Re: Iraq Mission

by **Powergunner** Mon 17 Dec 2018, 1:57 pm

Iraq Mission - Page 3 31175068915_8457588725_k-DND-Photo-1400x823

Tactical aviation turns to Reserves to deliver overseas operations

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Chris Thatcher

https://www.skiesmag.com/news/maximum-rotation-tactical-aviation-turns-to-reserves-to-deliver-overseas-operations/

by Gridlock Fri 25 Jan 2019, 1:07 pm

Canada pulling refuelling plane from anti-Islamic State mission

The Canadian Press
Published Friday, January 25, 2019

OTTAWA - More than four years after it started, Canada is ending its air-to-air refuelling support to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.

Rear Admiral Brian Santarpia says the Canadian Forces will repatriate its Polaris air-to-air refuelling plane on Saturday, ending one of Canada's longest contributions to the war against ISIS.

Santarpia says the decision was made in consultation with allies and it's based on a combination of factors, including a decrease in the number of coalition missions over Syria and Iraq.

He says it also reflects the shifting nature of Canada's role in the coalition, which has moved toward training of Iraqi security forces.

The first Canadian Forces Polaris refueller arrived in Kuwait to begin supporting anti-ISIS airstrikes and reconnaissance missions over Iraq and later Syria in October 2014.

Despite the plane's departure, Canada continues to have a sizable presence in the fight against ISIS, including two Hercules transport planes, medical personnel, more than 200 trainers and dozens of special-forces soldiers.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canada-pulling-refuelling-plane-from-anti-islamic-state-mission-1.4268912

by **Rockarm** Thu 31 Jan 2019, 1:45 pm

Commander of the Canadian Army visits soldiers in Iraq

A Canadian Army soldier trains Iraqi soldiers at the Taji Military Complex in Iraq on September 19, 2018. Photo: Op IMPACT Imaging, DND 2018 DND/MND CANADA

January 31, 2018 – Baghdad, Iraq – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

The Commander of the Canadian Army, Lieutenant-General Jean-Marc Lanthier completed a visit to Iraq this week where he met with Canadian personnel deployed on Operation IMPACT.

Lieutenant-General Lanthier, along with Canadian Army Sergeant-Major, Chief Warrant Officer Stu Hartnell, as well as the Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Army Paul Hindo, visited the Canadian soldiers who are helping to build the capacity of the Iraqi security forces, contributing to developing key leaders, and building institutional capacity in Iraq. In addition, Canadian soldiers are providing air transportation and intelligence personnel in support of NATO and the Global Coalition to defeat Daesh.

During the visit, Lieutenant-General Lanthier also met with senior Canadian Army members serving in Iraq, including Commander of Joint Task Force-Iraq, Brigadier-General Colin Keiver, and Commander of NATO Mission Iraq, the NATO training and advisory mission, Major-General Dany Fortin.

As outlined in Strong, Secure, Engaged, Canada’s Defence Policy, the Canadian Armed Forces are prepared and equipped to advance Canadian international security objectives, and to operate with our Allies and partners to defeat armed adversaries and respond to instability around the world. The aim of Canada’s mission in Iraq is to help their security forces achieve long-term security and stability for Iraq and the surrounding region.

“It was a pleasure to meet with the Canadian Army soldiers currently serving in Iraq. The training, advice and skills our members are sharing with the Iraqi security forces will help our partners and Allies achieve their military objectives and improve stability in the region. I am proud of the role that the Canadian Army and the Canadian Armed Forces as a whole play on the international stage.” Lieutenant-General Jean-Marc Lanthier, Commander Canadian Army

Quick facts
The Canadian Armed Forces’ mission, in support of NATO and the Global Coalition, is helping to set the conditions for the long-term success of regional partners by enabling their security forces to plan more effectively and execute military operations aimed at degrading and defeating Daesh and improving security and stability in the region.

Joint Task Force-Iraq is responsible for the national command and control of the approximately 850 personnel deployed under Operation IMPACT, including those contributing to NATO Mission Iraq, and for the coordination of operations with the Global Coalition headquarters.

NATO Mission Iraq consists of approximately 580 NATO personnel. Up to 250 CAF members have joined partner countries in helping Iraq build a more effective national security structure and improve training for Iraqi security forces.

/Public Release. View in full here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2019/01/commander-of-the-canadian-army-visits-soldiers-in-iraq.html

Tags:Baghdad, Canada, coal, Daesh, Effect, Government, Impact, intelligence, Iraq, military, NATO, operation, warrant

https://www.miragenews.com/commander-of-the-canadian-army-visits-soldiers-in-iraq/

by **Apollo** Wed 13 Feb 2019, 1:03 pm

Coalition, partners must address root causes of ISIS terror: Canada’s defense minister

Feb 13, 2019

Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks to reporters ahead of meetings with other defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Feb. 13 and 14.

http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/4519225b-d66b-48e0-9c47-6f2136dc250b

by **Forcell** Thu 14 Feb 2019, 1:01 pm

Medics return from Op IMPACT deployment in Irak

Iraq Mission - Page 3 Role2_medics_opimpact

The six members of 5 Field Ambulance pose proudly after the medal presentation on November 8, 2018. From left to right: Major Alain Miclette, Master Corporal Jonathan Choinière, Corporal Francis Bibeau, Master Corporal Vanessa Paquet, Corporal Cindy Picard and Corporal Martin Hébert. Photo: Sergeant Julie Lavoie

Feb, 14, 2019

Tags: Operations & Exercises

By Major Alain Miclette, Chief Medical Officer at Valcartier and Chief Medical Officer, Role 2 Medical Facility, Erbil, Iraq – Courtesy of Adsum

Six members of the 5 Field Ambulance (5 Fd Amb) are back home after a six‑month deployment as part of the Canadian Role 2 medical facility in northern Iraq in support of Operation IMPACT.

