A rchive Date
[ 26-12-2004 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/williamson.html
Hold your fire
Don't shoot till you've read the rules of engagement
By LINDA WILLIAMSON -- Toronto Sun
January 27, 2002
In the thrilling, relentless new movie Black Hawk Down, a couple of U.S. soldiers in the ill-fated 1993 raid in Somalia are crouching behind some rubble, as the horrific 15-hour firefight is just beginning.
"Why aren't we shooting yet?" one kid asks.
"They're not firing at us," the other soldier replies.
Just as he says this, bullets begin ricocheting all around them.
"NOW they're firing at us!" he shouts, and they both let loose a hail of bullets.
That scene flashed into my mind this week with the news that Canadian Forces brass had come up with their own ingenious little answer to just such a situation: handy pocket-sized, laminated cards for our Afghanistan-bound troops, printed with the rules of engagement so they'll know just when to shoot and when not to.
The cards, inspired in part by our own military debacle in Somalia, were described by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Ray Henault as "a quick, easy reference as to what their legal responsibilities are" - a boon to peacekeepers unfamiliar with combat.
I shudder to think of the Canadian version of the above scene: "Why aren't we shooting? They're firing at us!" "Hang on - zing! - let me check my - pow! - card ... no wait, that's my SIN card - bang! - I know it's here somewhere ..."
Then again, a more accurate Canadian version of the scene might just feature the two soldiers with their thumbs out, still stuck at home base.
Our 750-strong contingent isn't even expected to make it to Afghanistan until mid-February, since Canadian officials are still trying to beg or borrow a big enough aircraft to transport them and their state-of-the-art, high-tech Coyote reconnaissance vehicles. Which is a tad ironic when you consider that the coveted Coyotes are one of the main reasons Canada was invited (or, some would say, accepted after intense lobbying) on the mission in the first place.
Yet even as the last-ditch squabbling over our lack of heavy transport (and even lack of uniforms) was going on, Defence Minister Art Eggleton had the temerity to tell a roomful of Toronto business leaders our military was well-equipped. "Just about every major piece of equipment we have in the Canadian Armed Forces is being replaced or being upgraded," he said.
The statement is astonishing in that it sounds definitive, but in fact says absolutely nothing. What's being replaced? When? Eggs didn't say.
But such an extensive replacement program would be news to Auditor General Sheila Fraser, who just last month warned that claims like Eggleton's are "questionable, given the declining readiness of the major aircraft fleets, the impairment of the CP-140 Aurora's ability for maritime patrol and the growing backlog of naval maintenance work." Both she and her predecessor, Denis Desautels, have called for a $6 billion investment to replace aging equipment - money that certainly wasn't in Paul Martin's latest budget.
Perhaps Eggs was referring to the marathon helicopter replacement program - the one the Chretien Liberals cancelled (at a cost to taxpayers of over $500 million) when they were first elected, while promising to come up with a better deal. We're still waiting. Meanwhile, maintenance problems with our aging Sea King helicopters (some of them going on 40 years old) eat up more and more time and money and increasingly put operators' lives at risk.
Indeed, if you were to make a movie about our troops' plight right now, you'd be tempted to call it "Sea King Down."
But you wouldn't, because the last bit of dark humour was drained out of that quip by last week's stranger-than-fiction news: the alleged sabotage of a Sea King. Sugar was found in the chopper's oil filter somewhere along its journey between military bases in Halifax and Vancouver.
Such allegations are obviously disturbing - even more so considering the military's record in such cases: an eight-month investigation into sabotage (severed wires) of an Aurora aircraft in 1999 turned up nothing, while the shocking poisoning of former warrant officer Matt Stopford, apparently by his own soldiers, resulted in no charges whatsoever.
With all they're up against on the home front, it's no wonder our beleaguered troops have, according to military ombudsman Andre Marin's soon-to-be-released report, a high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Heaven knows they suffer more than their share of "pre-trauma" stress as well.
Linda Williamson is the Toronto Sun senior associate editor. She can be reached by e-mail at linda.williamson@tor.sunpub.com.
Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@sunpub.com.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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