A Canadian soldier recovers from his wounds. Read the whole thing.

A story from the May 2006 issue of Macleans that was sent along by reader;

It should have been a moment of pride for the Canadian army. Five of its most talented snipers — men trained to kill without remorse, then turn around and kill again — did exactly that. They destroyed al-Qaeda firing positions, saved American lives and tallied a body count unmatched by any Canadian soldier of their generation. U.S. commanders who served alongside the snipers nominated all five for the coveted Bronze Star medal. “Thank God the Canadians were there,” is how one American soldier put it.
Yet days later, their heroics on the mountain would be overshadowed by suspicion, including stunning allegations that one sniper, in a subsequent mission, sliced himself a souvenir from the battlefield: the finger of a dead Taliban fighter. Military police launched a criminal investigation, but uncovered nothing but denials. As the months wore on, there emerged so many conflicting accusations and supposed explanations that no charges were ever laid. Even Rob Furlong’s record-breaking shot became lost in the confusion. In fact, until now, a different sniper has been widely — and incorrectly — credited with pulling the trigger on that long-distance kill.
Today, more than four years later, three of the five decorated snipers who served in Afghanistan are no longer in the army, brushed aside by a military machine that seemed all too willing to watch them go. Persecuted instead of praised, they fell victim to what many still believe was a witch hunt driven by jealousy and political correctness.
[…]
Pat Ragsdale, Graham’s father, wanted some answers. After the tour, he watched his son suffer through an unthinkable depression, and he wanted to know why. For months, he wrote letter after letter to government officials, from the Prime Minister to high-ranking generals. “I wasn’t happy with the treatment they got in Afghanistan or the treatment they got subsequent to Afghanistan,” he told one reporter.
In September 2004, Pat Ragsdale finally received a response. Gen. Ray Henault, then the chief of the defence staff, personally asked the ombudsman to launch his own investigation. Unlike the NIS version, this one would focus not on fingers and signs, but on whether the military mistreated its snipers. In other words, did these men — lauded as heroes by the Americans but treated as criminals in Canada — deserve better?

The ombudsman’s report is supposed to be in the hands of defense minister Gordon O’Connor by now, but I can find nothing to indicate that it’s been released to the public.
Update – Damian Brooks has a response about the release of the report from the Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces.

Thanks to the 817th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron;

The C-17 Globemaster III “Spirit of McChord” and its crew made two trips to Kandahar AB, Afghanistan, in one day to transport the equipment for Canadian ground forces supporting the NATO mission.
Col. Michael McLean, Canadian Defense Attaché, said the Leopard tanks will support Canadian troops by providing greater mobility on the ground and more flexible options.
“The enhancements will enable troops to counter threats more effectively and safely,” said Colonel McLean. “The sooner we can provide the security and stability, the sooner we can help the Afghan people develop a positive and independent future for themselves and their children.”
The 817th EAS, deployed from McChord Air Force Base, Wash., supports the mission of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing, NATO forces, and operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
“It filled me with pride watching a (Canadian) tank being loaded onto a McChord C-17,” said Senior Airman Bryan Mumma, 376th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, also deployed from McChord AFB. “We work hard to keep our aircraft operational as the supplies we deliver downrange are crucial to our troops and in this case, to the Canadian ground forces.”
[…]
“It has been an awesome deployment for us,” said Maj. James Hall, 817 EAS Det. 1 commander. “We have had the opportunity to haul stuff for just about every member of the International Security Assistance Forces. The Dutch, Romanians and now the Canadians have had major moves since we have been deployed. It is a great experience working with the militaries from all over the world, especially when it is carrying something as cool as tanks for our great neighbors from up North.”

North Korea having a bomb is bad enough, but we all have to realize it won’t stop there. Iran has been working with North Korea on missile technology, and we have to assume they’ve been cooperating on nuclear developments as well.
The counter terrorism blog has a piece on the latest developments.
I think we have to assume the era of nuclear-armed terrorist groups is imminent.
Update: Amid rumours of North Korea preparing a second test, the real time seismic readings at Inchon, Korea show new activity. Could be normal seismic activity, though.

North Korea claims to have tested their bomb.
So far I can’t find any confirmation of seismic monitoring sites detecting it, which one would expect if their test was successful.
Update: Still no seismic confirmation. US Geological Survey apparently reports “No unusual seismic activity on Korean Peninsula”. We have to consider the possibility that this is a bluff from the Norks, until someone confirms that it was detected.
North Korea is such a dysfunctional place it’s possible the test failed, but no one would admit it so they’re announcing it officially anyway.
If anyone finds a link of seismic confirmation, leave it in the comments.
Update 2: The bad news seems to be confirmed by South Korea’s Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, which detected a tremor of 3.58 to 3.7 at the time of the test.
Very bad news indeed.
Update 3 Real time seismic data from Inchon, Korea is here.
It certainly looks like something happened, but we’ll let the experts interpret it.
Update 4 USGS also registers an earthquake in North Korea. They identify it as a 4.2, centred 45 miles north of Kimchaek, North Korea.
I think we can conclude the test was real.