These members, including medical technicians, medical radiation technologists and physicians, were part of a multinational team of approximately 35 individuals from Canada and Germany. Four other members of 5 Fd Amb joined the Role 2 staff during the last rotation.

The Role 2 medical facility is mandated to provide medical and surgical care to save lives and serves as the Canadian Armed Forces’ contribution to the Global Coalition’s efforts to defeat Daesh and restore stability in the region. To do this, they offer emergency resuscitation, surgery, intensive care, dental care, diagnostic imaging and medical laboratory services.

Throughout the rotation, 5 Fd Amb members distinguished themselves by their professionalism and expertise. They successfully integrated into multilingual trauma teams made up of physicians, nurses and surgeons from across Canada and Germany.

Additional experience in emergency care
Having been assigned to a military emergency room, they have seen it all and have been involved in caring for and treating multiple injuries (gunshot wounds, explosion and shrapnel injuries, vehicle accidents) and illnesses (appendicitis, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary syndromes, etc.).

They had to roll up their sleeves when the Role 2 medical facility was in “disaster” mode in early October, and received several patients with multiple injuries following a serious vehicle accident. They quickly administered intravenous and intraosseous lines, placed chest tubes, performed massive blood transfusions and X-rays on stretchers in the trauma room and used mechanical ventilation. They saw it all! They are returning with invaluable emergency care experience, and they will be able to apply their new knowledge within the unit.

Throughout the mission, they successfully met the challenges, and through their efforts, they helped to save the lives of patients evacuated to Role 2, in keeping with the unit’s motto of “Protect Life!”

Bravo Zulu, and welcome back!

https://ml-fd.caf-fac.ca/en/2019/02/24768

by Cool~Way Sat 23 Feb 2019, 12:08 pm

February 23, 2019

Canadian forces in Iraq planning for impact of U.S. withdrawal from Syria: commander

By Lee Berthiaume The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – The commander of Canada’s special forces says officials are watching closely to see what impact U.S. plans to withdraw hundreds of soldiers from Syria could have on Canada’s mission in neighbouring Iraq.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe said the planned U.S. withdrawal from Syria has not yet had any material impact on his soldiers’ mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is up for renewal at the end of March.

“We are tracking it all very closely, the entire coalition is to see ultimately how that plays out and what the timelines are and what subsequent plans might look like,” said Dawe. “Because from a coalition perspective, there are sort of broader implications.”

The Trump administration said Friday that it plans to leave about 400 U.S. troops in Syria, the latest in a continually shifting plan that started with President Donald Trump ordering an end to the military mission in December.

The U.S. has about 2,000 soldiers in Syria tasked with fighting ISIL. But while the extremist group has lost most of its territory there and in Iraq, there have been concerns that a U.S. withdrawal will let it regroup in both countries.

A recent report by the U.S. Defense Department’s lead inspector general quoted the U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Iraq mission, as echoing those concerns – and suggesting ISIL, or ISIS, was already regaining strength in Iraq.

“If Sunni socio-economic, political, and sectarian grievances are not adequately addressed by the national and local governments of Iraq and Syria it is very likely that ISIS will have the opportunity to set conditions for future resurgence and territorial control,” it said.

“Currently, ISIS is regenerating key functions and capabilities more quickly in Iraq than in Syria, but absent sustained (counterterrorism) pressure, ISIS could likely resurge in Syria within six to 12 months and regain limited territory.”

The Trudeau government has yet to announce whether it will extend the special-forces mission in northern Iraq, which first started in September 2014 with Canadian troops working with Kurdish forces to stop ISIL’s advance across the country.

That could be in part because of the uncertainty around U.S. plans for Syria.

Dawe, who said he has not received any orders from the government to start packing up, said his troops are now helping Iraqi forces with counter-insurgency missions to eliminate leftover ISIL fighters around Mosul.

The city was liberated in July 2017 after three years of occupation.

While he wouldn’t get into specifics, citing operational security, Dawe said Canadian troops are continuing to operate under the same “advise and assist” mandate that has governed their mission in Iraq since the start.

That includes providing Iraqi forces with information and intelligence and helping them plan missions against ISIL weapons caches and hideouts.

“This is very different than what we were doing with our Kurdish partners along the Kurdish defensive line where, by the very nature of the work we were doing there, we had to be â€¦ physically proximate to advise and assist in a defensive line,” he said.

“This is a little bit different because the Iraqis are being very proactive and they’re going after the insurgents in a way that is quite surgical.”

Questions and concerns have been raised in the past about the conduct of some Iraqi security forces, which includes allegations of torture, kidnappings and extrajudicial killings, but Dawe said the units that his troops are partnered with have been carefully screened.

“I can tell you we spent a lot of time in this space in terms of ensuring that the people with whom we partner are professional and meet an appropriate standard,” he said. “And that they abide at all times by all of the appropriate sort of conventions.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/4992051/canadian-forces-iraq-us-syria-withdrawal/

by Delta Mon 18 Mar 2019, 6:52 pm

Canada extending military missions in Ukraine, Iraq
Social Sharing

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Mar 18, 2019

'The people of Ukraine know they can count on Canada' - Freeland

Canada extended its military missions in both Ukraine and Iraq today, taking a stand-pat approach to two of the world's flashpoint conflicts.

