Government ignored advice of Chief of Land Staff on Afghan mission

He was asked about his greatest legacy, and among the things he mentioned was not having participated in the Iraq war. That alone was a lie, but he told an even bigger whopper when Enright said "But what about Afghanistan?"

Chretien said that was different: Canada had gone to Afghanistan at the request of the United Nations, as a peacekeeping force. Enright didn't challenge him on that.

The CBC article linked to above by Policywonk verifies what we already know about how Canada was quick to join Bush's pre-emptive war on Afghanistan, long before the December 20, 2001 Security Council decision to set up the so-called International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). And Canada was fighting in Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom more than a year before joining ISAF in 2003. As the article notes:

quote:In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, Canada had sent several hundred soldiers to assist U.S. troops in tracking down al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan.

And yet Chretien continues to peddle the myth that he did just that.

quote:In the months following the 9/11 attacks, Canada contributed a large number of warships and transport aircraft and later more than 750 ground troops in support of OEF. Some Canadian soldiers briefly saw combat before the ground troops returned home in the summer of 2002. But a year later, the Canadian Forces would return to Afghanistan, this time under the auspices of the International Security Assistance Force... - Source

quote:We learned just before Christmas 2001 that JTF2 was part of a seven-nation operation called Task Force K-Bar during the campaign in Afghanistan. Task Force K-Bar took part in 42 reconnaissance and surveillance missions, as well as what U.S. military authorities call "direct action" operations. JTF2 soldiers were part of commando operations that killed at least 115 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters and captured 107 senior Taliban leaders over a six-month period.

JTF2 commandos led a mountain climb in Afghanistan to reach a high-altitude observation post. The Canadians also entered caves looking for enemy forces and intelligence. One of their missions, called Operation Anaconda, took place last March [2005] when JTF2 soldiers stationed themselves high in the Afghanistan mountains to feed information to army units on the ground.

The Canadians worked with U.S. Navy commandos and elite forces from Australia....

Before this, the only direct reference to the work of JTF2 in Afghanistan was the embarrassing photograph of JTF2 soldiers escorting captured al-Qaeda prisoners on a tarmac. It resulted in a parliamentary uproar and an investigation into why then-defence minister Art Eggleton did not immediately inform Prime Minister Jean Chrйtien that JTF2 had been involved in taking prisoners in Afghanistan. - CBC

[ 09 December 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]