At Iraq the Model Mohammed has followed up his earlier post with his take on America’s mistakes in Iraq:

The insurgents, terrorists and militias operating in Iraq depend on foreign support for money, training, technology and in some cases men. Moreover the influence of foreign interference is clear even in the political arena in Iraq through the numerous political crises the country had faced.
Thus, this war will not see an end unless America revives the preemptive war strategy and start chasing the enemies and striking their bases in the region, especially in Syria and Iran.

As always, read it all.

Canadians soldiers talk about the battle with the Taliban in Panjwaii:

The engineers went first, using an armoured bulldozer to open two breaches through barriers between the pot fields. A clear path to the school was opened, and into it went four LAVs and a G-Wagon, the lightly armoured Mercedes-Benz jeep that many of the Canadians in Kandahar have come to despise as a “bullet magnet.”

So you can understand why while staging a coup it would be necessary for the Thai coup leaders to ban go-go girls from dancing near tanks and troops

Canadian soldiers may want to point out that they are not staging any coups at the moment, though you wouldn’t want to disrupt any overseas operations.

Some time ago Al-Qaeda terrorist Omar al-Farouq escaped from American custody in Afghanistan.
Today, the British killed him in southern Iraq.
Good shooting, Brits.

Canadian Forces applicants up 250% on the Prairies;

“A year ago people were saying, ‘Will I have to go to Afghanistan?’ People are now saying, ‘Will I get a chance to go to Afghanistan?’ “

Via Mediaright.

That the Globe & Mail was too political to ask;

The Globe & Mail, in keeping with what is apparently its long-standing editorial policy, finds the most negative ideas it can, and magnifies them to critical proportions. For example, the Globe tells us that “by buttoning down [sic] inside a tank, Canadian soldiers could also end up losing personal contact with locals, which is crucial in building public support.”
Debunking the Globe & Mail’s sloppy and dishonest reporting on this story would require more typing than I’m willing to do. Suffice to say that the total number of the 2000-plus Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan who will be buttoned up in those fifteen Leopards will be … 60.
[…]
The Leo mounts a 105 mm gun along with two 7.62 mm machine guns. The 105 mm gun is aimed using thermal sights and a laser rangefinder. It is fully stabilized, meaning that remains laid on its target even when the tank is moving across rough terrain. Wind sensors correct for crosswinds. Temperature sensors correct for the effect of air temperature and density. There’s even a laser sensor on the end of the gun barrel to correct for droop — that is, for the way the end of the gun begins to droop under its own weight as it heats up from repeated firing. This system can hit a target the size of a car door on the first try at two kilometres, with a 105 mm high explosive squash-head shell that makes a very loud bang.

The rest at The Torch.
More on the alienated locals at The Telegraph;

Nato forces claimed last night to be on the verge of achieving their first major success against the Taliban since the launch of their campaign to pacify southern Afghanistan.
The militia’s fighters were reported to be scrambling to escape from an operation to crush them inside a corridor bounded by a road and a river west of the strategically vital city of Kandahar.
“There are definite signs that they have had enough,” said a senior officer with the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). “There is no doubt they have taken a big hit.”
ISAF calculates that more than 500 Taliban have been killed in the 13 days since the launch of Operation Medusa. If true, that would mean that a third of the 1,500 fighters believed to be in the area had been wiped out. Seven ISAF soldiers and two Afghans died in the fighting.
Military sources insist that they have solid evidence gleaned from satellite imagery and reports on the ground that the statistics are accurate.
But ISAF officers were in no hurry to declare victory, saying that this was only the first stage in a long campaign.
“The word victory has a funny way of coming back and biting you,” said one. “What we are doing here is trying to establish a secure environment in which we can start the reconstruction and development work that is essential to bring real stability.”
The operation was led by the 2,200 Canadian troops in the area with support from the Americans and the Dutch. The ground assault was heavily reinforced with artillery and air attacks. Units of the Afghan army aided by international support teams also took part.

Related – once again, Poland steps up with 1000 NATO reinforcements while Old Europe sips latte under a sky dotted by clouds of burned Citroens.
C’est bon.