Late last year, the all-party House of Commons defence committee called on the Liberal government to "look for opportunities to expand the type of training and support" provided by the Canadian military to Ukrainian forces.

There will be no change, however, to the size and composition of the 200-soldier Canadian contingent.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland defended that decision, pointing out that the government is demonstrating its support for Ukraine in multiple ways — by, for instance, expanding the list of sanctions targeting Russian businessmen and by helping monitor upcoming elections in the eastern European country.

"I'm very confident this the support Ukraine needs," Freeland said of the renewed military mission, which will now extend to the end of March 2022.

She insisted the mission's terms are flexible enough to allow Canadian soldiers to offer various types of training and help to reform Ukraine's defence establishment — something the parliamentary committee also wanted to see.

"This is a mission, actually, that allows us to meet Ukraine's needs and to offer new forms of support as Ukraine needs them," Freeland said.

The Ukrainian army continues to battle separatists in eastern regions. Tensions spiked a few months ago when Russia seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and 23 crew members over a dispute in the waters off the Crimean Peninsula.

On Friday, in response to the incident in the Kerch Strait, Canada and several other western countries imposed further sanctions on Russian individuals, notably Vladimir Yakunin, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Yakunin was placed on a U.S. sanctions list in March, 2014, shortly after Crimea was annexed, but the former Conservative government did not follow suit.

As the former head of Russian Railways, he had strong business ties with Canada — particularly with Montreal-based train manufacturer Bombardier Inc. In a 2015 interview with The Canadian Press, he was asked if those links had shielded him from being blacklisted by Canada.

"I suppose Canadians are not the same masochists, like, you know, Europeans," he said at a dinner involving news agency heads from around the world. "This is jokingly answering your question. I consider that I am known enough in Canada as a promoter of the idea of collaboration."

The Liberals, while still in opposition four years ago, promised to place both Yakunin and another Putin ally, Igor Sechin, under sanction. Freeland defended the length of time it's taken to deliver on that pledge.

"I'm very glad we've included them on this latest sanctions list," she said. "We do the work necessary to ensure that we are focused on the appropriate people. We've done that work. This is a strong action by Canada."

Yurii Nykytiuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa, said his government appreciates the extension of the military mission because "it helps save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers" and assists his country in pursuing its goal of one day joining NATO.

"It wouldn't be fair for me to say that we do not need more instructors in Ukraine, but the job the Canadian Armed Forces is doing is a tremendous job, and we value it very much," he said.

The Ukraine mission's mandate was due to expire at the end of the month.

The second mission being extended involves a training and advisory deployment in Iraq.

That deployment — leading the NATO training mission and giving direct support to the U.S.-led coalition that has been hunting down the remnants of the Islamic State group — will now continue until the end of March 2021.

The extension of the Iraq mission comes as no surprise. Last summer, the Liberal government agreed to lead the NATO training mission headquartered in Baghdad.

Canada is providing 250 soldiers, a headquarters, security forces and transportation to other alliance members training Iraqi forces to handle security on their own.

Separately and distinctly, Canadian special forces also are providing direct advice and assistance to Iraqi troops in the northern part of the war-torn country.

Sajjan said Canada's mission allows Iraq and coalition partners to "more effectively plan and execute military operations aimed at improving stability in the region."

Canada first deployed troops and fighter jets to the campaign against the Islamic State in the fall of 2014 after the extremist group captured vast swaths of territory in both Syria and Iraq.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukraine-iraq-freeland-sajjan-russia-isis-1.5061159

by **Kizzer** Fri 05 Apr 2019, 1:26 pm

Air reservists carrying out tactical aviation mission in Iraq

Posted on April 5, 2019; RCAF Press Release

Nearly half of the members of Canada’s Tactical Aviation Detachment who are deployed on Operation Impact to provide air transport to the NATO Mission Iraq are Air Force reservists.

Iraq Mission - Page 3 Icnp2019-03-reservists-in-taji-adjusted-1024x582

Reservists serving at Camp Taji on Operation Impact, and supporting the NATO Mission Iraq, display the RCAF ensign in February 2019. MCpl Mingxin Li Photo

The detachment, based at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, provides air transport to NATO and its operational partners–Australia, Finland and Sweden.

The detachment operates Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CH-146 Griffon helicopters, a well-proven platform used extensively in Afghanistan and currently deployed to Mali as well as Iraq. These tactical aviation helicopters offer enhanced flexibility to the commander of the NATO Mission Iraq to move personnel and equipment to multiple locations every day to carry out NATO Mission Iraq’s advisory and training mission.

The detachment is currently composed of Regular Force and Reserve Force personnel who are mainly from units belonging to 1 Wing, headquartered in Kingston, Ont. Approximately one-third of 1 Wing’s personnel, who belong to squadrons located across Canada, are reservists, making the wing a true leader in the “total force” concept.

Air reservists deployed with the detachment come from a wide spectrum of occupations–aviation systems technician, avionics systems technician, aircraft maintenance superintendent, human resources administrators, supply technicians, mobile support equipment operators , flight engineers, pilot, air traffic controllers and meteorological technicians. They are joined by Canadian Army reservists from the air gunner, intelligence and electrical and mechanical engineering occupations.

