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News, Politics

Harper announces Canada to join U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq

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CF-18 Missile Strike. Image via Leo Fung. CC License.
CF-18 Missile Strike. Image via Leo Fung. CC License.

By Casey Taylor

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has announced he’s ordering Canada’s air force into battle in Iraq.

Harper announced the military deployment after Question Period today in the House of Commons, saying the international community is unanimous in its indignation of the militant group ISIS.

CF-18 Hornet refueling in the air with a CC-130 Hercules. Image via Matt Clare. Flickr. CC License.
CC-130 Hercules refueling a CF-18. Image via Matt Clare. CC License.

He said ISIS poses a direct threat to national security as they continue to advocate jihad on a regional and global basis, previously urging supporters to attack Canadians specifically saying Canadian homes are not safe.

Harper told the House of ISIS tactics: rape, torture, slavery, etc.

“Today we are bringing forward a motion asking this House to confirm its confidence for a government decision to join our allies and partners … in launching airstrikes against ISIL,” Harper said, referring to ISIS by one of its many acronyms.

The Royal Canadian Air Force will send up to six McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornets, a CC-130 Hercules for air-to-air refueling and two CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft on a mission lasting up to six months.

Harper also said the government will extend the 30-day mission of the up to 69 soldiers already serving in advisory roles in Iraq.

He said the operation is meant to stop the spread of ISIS in the region as well as degrade their capacity to conduct terrorist acts.

Harper admitted that planes and bombs alone won’t be enough to destroy the threat posed by ISIS, but said their ability to strike would be significantly reduced.

The final decision on the deployment won’t be made until after debate and a vote in the House on Monday.

Simon Palamer, a researcher with the Center for International Governance Innovation’s Global Security and Politics program, told Humber News that Parliament is not required to vote on military deployments, but the Conservative government has regularly brought combat proposals for a non-binding vote.

Click here to read unedited text of the government's ISIS motion.
Click here to read unedited text of the government’s ISIS motion.

Palamer said even though the vote in Parliament isn’t required, it is important that it occurs.

“We don’t know who our next Prime Minister is going to be,” said Palamer.

He said the upcoming 2015 federal election in Canada means the conflict could fall to someone else should Harper be defeated.

The decision to send air support to combat ISIS militants comes as no surprise after days of speculation following reports the United States had asked the Conservatives for support in the coalition.

U.S. forces have been carrying out an air campaign against ISIS with the help of international allies since August.

In his address, Harper did not rule out the expansion of Canada’s role outside of Iraq.

“We will strike ISIL where, and only where, Canada has the clear support of the government in that country,” he said. “At present, that is only true in Iraq.”

“If it were to become the case in Syria, then we would participate in airstrikes in that country also,” Harper said.

Canada already has 26 soldiers serving advisory roles in Iraq. The new commitment comes as those troops were set to return home Saturday.

Mission creep to mission leap

Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien has said previously Harper has put the military ‘all-in’ on the conflict in Iraq. Palamer said although any viable plan he’s seen involves boots on the ground, there’s zero appetite in the West for sending ground troops.

“You can’t win a war or fight a conflict or hold territory with air planes,” Eric Jardine, a Research Fellow in Global Security from the Center for International Governance Innovation, told Humber News this week.

He said that if things got worse, the nation that would be forced into a combat role would be the U.S. while other nations would likely be able to continue to provide mentoring, supervision and logistical support.

But New Democratic Party Leader Thomas Mulcair was quick to pounce after Harper exited the chamber, criticizing the operation with the comment “mission creep to mission leap.”

Mulcair told the House there’s no more sacred an act for a Prime Minister than sending men and women to fight and potentially die.

“The U.S. has been in this conflict for over ten years,” said Mulcair.

He compared the Conservative’s proposal to the ‘wrongheaded’ 2003 decision to invade Iraq and said all the horrors unfolding today stem from that decision.

