Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Canada's military

Canadian Soldiers in Kurdish Region May Have To Remove Kurdish Flag Patch From Uniforms

http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/02062016

"Canadian military advisors in the Kurdish Region may have to remove the Kurdish flag patch they wear on their uniforms, only days after US forces in Syria were ordered to remove Kurdish insignia from their uniforms..."

Comments:

"It seems the canadians have ZERO understanding of the situation in Iraq, not even the Iraqi army are allowed to fly the Iraqi flag when they pass through our territory, someone should have explained this to the imbecile Mike Rouleau 'commander of the canadian forces', and by the way forget about wearing both."

Canada doesn't belong in this ME quagmire. Troops Out Now!

Lockheed Martin Warns It Will Pull $825 Million in F-35 Contracts If Canada Buys Another Jet

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stealth-fighter-contracts-1.3629403

Pull away!

Surprised CBC hasn't graced us with some words of wisdom on this from the Canadian CEO of Lockheed Martin, Charles Bouchard. You remember Charley 'the Butcher' Bouchard, the RCAF Lt Gen who led the NATO bombing (and all targeting decisions) on Libya? And who all the Canadian political parties paid tribute to, including the disgusting but irrelevant NDP? Seems this is how a Canadian war criminal gets paid off. Nice gigs like this one with Lockheed Martin. Perfect no?

http://aiac.ca/members/lockheed-martin-canada-inc/

The Canada Pension Plan is now investing $374 Million in F-35 warplane contractors:

http://coat.ncf.ca/F35.htm

Are people OK with this?

Post from Craig Scott that's interesting:

Craig Scott wrote:

On Wednesday, June 8, an Open Letter to PM Trudeau was released that calls for the establishment of a commission of inquiry to investigate and report on Canada’s policies and practices concerning the transfer of detainees to Afghan agencies during the war in Afghanistan. Signatories include the former Prime Minister of Canada Joe Clark, the inaugural Chair of the Security Intelligence Review Committee Ron Atkey, Ed Broadbent, Stephen Lewis, Canadian diplomats posted to Afghanistan during the war, the Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada, and around 40 leading scholars and representatives of human rights, foreign policy, and lawyers’ organizations.

You can read the Open Letter here: http://www.rideauinstitute.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Afghan_OpenLett...

By Thursday, June 16, the government must respond to e-petition (e-70), which I initiated in December 2015 in order to require the government to provide a written response to the call for a commission of inquiry. You can read it here: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-70

What can we expect from the Liberal government? The signs are not good. Indeed, the signs are that the Liberals may be preparing to go back on their own demand when in opposition for a commission of inquiry. Not to put too fine a point on it, initial comments suggest they are willing to continue the complicity of the Canadian government – first under Harper and now under Trudeau – in ensuring there will be no accounting let alone accountability for what some of Canada’s most senior military officers, top civil servants, and ministers of the Crown did in our name.

Right now, the Department of National Defence appears to have appropriated this matter. It is the tail that is wagging the dog. I say this because Minister Sajjan and his office are the ones making initial comments on both the Open Letter and, about six weeks ago, also on e-petition e-70, and the Department of Global Affairs is directing all journalists to DND for comments on e-70 and on Open Letter.

This is totally inappropriate.

The Minister of Defence was in theatre in a command role at crucial periods when prisoners were taken and transferred. He may even have had roles liaising on intelligence matters with some of the Afghan authorities that are implicated in the human rights abuses that an inquiry would be looking at. Keep in mind it was the transfer to intelligence authorities at the National Directorate of Security that has been at the core of the detainee scandal, as it has been understood to date. But also, when it comes to unrecorded transfers by Canada of captives qua "persons under control" (PUCs) to Afghan authorities, some of those transfers were to the Afghan National Police and Minister Sajjan may have had to liaise with them, according to some biographical accounts. Some accounts have the Afghan police as at least as problematic an actor in their treatment of received prisoners as NDS.

None of this is to say that Minister Sajjan had anything to do either with transfers or transfer policy. I do not know if he did or did not. Nor does it deny that he served our country honourably and bravely. By all accounts, he very much did.

But it is to say that, at the very least, Minister Sajjan could be called to testify at an inquiry about his knowledge of the practices of Afghan agencies towards persons in their custody and also about what others (military and civilian) in the command structure should reasonably have known about the penchant for torture by the NDS and/or extrajudicial killing by the Afghan National Police. There are other matters on which he could be called as witness such as the general nature of intelligence sharing between Canada and Afghanistan, battlefield transfers of prisoners, the role of Defence Intelligence, cooperation with the US and other allies in relation to both detainees and intelligence, and coordination between the Canadian military and the Department of Foreign Affairs.

More generally, this detainee file is in no way just a defence matter. It goes to the heart of Canada's foreign affairs -- and always involved multiple agencies from DND to DFAIT to Justice to the PMO and the PCO. It also involves how our parliamentary, justice and legal systems do and do not implement international law. As such, the decision on a commission of inquiry properly belongs with the Foreign Affairs Minister and the PM -- or Cabinet as a whole on their advice. In either case, Minister Sajjan should recuse himself from the decision on E-70's and the Open Letter's calls for a commission of inquiry.

Canada Now the Second Biggest Arms Exporter To Middle East, Data Show

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada/now-the-second-bigge...

"Canada has soared in global rankings to become the second biggest arms dealer to the Middle East..."

Four Canadian Financial Institutions Invested in Firms That Make Cluster Bombs: Report

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cluster-bombs-trudeau-treaty-1.3639632

"The report names The Royal Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial, Sun Life Financial and CI Financial..."

Shameful indeed. 

From the article:

Quote:

The NDP's Foreign Affairs critic, Hélène Laverdière described the Liberal's decision as hypocritical. 

"Justin Trudeau himself called for an inquiry, but now in government, he has flip-flopped on the issue," she said. "Instead of the transparency he promised, we are seeing Liberals use Conservative-style excuses for not holding an inquiry. There are serious allegations here and the reputation of Canada and our military is at stake."