This makes the Tactical Aviation Detachment a truly total force and inter-service endeavour.

Under NATO Mission Iraq, Canadian Armed Forces personnel and resources are improving training for Iraqi security forces, thereby helping Iraq build a more effective national security structure.

https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/air-reservists-carrying-out-tactical-aviation-mission-in-iraq/

by Scorpion Wed 08 May 2019, 8:31 pm

Can Canadian soldiers stop the next Iraq insurgency?

The race is on to prepare Iraq for a whole new deadly insurgency led by ISIS fighters, and Canadian soldiers are in the middle of it

by Adnan R. Khan May 8, 2019

Iraq Mission - Page 3 IRAQ-ISIS-01-810x445-1556829917

A Canadian gunner surveys the Iraqi countryside: a fine line between training and combat

Latifiya has never fully accepted the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule. The predominantly Sunni town 40 km south of Baghdad was a key launching ground for the insurgency that began in 2004 and descended into a civil war. It was part of the ostentatiously named Triangle of Death that included the towns of Mahmudiya to the north and Yusufiya to the west.

In 2004, the insurgents here were not yet part of the growing al-Qaeda in Iraq network. They called themselves the Honourable Resistance, Saddam loyalists who lost their power and influence after the collapse of the regime following the U.S. invasion and the chaos it triggered. But in time, Latifiya would become a hotbed of al-Qaeda support, and during the expansion of ISIS across Iraq and Syria it would again shelter its fighters. Mahmudiya was first controlled by the Shia Mahdi Army, led by the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, but eventually it also fell to al-Qaeda.

During my first visit here in 2004, I was captured by members of the Honourable Resistance, held for hours, questioned, threatened with death and, luckily, eventually released. In late April, both villages are again buzzing with activity, though now it’s not militancy that rules the streets but the routine bustle of everyday life. The rat-a-tat-tat of hammers hitting nails as the towns rebuild has replaced the gunfire that once terrified its residents. Still, the wounds from those years of hatred have yet to fully heal.

Karim Kadhim remembers those days well. The 42-year-old principal at Ali al Wardi School recalls how, during the Saddam era, Sunni and Shia in Mahmudiya lived together in peace. But the U.S. invasion in 2003, he says, tore apart the social fabric. Shia in the town turned to the Mahdi Army for protection, while Sunnis turned to al-Qaeda.

Neighbours fought each other. “Terrorism is like a virus,” he says. “One person calls another person a terrorist. Then that person calls the other person a terrorist. Eventually, everyone is a terrorist to someone.”

At the graduation ceremony of his sixth graders, Kadhim points out that those same people who once pointed fingers at each other and called each other terrorists are now sitting together drinking tea again. He nods to an old man in a black and white kaffiyeh. “That is Sheikh Hikmat Kaven,” he says. “He supported al-Qaeda at that time.”

Kaven turns to Kadhim with a wry smile: “When they first came they said they were fighting in the name of God, and we believed them,” he says in his defence. “They said they were here to fight the Americans, so we helped them. But then they started fighting us, so we helped the Americans fight them.”

ISIS, Kaven adds, was a different kind of beast. Its brutality has been a wake-up call. “We were stupid back then, but now we’ve learned our lesson. These people do not care about us. They want power and they will kill whoever stands against them.”

The peace, however, remains precarious. The Shia militias, known as the Hashd al Shaabi, some with loyalties to Iran, now control Mahmudiya, as the Mahdi Army once did. And a terrifying but familiar force is lurking again: ISIS sleeper cells roam the fields around the town, with some sheikhs in the area rumoured to be working with them.

It wasn’t so long ago that U.S. President Donald Trump announced the “total defeat” of ISIS. Its death was touted as a major victory over the Salafi-jihadist project, and the end of the caliphate would take the steam out of the ideology behind it, proponents of this view boasted.

Only it hasn’t. The caliphate is gone but the hardened fighters are not. Its networks remain intact, its financing secure and its global appeal still startlingly effective. The Sri Lanka bombings—one of the worst terror attacks since 9/11—offered the terrifying evidence. Even its leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, once thought either dead or gravely injured, appeared in a video at the end of April looking plump and in charge.

Thousands of fighters who fled Syria after the fall of the caliphate have now fanned out throughout Syria and Iraq—like those once again patrolling the Triangle of Death—where sectarian divides, corruption and foreign meddling have created an ideal setting for an ISIS resurgence.

It’s in this dangerous void that Canada is now operating in Iraq, the lead country in a new NATO training mission made up of 470 troops from 22 nations tasked with preparing Iraqi security forces for a difficult fight.

Just over 200 soldiers, mostly from Quebec, have joined the more than 800 Canadian service members, including Special Forces, already operating in the country, making Iraq Canada’s signature foreign military intervention, with a commitment running into 2021.

The goal, commanders on the ground say, is straightforward: ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS and help raise an Iraqi army that is self-sufficient and capable of defending Iraq against any future threats. But the recent history of Iraq—and of ISIS—suggests a hard road ahead. And time is running short.

When Lt. Jakob Kaemmerer received word he would be deployed to Iraq, his first thoughts were consumed by the excitement of his first overseas deployment. The 24-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native had always dreamed of joining the military. After two years in university, he took advantage of the Regular Officer Training Program to pay for his degree in civil engineering and was posted to the 5 Combat Engineer Regiment in Valcartier, Que.