Mulcair also questioned why military action is the only choice in Iraq when the option was never on the table for conflicts like those in the Congo and Darfur.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said his party supported the limited 30-day non-combat mandate in good faith but would be unable to support the Conservatives on this motion.

Trudeau said Canada could make a more helpful humanitarian contribution to coalition efforts than the aging CF-18s.

Trudeau also said there was zero effort made to brief MPs on what Canada’s response to the ISIS threat would be and the Canadian public was left in the dark.

He said that once in the conflict, the government has given Canadians little reason to believe our role would stay restricted.

“We know the Iraq fiasco haunts the choices we have to make today,” he said.

Opposition leaders have attacked the level of secrecy around our mission in Iraq and claim our country is being sent to war from behind a curtain.

Compared to the United Kingdom where the Leader of the Opposition was able to stand in the British House and tell MPs the government’s plan was just , proportional, and carried a reasonable chance of success, parliamentarians in Canada were not offered the same level of openness.

 

Australian air force joined the U.S.-led coalition Today

Canada’s commitment comes following remarks by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott saying they had begun flying support missions in the region. Abbott said the Australian Cabinet had also authorized their force for air strikes in Iraq.

Similarly to what Harper has announced, Australia’s commitment includes four Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornets and a KC-30A Multi-Role Taker Transport to refuel the planes. An Australian E-7A Wedgetail Early Warning and Control Aircraft had already left Thursday.

Reaction from Twitter

Reactionary tweets started to hit the web immediately following the announcement. Many Twitter users approved of Harper’s decision to join the fight

Others weren’t as on board with another military excursion in Iraq.

Others went for humour and sarcasm.

Canada’s CF-18 Fighter are an aging fleet

Trudeau struck a cord with many when, in response to the Conservative motion, he labeled the CF-18s as ‘aging’.

In 2010, the Canadian government announced the F-35 Lightning II fighter would replace the CF-18s. The first deliveries were to begin in 2016.

Rising costs forced the government to abandon the plan in 2012.

The F-35 is still being considered as a replacement for the CF-18s which have been granted extended life through 2025.

Palamer said the age of the fighters shouldn’t be an issue in Iraq.

“CF-18s were used in the no-fly zone in Libya,” he said.

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Timeline by Hannah Hollingsworth

News, Politics

Harper set to announce Canada’s ISIS combat role

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Royal Canadian Air Force CF-188 Hornet at the Canadian International Air Show at the Canadian National Exhibition Centre, Toronto.
Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Hornet at the Canadian International Air Show at the Canadian National Exhibition Centre, Toronto. The Canadian Government is expected to announce Friday it will be sending fighter jets to Iraq to aid in US-led coalition airstrikes. Photo via Wikimedia Commons. CC license.

By Casey Taylor and Hannah Hollingsworth

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to announce Friday what Canada’s combat role in the US-led coalition against the militant group ISIS will be.

Harper is expected to make the case for the deployment of Canadian CF-18 fighter jets to join in coalition airstrikes already underway.

The Prime Minister spoke with his caucus Wednesday on the nature of the announcement and heard no objections, reports say. In fact, there are reports that some MPs were overheard wondering if Canada will be contributing enough to the efforts.

Harper is also expected to send CC-150 refueling jets along side the fighters.

 

Friday’s announcement is set to come following days of speculation after it was reported Canadian officials had been in contact with American counterparts to ask how they could contribute to the operation.

Harper has since denied that Canada had made first contact and revealed the U.S. had been the one to ask for support in a question and answer session last week in New York. Canada already has 26 soldiers serving on a 30-day mission as military advisors in Iraq. That mission is set to end Saturday.

The Conservatives have been under pressure from the opposition lately in the House of Commons to let Canadians know what their role will be past that date. Harper has said that any military role in Iraq would be proposed to the House for a debate and vote.

Simon Palamer, a researcher with the Center for International Governance Innovation’s Global Security and Politics program, told Humber News that Parliament is not required to vote on military deployments, but the Conservative government has regularly brought combat proposals for a non-binding vote.