Michael Yon addresses the problems of dealing with an opium-funded Taliban, and the ineffectiveness, as usual, of European allies in responding to a war that is heating up;

There is a widespread notion that Afghanistan is safer for our troops than Iraq, yet Coalition and NATO combat deaths in Afghanistan are per capita nearly identical to those in Iraq. In 2007, it looks as if per capita combat deaths will likely be significantly higher in Afghanistan than in Iraq. Why? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that our European allies have been slow to recognize the reality that a monster really is under the bed. After years of neglect and dawdling, they are finally beginning to adjust, but they are still not keeping pace with the threat. They are still not providing their people with proper equipment, all while the Taliban is getting stronger from the billion-dollar narcotics backwash that floods enemy coffers. As in Iraq, troop numbers are also dangerously low in Afghanistan, and the handfuls of friendly forces there lack sufficient air power to stretch their security resources.
NATO is tentatively confronting the proximate and growing threat by sending more troops into battle, but they are sending troops with insufficient force protection. During my trip, I visited several bases. To convey just one exchange, but a revealing one: Shaulis needed to meet some Danish engineers who were to fly into Tarin Kot the next day by helicopter. When Shaulis asked an Australian special-forces officer how to identify which helicopter the Danish engineers would arrive in, the Australian officer grimly answered, “It will be the only helicopter flying alone.”

From earlier in the piece;

A reverse symbiosis is at work: Those who benefit most from the opium/heroin trades also benefit most from a destabilized Afghanistan, because a stable country with functioning government systems, reliable security forces, and a framework of laws is a bad climate for the drug trade. Conversely, farmers growing crops such as cotton and beans benefit from a stable government climate, which affords the opportunity to think beyond the next crop cycle. In order to make agriculture a more successful business venture, farmers need a stable government as a partner. But since the interests of poppy farmers and narco-kings are in aggressive opposition to any plan to stabilize Afghanistan, this partnership is not even in the talking stages.

Don’t expect Jack Layton and friends to make the connection between their strident support of addiction enablement programs and the price paid by both Afghan civilians and NATO forces half a world away. His fixation on domestic poll-surfing has rendered Mr. Layton intellectually immune to esoteric concepts like “consequences” and the understanding that the most likely outcome of his calls for appeasement and negotiation with the Taliban is to encourage them to kill as many Canadian soldiers as possible.
The nickname “Taliban Jack” may not be so unfair.
Update – NDP MP Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre) is also backing away from Layton.

From the 5th Annual Defense Forum in Washington, DC;

Today’s keynote speaker was the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, who began by saying, “We are engaged in an “all-hands fight,” and that it requires “friends, allies, and a focus on those who would destroy our way of life.”
Admiral Giambastiani made three main points. First, he shed some light on what he referred to as the “non-kinetic” aspect of the war, and the Navy and Marine Corps contributions to that fight.
“Our success in Iraq and Afghanistan is foremost in our minds, but the Long War is also being fought in the realm of ideas. It is a struggle between extremists and the vast majority of Muslims.” Moreover, he stated that “The struggle within the Muslim community is off-limits to us. It is a struggle among them.” However, he stated, “We do have a tremendous impact in setting the conditions under which this struggle takes place. To the extent that extremists can claim a clash of civilizations, then they receive support within Islam.”
He then drew attention to the details of Indian Ocean Tsunami Relief in 2004 and Pakistani earthquake relief more recently.
Thanks to US military efforts, “the favorite toy in Pakistan today is a Chinook helicopter,” he said. “When US engineering forces left, we left all the heavy equipment behind for the Pakistanis…” along with all of the hospital equipment too.

Related – Check out Damian Brooks at The Torch for a discussion of yesterday’s friendly fire incident, while Cjunk is your best bet for following the day to day reports on both the Canadian Forces progress in Afghanistan and those intent on undermining the mission.

Thanks Jack; I’m sure they toasted you with tea and murmurs of approval in the Taliban caves along the Afghan-Pakistan border. In the mean time, truly honorable men are fighting and dying in the name of freedom and democracy. While Jack plays the socialist hero at home; our true heroes are doing genuine socialist work in Afghanistan by ridding some of the poorest people on earth of the very tyrants who would hold them down forever.

To the term “helipad”

The American flags are flying at half mast today as well as the British, ours are fully raised though, so I guess that’s a good thing in a sea of bad news.
Our day-bags are packed and ready in case we have to leave right away… we are ready to enter the scrap.
Traning’s over.

A Canadian soldier blogs from Afghanistan.
(Via Matt’s Thoughts
Also – don’t forget to check in at Cjunk, where the coverage of operations in Afghanistan has been outstanding.

Early in June, the story of Mohammed Niaz came to light via Winnipeg’s (very good) Black Rod.

Six days ago Mohammed Niaz was helping Canadian troops in Afghanistan. He was an interpreter travelling with Charlie Company west of Kandahar when they came under attack by Taliban insurgents who had been surprised in the act of setting up an ambush.
Today he’s pleading with Canada to help him. He lost both his legs in the battle and he’s asking us to help him recover from his wounds.
Niaz worked as an interpreter for Canadians for a year and a half. As Canadian troops went on patrol in Panjwai district, he went along — and found himself in his first battle.