At the time, ISIS was at its height, controlling a huge swath of territory in Iraq and Syria. Canadian Special Forces were embedded with Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq’s north and preparing for the siege of Mosul, the ISIS caliphate’s crown jewel.

From the safety of his base in Quebec, Kaemmerer found it difficult to wrap his head around ISIS’s brutality. What he understood was what his training in explosive ordnance disposal had taught him: the tactics they used were deadly. Defeating them would mean people like him—combat engineers—would have to put their lives on the line.

During the Mosul offensive, ISIS did not disappoint. Booby traps and improvised explosive devices became the scourge of Iraqi counterterrorism units on the front lines. Thousands lost their lives, or if they were lucky, only a limb or two.

In the end, ISIS was defeated and, as its caliphate crumbled, Kaemmerer came to believe the group was gone for good. Its last stand in eastern Syria felt like an ending, he says—the condition of the ragged fighters limping out of the battle zone a just fate for the crimes they had committed.

But when he arrived in Iraq in February, Kaemmerer discovered a very different reality. “I didn’t know the extent to which ISIS was still present in Iraq,” he says. “I thought they’d been completely wiped out. I got here and heard they might be coming back as an insurgency, that they’ve come back into Iraq from Syria.”

Based out of the sprawling Taji military installation less than 30 km north of Baghdad, Kaemmerer has had some time to rethink what his mission to Iraq means. In the beginning, he saw it merely as a training mission to help the Iraqi Military Engineering School modernize its course curriculum. Now, with an insurgency looming, his role feels more critical. Kaemmerer heads up a team of Canadians deployed with the NATO Mission in Iraq, tasked with helping the Iraqi army improve its capabilities. His specialty is route clearance—an innocuous-sounding name for a job that, in the fight against an enemy like ISIS, means exposing oneself to its deadliest tactic: roadside bombs.

The Iraqi soldiers he has worked with, he says, have ample experience when it comes to improvised explosive devices. “As individuals, they’re fine,” he says. “But the way they do it is by habit. What we’re trying to show them is that if they have better procedures and work together as a team, they will stand a better chance of saving lives—not just their own lives, but civilian lives.”

In its current form, ISIS has been active for only five or six years, but its origins stretch back at least to 2004, shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

At that time, the first signs were emerging of what would evolve into one of the world’s most brutal civil wars. The sectarian hatreds unleashed by the U.S. invasion were still in their infancy, but all the mistakes that led to them had already been made. The original sin, of course, was the invasion itself, predicated on false intelligence and executed with such disregard for a post-war strategy that it seemed almost as if the goal itself was chaos.

First came the looting: as American soldiers watched, Iraqis went to work dismantling Iraq’s precious history and culture. Nothing was spared: works of art disappeared along with priceless relics; Saddam’s palaces were ransacked, government buildings stripped bare. Then came the catastrophic Coalition Provisional Authority, led by Paul Bremer. Under his tutelage, the Iraqi army was disbanded, its soldiers and officers left jobless. Secret military prisons sprouted up around Iraq where Sunni men were herded and tortured. It was here that al-Qaeda in Iraq—what would become ISIS—recruited its most hardened fighters.

Random attacks and the deaths of a few U.S. soldiers began to unsettle the occupying forces. And with support for the war already precarious back home, orders came down to keep the locals at a distance. By August, the U.S. had retreated behind blast walls and barbed wire. Any hint of goodwill was gone.

In 2014, when ISIS swept through predominantly Sunni Mosul, the poorly trained and largely Shia army collapsed. ISIS fighters, numbering in the hundreds, easily drove out Iraqi soldiers numbering in the thousands.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the current commander of the NATO mission, says the Iraqis would like to avoid a repeat.

“There’s a realization at all levels that to defeat ISIS you must invest in the long term,” he says, speaking at his office in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone. “The Iraqi Ministry of Defence understands that to do this means they have to invest in capabilities, in expertise, to grow their own security institutions so that they are able to withstand the resurgence of violent extremist organizations.”

In shaping the NATO mission, Fortin has employed a distinctly Canadian “whole of government” approach. Teams like Kaemmerer’s engineers will focus on training Iraqis at their combat engineering and explosive ordnance disposal schools so they can take the lead in training the next generation of Iraqi soldiers. The goal is sustainability, so missions like Operation Inherent Resolve—in which an unknown number of Canadian Special Forces are still reportedly embedded with the Iraqi army hunting ISIS sleeper cells—can finally come to an end.

Other Canadians are working directly with the Iraqi ministries of defence, interior and health to help build institutional capacities so that the whole system can operate efficiently. But the challenges are daunting.

“In many ways now we are in a race to the future,” Brig.-Gen. Colin Keiver, Canada’s top commander with Operation Inherent Resolve, tells me by telephone from the coalition headquarters in Kuwait. “It is about building Iraqi capacity so they are able to deal with an ISIS now trying to establish itself as an insurgency. We’ve seen attacks increase, whether it be improvised explosive devices or small arms.”

Then there are the sectarian divides, which continue to plague Iraq. The fight against ISIS has only deepened those divides after Iraq’s Shia leaders called for the creation of militias to take on the Sunni extremist group. Those militias were key to ISIS’s defeat and have now embedded themselves in the Iraqi security services, refusing to disband.

In Latifiya, Sheikh Modhir al Janabi has a reputation for anti-government sentiment. It was the al Janabi tribe that captured me in 2004, and it remains on the cusp of returning to the insurgency. At his palatial meeting hall, incongruously set amid ragged fields on the outskirts of the village, the sheikh remains openly distrustful of the Iraqi government as well as any foreign presence in Iraq.