The Prime Minister’s rhetoric in the House in the lead up to Friday’s announcement has been hinting a decision was soon coming.

“We have at the present time the establishment of a quasi-state, an Islamic caliphate stretching from Aleppo almost to Baghdad, Mr. Speaker, up until very recently operating entirely in the open, planning attacks – not just genocide in the region, but planning attacks in this country,” Harper said in the House on Tuesday.

“We will work with our allies on a counterterrorism operation to get us to the point where this organization does not have the capacity to launch those kinds of attacks.”

Palamer said whatever commitment Canada makes to the coalition “would be a small contingency.”

He said if Canada sends CF-18s to Iraq it would likely be less than five. “It would be a show of political support,” he said.

“It wouldn’t change the course of the conflict, but it would have an important effect.” Palamer said that Canada’s air force would be there for more than offensive airstrikes.

“We’re materially constrained,” Eric Jardine, a Research Fellow in Global Security from the Center for International Governance Innovation, told Humber News this week.

“We’re not a big country when it comes to foreign policy so we can’t throw too much military might around.”

He said the conflict in Iraq could turn into a protracted one.

Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien has said previously that the actions the Canadian government has already taken have put the military ‘all-in’ on the conflict. Palamer said although any viable plan he’s seen involves boots on the ground, there’s zero appetite in the West for sending ground troops.

That being said, Palamer said there’s still risk to soldiers sent to participate in airstrikes.

“There’s always a risk for the loss of life in any military involvement,” he said.

But Palamer said the risk in Iraq is much lower than if the mission was in Syria.

“You can’t win a war or fight a conflict or hold territory with air planes,” said Jardine.

He said that if things got worse, the nation that would be forced into a combat role would be the US while other nations would likely be able to continue to provide mentoring, supervision and logistical support. 

In an older video posted on YouTube shows a Canadian CF-18 prep, take off, refuel mid-air, and test fire.

Canadian CF-18s in need of repair

The Canadian CF-18s that are to be sent to Iraq are part of an aging fleet of aircraft and have been subject to some ridicule.

Canadian Forces CF-18s first took to the skies in 1982. The fighters have been used in NORAD patrols and saw combat in the Gulf War, the Kosovo War and in contribution to the Libyan no-fly zone.

The Canadian Government announced in 2010 that they would be replacing the aging fleet with F-35 Lightning II fighters with the first of the deliveries to begin in 2016. The Conservatives abandoned to plan in 2012, however, because of rising costs. The F-35 is still being considered as a replacement for the CF-18s which have been granted extended life through 2025.

Palamer said the age of the fighters shouldn’t be an issue in Iraq.

“CF-18s were used in the no-fly zone in Lybia,” he said.

Palamer said the mission in Lybia was different in that the no-fly zone allowed them the security of having good intelligence on all surface-to-air missile sites. He said the mission in Iraq would not offer that same security because ISIS could be in control of much the same hardware as what was used in the downing of a commercial commuter plane over eastern Ukraine.

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ISIS threat in Canada

In a video released earlier, ISIS militant Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani called on supporters to attack civilians in coalition countries. The video made specific mention to the United States, Australia and Canada.

Since then, Australian authorities arrested six people in what they identified as an ISIS-inspired plot to behead civilians. Another man was killed in an attempt to behead an Australian police officer.

Jardine said the threat posed by ISIS has two components, foreign and domestic.

He said the regional threat in Iraq and Syria is very real but the domestic one, at least in Canada, is fairly minimal.

“They don’t have a large organizational presence in Canada and any organization they do have is more oriented towards recruitment than it is at actually launching attacks at this stage,” Jardine said.

The number of people who may be sympatheic to the cause may be higher in Canada than many realize, he said. But the amount of active support is still proportionately small.

“There’s an estimated 60 Australians currently fighting with Islamist groups in Syria,” said Jardine. “There’s an estimated 30 Canadians.”

Jardine said there are half as many Canadians fighting than Australians despite a population size 10 million people larger.

“In that sense, I think the level of active support in Canada is low,” he said.