Over the weekend, reader “Henry” passed along this update;

Thank you for your e-mail concerning compensation for Mr. Mohammed Niaz.
I am informed that Mr. Niaz’s case is being investigated, and it is our intent that neither he nor his family endure any undue hardship. Please be assured that we will take the appropriate action, not only in the case of Mr. Niaz, but also for any local nationals employed by the Canadian Forces.
Mr. Niaz is receiving excellent medical care at the Canadian-led, multinational hospital in Kandahar. He also continues to receive his salary while he is recovering.
The contribution made by local nationals such as Mr. Niaz is greatly appreciated. We would not be able to do our jobs in some of the most dangerous areas of the world without their willingness to support our effort.
I trust this information is of assistance and thank you again for writing.
Sincerely,
The Honourable Gordon J. O’Connor, PC, MP
Minister of National Defence

Good news, (and thanks again to the readers here for doing this type of legwork and passing these items along that would otherwise be forgotten or stay “under the radar” of the mainstream).

It’s commemorated on this day for a reason;

On Aug. 9, 1974, UN Flight 51 was flying from Beirut to Damascus on a routine supply run for Canadian peacekeepers manning the Golan Heights. The outcome was anything but routine.
Aboard the Buffalo aircraft were five crew and four passengers: Mirau, a native of Swift Current, Sask.; Capt. George Foster, 44, of Calgary; Master Cpl. Ronald Spencer, 29, of Quebec; Cpl. Bruce Stringer, 23, of Kitchener, Ont.; Capt. Robert Wicks, 39, of London, Ont.; Cpl. Morris Kennington, 30, of Britain; Cpl. Michael Simpson, 26; Master Warrant Officer Gaston Landry, 35, of St-Francois d’Assise, Que., and Warrant Officer Cyril Korejwo, 47.
The flight was cleared by air traffic control in Damascus to descend for landing.
“Just as they were letting down, the Syrian surface-to-air missile battery along the highway opened up with one missile,” said Roger Landry. “The pilot managed to avoid that first missile.”
But the pilot — it’s unclear whether Mirau or Foster was actually flying the plane — couldn’t avoid a second missile. It took out the left engine.
A third went through the fuselage. Everyone on board was killed — the largest single-day loss of life in Canada’s peacekeeping history. The time was 11:50 a.m.
Landry was allowed into the crash site a day later. The Syrian army had cleaned up most of the evidence, but he did find electrical wiring with Russian writing on it — from the missiles’ firing systems.

While CTV news prattles on upstairs, unwatched;

The IDF is now quite a bit more active on the ground the last 36 hours. Major pushes into South Lebanon have seen several thousand IDF soldiers push into southern Hezbollah occupied villages on an effective looking multi prong attack.
Fighting is fierce, the IDF led by special forces and Tzanhani troops (Paratroopers) have been buttressed by air support, and thousands of reserve units hammering Hezbollah positions with artillery fire that as seen on TV is fairly incessant.
Despite casualties, which are par for the course sadly in warfare the IDF has begun making major inroads and is pounding Hezbollah. IDF spokespeople announcing that the southern “security control zone” will be active by the end of the week. That’s pretty heavy duty gains, a testament to the need of employing adequate forces for any job. 10 terrorists killed in Baalbek by the IDF assault there, and now estimated in excess of 300 Hezbollah men have been taken out of the fighting. Some detail on the main prongs, and the Baalbek assault follow the map below. Godspeed to the IDF.

There’s more, including a map detailing the extent of the IDF ground assault – for those who can’t be bothered to suffer through yet another installment of Lisa LaFlamme’s professionally furrowed brow.
Via Wretchard.

As reported here a few hours ago by Maz2 in the comments*;

Tuesday’s Israeli operation in eastern Lebanon started with several air strikes in the Baalbek area.
The city is a Hezbollah stronghold and has been pounded by the Israelis over the last three weeks. Israeli gunships are hovering at low altitude above hilltops overlooking the city, the BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Beirut says.
Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal told the Associated Press news agency that Israeli troops had landed at the hospital in Baalbek. He said there had been fierce fighting as Israeli soldiers had entered the hospital and become trapped inside as Hezbollah fighters had surrounded the building.

The rest (BBC).
Update via Belmont Club –

“20:12 PDT The IDF raid on Baalbek ends. Israel reports it has captured Hezbollah targets and killed others, all men out with no casualties among the raiders. (Fox)

Lots of interesting conjecture in the comments there. Check it out.

Bruce R;

[I]sn’t it interesting that a sale of Canadian-built weapons to the Middle East right now is subject to U.S. Congressional ratification but has not been debated and cannot be obstructed in any way by the Canadian government, which presumably might still have an MP or two with an opinion on the matter? That’s globalization for you, I guess.