He is also an avid conspiracy theorist. Over the course of one hour, he stitches together wild tales of U.S. and Iraqi government support for al-Qaeda. He claims the U.S. created ISIS as an excuse to come back to Iraq and that the U.S. plan all along has been to break the back of Iraqis to take control of the country.

“It’s like the story of the elephant,” he says. “It’s very difficult to train an elephant. So what can you do? You wear black; you dig a hole in the ground. When you trap the elephant, you start to beat him and treat him badly. He will cry, that elephant. Then you leave and return dressed in white. You offer the elephant water; you clean him up and treat him tenderly. Then the elephant will listen to you. This is what the Americans have done in Iraq.”

The Iraqi government receives even less respect. According to al Janabi, it was Nouri al Maliki, the former Iraqi prime minister, who orchestrated a prison break in 2013 in which hundreds of al-Qaeda prisoners were set free, reinforcing ISIS ranks. In fact, the incident was carried out by ISIS itself, part of a strategy Baghdadi announced in 2012 to free its imprisoned fighters.

But for al Janabi, being ruled by what he calls an “Iranian proxy” from Baghdad—referring to the feeling among many of Iraq’s Sunnis that the central government favours the Shia majority—is unacceptable. “We brought peace to Latifiya ourselves,” he says, “without the army, without the Americans. But now the army is back. They have these checkpoints again. That’s a problem for us.”

Al Janabi is not entirely off the mark. Iraq’s government, particularly under Maliki, has been criticized for developing close ties to the Iranians and inflaming sectarian tensions. The army has been accused of mistreating Sunnis, though its reputation is beginning to improve, while the Shia militias have developed a penchant for extrajudicial killings and believing all Sunnis are terrorists.

The issue, Brig.-Gen. Keiver says, is front and centre for the coalition. “We’ve seen tension; we’ve seen open conflict frankly between some of the PMFs and the Iraqi security forces,” he says, using another acronym for the militias. “We’ve seen some of the PMFs engage in criminality to support their activities in terms of vehicle checkpoints. It’s a big challenge and it’s one the Iraqi government has absolutely got to wrestle with.”

At the Taji military base, the Shia militias pose a direct threat. Canadian forces, along with their international coalition partners, are housed in what’s known as the Green Zone, protected by their own blast walls and sentries. Outside the Green Zone is the Amber Zone, where the Iraqi military and some Shia militias are based. For the training, Kaemmerer and his team must leave the Green Zone and travel a short distance to the Iraqi Military Engineering School in the Amber Zone.

Members of the force protection team that accompanies them tell me their biggest concern is the Shia militias. “We see them sometimes watching us,” one of the team members says, requesting anonymity. “They take notes on our movements. We’re not sure what they’re up to.”

The Shia militias are only one of the dangers Canada faces. The NATO mission may be “non-combat” only, according to Maj.-Gen. Fortin, but some of what Canada is doing rides the fine line between passive training support and active combat.

In taking the lead at this initial stage, for instance, Canada has also contributed three Griffon transport helicopters that provide logistical support for Canadian forces as well as other members of the coalition. Two of the helicopters are in the air virtually every day on multiple flights between bases, often travelling low over open terrain where there is risk of an ISIS presence.

Canada also provides a force protection unit in Baghdad that is tasked with escorting civilians and other members of the NATO mission around the city.

“We’re one of the few countries actively involved in doing security in Baghdad,” says Maj. Nicholas George, the commander of the unit. “We’re out on the streets every day, but our relationship with the Iraqi forces is excellent and the intelligence we receive from them gives us a very good understanding of the threats we face.”

Those threats are likely to increase in the coming weeks and months. Baghdad is calm for the time being, but locals say they fear an ISIS insurgency could break out at any moment.

Maj.-Gen. Fortin is adamant that regardless of what happens, Canada’s role in the NATO training mission will not change. “There will be no mission creep,” he says. “Our goal here is to help the Iraqis prepare for any contingency, including the emergence of another extremist group, whether it’s ISIS or the Son of ISIS or whatever they might call themselves.”

That eventuality is a near certainty.

https://www.macleans.ca/news/world/can-canadian-soldiers-stop-the-next-iraq-insurgency/

by kodiak Wed 26 Jun 2019, 2:21 pm

CAF to lead NATO Iraq mission until Nov. 2020; sets date for rededication of Kandahar Cenotaph

By Marco Vigliotti. Published on Jun 26, 2019

Iraq Mission - Page 3 Mar.1900654-1200x675

https://ipolitics.ca/2019/06/26/caf-to-lead-nato-iraq-mission-until-nov-2020-sets-date-for-rededication-of-kandahar-cenotaph/

by Marshall Fri 28 Jun 2019, 6:55 pm

Canada extends leadership of NATO training mission in Iraq to November 2020

Jun 28, 2019

Iraq Mission - Page 3 5d161dff023d1638524c4a3ejpeg

https://larongenow.com/2019/06/28/canada-extends-leadership-of-nato-training-mission-in-iraq-to-november-2020-2/

by Stanleyz Sat 06 Jul 2019, 4:36 pm

Canada extends training mission in Iraq with no end in sight

The NATO brain trust has determined that yet more young Iraqi males need to learn to be soldiers – and Canadian soldiers have been tasked with this fool’s errand

By Scott Taylor
- JULY 6, 2019

Iraq Mission - Page 3 News1516LA_OperationImpactAgasintISISinIraq3_px626

Canadian Special Forces in northern Iraq continue to assist Iraqi forces as they mop up the remnants of Daesh (aka ISIS or ISIL).

