Canada's Fight

From the G & M:
"Canada will not dial down military mission in Iraq, Harper says"

Canada will not dial down its military mission in Iraq, where special forces soldiers are guiding air strikes and fighting back against Islamic State militants, the Prime Minister says. “We want to advise and assist Iraqi forces, particularly the Kurdish forces, to lead the combat themselves,” Stephen Harper said at a news conference on Thursday. “But let me be clear, this is a robust mission. We are there to make those guys effective so they can take on the Islamic State and deal with them. If those guys fire at us, we are going to fire back and we are going to kill them, just like our guys did.”  Mr. Harper’s comments came as the country’s top general acknowledged that the role of the ground troops in Iraq has “evolved” since he said three months ago they would not be guiding the coalition fighter jets. But speaking at a ministerial meeting of 21 countries involved in the coalition in London, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson said the government “didn’t put limits” on the special forces’ mandate to “advise and assist” Iraqi forces. He added that the Canadians were directing air strikes, but also training Iraqi forces to fulfill the task. “They are making sure that the effort to strike at ISIL is as efficient and effective and, quite frankly, as safe as possible. Canadians do have the expertise, and that is why we are working at training the Iraqis in this particular area,” Mr. Nicholson said, referring to Islamic State by an abbreviation. “They want to make sure they do everything possible to reduce the possibility of civilian deaths, civilian casualties.”

 

 

^ I am glad to see Canada is committed to the fight against ISIS. Every free-thinking person around the world should be worried about ISIS since they aim to destroy and kill everyone they oppose and their list seems limitless. This is not a war over oil, but one to protect individuals, their  personal freedoms and their lives. I am only surprised that only 21  countries are helping to stop ISIS.  ^

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/role-of-canadian-special-forces-in-iraq-has-evolved-top-general-says/article22573257/