ground was also not uncommon, he says. Two others from his battalion have served in Iraq. In fact, more than 100 Canadians have gone south to join the U.S. military since the war began.

Canada has good reason to be involved, says Martin Rudner, the director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Ottawa's Carleton University. According to CSIS, Canadians are also fighting in Iraq with the insurgency, and "the fear is they are going to return and bring the lessons they learned," Rudner says. Far better, he adds, for the insurgency to be crushed before such fears are realized. The other major Canadian concern in Iraq is oil -- Canada, like other Western countries, has a strong interest in making sure the Middle East is stable, to avoid major disruptions in the global economy.

Canada has maintained an almost uninterrupted presence in Iraq since 1988, when it sent soldiers to the region, says Sean Maloney, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada. Canadians have played important roles in a number of UN and U.S.-led efforts, as weapons inspectors and military observers, in a decade-long campaign to contain the Saddam Hussein regime, he says. In 1991, Canadian CF-18s supported the U.S.-led air campaign in the first Gulf War, and in 1998 Canada sent frigates to the Gulf to support U.S. operations. The unwavering involvement in Iraq amounts to an unwritten, though ambiguous policy, says Maloney. "Every time we send someone to the Gulf there's a reason for doing it. We're keeping an eye on it and remaining involved. We didn't just do this haphazardly," he says. "This is part of Canadian policy."

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