Most Canadians are blissfully unaware that we still have troops in Iraq, or that back in November 2018 our military took command of the NATO effort to train Iraqi security forces. This training cadre consists of 250 Canadians of a total 580 personnel.

On June 26, the government of Canada announced that we are extending the current mission by a full 12 months to November 2020.

Based largely in Baghdad, this training mission is separate from the Canadian Special Forces deployment in northern Iraq, which continues to assist Iraqi forces as they mop up the remnants of Daesh (aka ISIS or ISIL), which has remained defiant in defeat.

Following the announcement, a lot of media attention was focused on the fact that the mission will soon be commanded by Major-General Jennie Carignan, who will be promoted from the rank of Brigadier-General. A veteran combat soldier with tours in the Balkans and Afghanistan, Carignan will become the first female to command Canadian troops operationally.

By all accounts, she is a superb officer and I’m sure that she and her fellow Canadians will conduct themselves in a most professional manner.

But no one has yet defined what success in Iraq will be in the end.

When the NATO mission was first proposed – and Canada agreed to command it – there was no actual stated objective. It was simply a 12-month commitment of resources and money. Now that has become a 24-month commitment – and still no stated goal.

For example, no one has determined the size of the security force that Iraq needs, or the degree of proficiency to which it should be trained before NATO’s work is considered complete.

During Saddam Hussein’s three-decades rule, Iraq had mandatory military service for all adult males.

From 1980 to 1988, Iraq battled Iran in a bloody war of attrition. In 1991, a U.S.-led coalition destroyed a fully mobilized Iraqi army in the mother of all one-sided conflicts.

That widespread destruction of Iraq’s military was repeated when America invaded again in 2003. No one ever formally surrendered the Iraqi armed forces. The military and police force simply dissolved, and what units remained were disbanded by the new U.S. masters.

As the Iraqi insurgency began to coalesce by August 2003, the Americans began to recruit and train a new Iraqi security force. Over the past 16 years, the U.S. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, training hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to kill while outfitting them with the necessary weaponry and vehicles to achieve that objective.

Now the NATO brain trust has determined that yet more young Iraqi males need to learn to be soldiers – and Canadian soldiers have been tasked with this fool’s errand.

Scott Taylor is a former Canadian infantry soldier and founder of Esprit de Corps Magazine.

https://nowtoronto.com/news/canada-iraq-war-isis/

by **Wolfman** Mon 08 Jul 2019, 7:52 pm

July 8, 2019

Tension between Iran, U.S. has implications for Canadian troops in Iraq: analysts

The escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf between Iran and the United States have implications for the future safety of Canadian troops in Iraq, analysts suggested Monday.

Canada has about 850 military personnel there, including regular troops, special forces, medical specialists and helicopter air crews, as well as holding the leadership of the NATO training mission for Iraqi forces, but Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militias are also on the ground.

The Iranian-backed forces had a shared interest in helping the West defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but there are fears they could be used to strike U.S. forces or their allies.

The U.S.-Iran tensions reached new heights on the weekend when Tehran announced it was enriching uranium beyond the level allowed by the nuclear agreement it struck in 2015 with world powers, which was designed to allow it to produce nuclear energy but prevent it from developing atomic weapons.

That followed accusations of attacks on oil tankers transiting the Middle East and Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone last month while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was visiting the White House.

The fresh tensions arose after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear deal last year, launching a campaign on Tehran of enhanced sanctions that have inflicted major damage on the Iranian economy.

Rob Malley, the president of the International Crisis Group, said Monday that Iran essentially has three options for striking back at the U.S. — threatening to escalate its nuclear program, preventing the transport of foreign oil shipments in its neighbourhood and targeting U.S. or U.S.-friendly forces in the region.

“And the most obvious place is in Iraq because of the co-location of some of the Shia militias that are close to Iran and U.S. forces,” Malley, who was a top negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal for the Barack Obama White House, said on a conference call from Washington.

“They’ve already sent that signal. They haven’t hit any Americans. They certainly have the capacity to do so.”

Malley said such an attack would be a major escalation that would likely trigger a U.S. military response.

Bessma Momani, a University of Waterloo analyst of the Middle East, said Iran has used proxies in Iraq to hit a number of places where U.S. troops are based.

“But Iran is very careful to never do it themselves because they want to be able to have deniability. But of course our troops are at risk,” Momani said Monday in an interview.

The nuclear deal — which was brokered among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany — was designed to rein in Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, in return for greater relief from Western sanctions.

The deal’s future remains uncertain. France, Britain, China, Russia and Germany remain in it. The U.S. has imposed more sanctions and launched a cyber attack on an Iranian militia group.

Iran has been accused of attacking oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman its Revolutionary Guard shot down an unmanned U.S. military drone in the region, which nearly led to the U.S. launching retaliatory air strikes before President Donald Trump called off the plan.

“It’s important to look at this as a signalling attempt by the Iranians to basically get the Europeans to find some economic relief for them. The reality is they’re hurting, the Iranian economy is suffering. The oil sanctions preventing them from selling on the international market is effectively working,” said Momani.

But Momani said there is little leverage for European companies to provide relief because many are multinationals with interests in the U.S., which means the U.S. government can punish them.

China isn’t in a strong position either, said Momani, because it has already felt U.S. wrath over Iran. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou, who is accused of lying to American banks to circumvent Iran sanctions. Canada arrested Meng in Vancouver, leading to the imprisonment of two Canadian men and plunging Sino-Canadian relations to a new low.

“They (China) have their hands full already trying to comply with Iranian sanctions and Meng was just one — in their eyes — victim of that.”

Wendy Sherman, who was also a top U.S. negotiator on the nuclear deal, said everything Iran is doing to move ahead on uranium enrichment can be reversed if it can win some economic relief.

“Iran is, I think, operating in a very careful way, both taking reversible steps as well as doing this in a step-by-step process to put pressure on Europe in particular and Russia and China to break with United States ? to allow them to move and sell their oil,” Sherman said on the conference call from Washington.

“This could spiral out of control quite quickly, depending upon U.S. actions,” Sherman added. “We are at a very dangerous and difficult moment.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/5472851/us-iran-tension-impact-canadian-troops-iraq/

by **RunningLight** Sun 21 Jul 2019, 4:32 pm

Iraq Mission - Page 3 19-0128-photo4-is03-2016-0043-008

A door gunner on a CH-146 Griffon helicopter watches vigilantly as they fly over a village during Operation IMPACT in Northern Iraq on November 23, 2016. Photo: Operation IMPACT, Canadian Forces Combat Camera IS03-2016-0043-008 ~ Un mitrailleur de porte à bord d’un hélicoptère CH 146 Griffon survolant un village surveille avec vigilance au cours de l’opération IMPACT, dans le nord de l’Irak, le 23 novembre 2016. Photo : Opération IMPACT, Caméra de combat des Forces canadiennes IS03-2016-0043-008

By Steven Fouchard, Army Public Affairs

Ottawa, Ontario — Since first stepping into the role two years ago, Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Army (CA) Paul Hindo has visited with soldiers on overseas deployments on several occasions.

The locations – including Ukraine and Latvia – and the circumstances have all been different, but the troops themselves are consistent:

“One thing that never changes is the professionalism, dedication and the energy they bring to every mission,” HCol Hindo recalled in a recent interview. “I’ve re-confirmed on these visits how good our soldiers are and what wonderful ambassadors they are.”

The main topic of that interview was his most recent trip, during which he observed the CA’s ongoing work in Iraq as part of Operation IMPACT – Canada’s ongoing contribution to providing training, advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces.

Ultimately, said HCol Hindo, Op IMPACT is a “nation-building” exercise. That is a profound responsibility and he said seeing it in action was equally as profound for him on a personal level: The trip was his first step onto Iraqi soil in the role of Honorary Colonel since his family departed to make a new home in Canada back in 1972, when HCol Hindo was just 14 years old.

Below, HCol Hindo shares his unique perspective on Op IMPACT, his feelings on re-visiting his homeland, and the great respect with which Canadian soldiers have been greeted there.

Q1 Why were you asked to accompany the Army Commander, Lieutenant-General Jean-Marc Lanthier, to Iraq?

Since I speak the language very fluently and I understand the culture and history very well, I would be able to provide advice if he needed it. I loved the expressions on the Iraqis’ faces every time I was introduced. They would say hello in English and I would say it back in Arabic.

One commander there pegged me right away as being from Baghdad as opposed to the north where he’s from. I spoke to him and said, ‘You’re from Mosul’ and he said, ‘You’re from Baghdad.’ He could tell just because of the accent.

Q2 What were you hearing from Iraqi officials about the work Canadians are doing there?

They were extremely happy. The message I kept getting back is, “We need you,” and more importantly, “We respect you and you are making a difference.” Those are the key messages we got and they were the key messages that I passed on to our soldiers.

Q3 What were the troops telling you about their experiences?

Notwithstanding some of the issues they were going through – particularly separation from family – they all, at the end of the day, feel it is worthwhile. Canada is regarded there with great respect and esteem and that is all due to the professionalism of our soldiers. Not only are they professional, but they are going above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that this mission is a success.

What I noticed is that everybody does everything there. There’s no task too big or too small for anybody. Everybody was pulling their weight on different issues. Iraqis want the same thing that everybody else wants: security, peace, prosperity. And we are helping them attain those things.

Q4 How did it feel to be back in Iraq?

Every time I gave a speech I could say, “We’re not far from where I was born.” At one point we were not far from the village where my father was born – my father was a general in the Iraqi Army.

When the plane was flying over Baghdad I could feel the emotions. We left from Baghdad in 1972 and I landed in the same place as the Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Army in 2019 – full circle.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine going back to Iraq in an official capacity wearing the uniform of a Canadian soldier.

So it was very poignant for me. And it reaffirmed everything I believe about Canada – that it is a country based on meritocracy that welcomes diversity. It is a country where you can go as far as your abilities and your ambitions will take you.

https://ml-fd.caf-fac.ca/en/2019/07/31952

by Saulman Fri 09 Aug 2019, 10:10 am

Saskatoon sergeant becomes 1st female Canadian cop deployed to train Iraqi forces

Bridget Yard · CBC News · Posted: Aug 08, 2019

Sgt. Erin Coates (right) works with the Saskatoon Police Service. Last year, she was deployed to Iraq to help train police there as the country rebuilds.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-sergeant-training-iraq-1.5240133

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