Canada and the Iraq War

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Military history of Canada: Wars since Confederation

Boer War

First World War

Russian Civil War

Spanish Civil War

Second World War

Korean War

Cold War

Vietnam War

Invasion of Afghanistan

Iraq War

While it joined the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Canada did not directly join the United States led invasion of Iraq that began in 2003. Canada still played a role in the war in several indirect manners, and the war has also affected Canada.

Contents 1 Decision not to participate 2 Canadian involvement 3 Military participation 4 Canadian military officers who served in Iraq 5 Canadian deaths in Iraq 6 Canadian hostages in Iraq 7 Protests 8 Iraq War Resisters 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Decision not to participate

Then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien chose not to, in his words, "join with the so-called Coalition of the willing"^[1] during the invasion of Iraq.^[2] This reflected a consistent position taken by his government. Before the invasion of Iraq took place on March 19, 2003, "the Prime Minister had been saying for months that Canada was unlikely to join an invasion without explicit support from the United Nations."^[3] Within the United Nations, the debate about whether or not to support the invasion had at least two separate and distinct elements: The first element involved a discussion of international law which includes the Nuremberg Principles guidelines on preemptive war. The second element involved the UN inspections for Iraq's alleged possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Chrétien's decision also reflected the view of the general public. In March, 2003, a "poll, conducted for the Star and the Montreal newspaper La Presse by EKOS Research Associates, found 71 per cent of those polled [wanted to stay out of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq], with 27 per cent registering their disapproval."^[4]

Joining the war also presented feasibility problems for Canada. On March 31, 2003, Maclean's magazine reported that "Canada has committed about 2,000 troops to Afghanistan this summer, a significant contribution given the stretched state of the Canadian military."^[5]

Then leader of the Canadian Alliance party, Stephen Harper (and present Prime Minister), objected to Chrétien's decisions on Iraq. He felt that Canada should be fighting alongside the United States.^[6][7]

[edit] Canadian involvement

Despite not joining the coalition, Canada has played a role in the conflict in a number of ways.

Canada joined a number of non-belligerents in pledging to help rebuild Iraq post invasion. Canada contributed some $300 million to the effort. Also, in the summer of 2005, a group of Canadian experts was sent to help Iraq write its new constitution, including former Ontario premier Bob Rae. Jean-Pierre Kingsley (a Canadian), served as head of the international team observing the Iraqi legislative election, January, 2005. Both of these groups were based in Jordan due to security concerns. Canada has also helped train police and army officers in post-war Iraq.

[edit] Military participation

The Canadian and American militaries operate closely together, and the Chrétien government permitted a number of Canadians Forces members to actively serve in Iraq. Despite Canada's official position to stay out of Iraq, Canada, in fact, was contributing forces^[8]:

On March 31, 2003, Maclean's reported that "in February [2003], Canada took command of the multinational naval group, known as Task Force 151, patrolling the Persian Gulf region. Canada is deploying three frigates in the area and the destroyer HMCS Iroquois is en route. In addition to 30 Canadian Forces personnel working at the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, there are 150 Canadian troops on exchange with U.S. and British forces in the area who could see action."^[9]

Canada allowed its NORAD stationed Air Force members to fly combat missions and deploy with the USAF E-3 AWACS during the war and allowed its exchange officers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force to deploy and fight with their US units. 40-50 Canadian Military Members participated in the conflict, the majority flying on the E-3 AWACS, based out of Tinker AFB, OK, where they are stationed as part of NORAD.

On October 9, 2008, the CBC published this statement^[10]:

"Chrétien was attacked by opposition parties for hypocrisy, and asked to bring the exchange officers home. Chrétien's response was that those officers weren't involved in direct conflict, and that Canada had to honour its commitments. But in their book, The Unexpected War ^[11], University of Toronto professor Janice Gross Stein and public policy consultant Eugene Lang write that the Liberal government would actually boast of that contribution to Washington. "In an almost schizophrenic way, the government bragged publicly about its decision to stand aside from the war in Iraq because it violated core principles of multilateral-ism and support for the United Nations. At the same time, senior Canadian officials, military officers and politicians were currying favour in Washington, privately telling anyone in the State Department or the Pentagon who would listen that, by some measures, Canada's indirect contribution to the American war effort in Iraq — three ships and 100 exchange officers — exceeded that of all but three other countries that were formally part of the coalition.""^[12][13]

[edit] Canadian military officers who served in Iraq

• Brigadier general Walter Natynczyk: A senior Canadian officer, and the current chief of the defence staff. In January 2004 (in the first month under Prime Minister Paul Martin) Walter J. Natynczyk deployed with III Corps to Baghdad, Iraq, serving first as the Deputy Director of Strategy, Policy and Plans, and subsequently as the Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Corps (Iraq) during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was involved in the planning of the invasion and led 10 brigades consisting of more than 35,000 soldiers in Iraq. He was later awarded the Meritorious Service Cross specifically for his combat efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom January 2004 to January 2005.^[14]

• Major General Peter Devlin: Served as Multi-National Corps - Iraq Deputy Command General since December 14, 2006 as part of his role as Deputy Commander of the US III Corps through an officer exchange program.^[15]

• General Nicolas Matern: A Special Forces officer and former commander of Canada's elite counter-terrorism unit. In mid of February, 2008 he began to serve as deputy to Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin III, incoming commander of the 170,000-strong Multi National Corps-Iraq . By January 23, 2008, Fort Bragg had already confirmed that Matern had already been deployed to Iraq.^[16]

[edit] Canadian deaths in Iraq

To date, five Canadians, Ali Alwan, Bernard Gooden, Vatche Arslanian, Jonathan J. Simpson and Michael Seeley are known to have died in the conflict.

• Ali Alwan: An Iraqi-Canadian, Alwan had lived in Canada for eight years but chose to return to Iraq in August 2004. He was killed in April 2005, with some reports of him being the victim of an American attack.[1].^{[citation needed]} Two other Canadians have been taken hostage by insurgents, but both were released.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

• Cpl. Bernard Gooden immigrated to Canada in 1997, Gooden joined the Canadian Army Reserves (2 Field Engineers, Toronto) where he served for several years and took a number of combat engineering courses. He also attended Glendon College of York University for 2 years where he lived in Wood residence and studied Political Science. He was a serious and motivated student although short of money. When the 2000-2001 school year was interrupted by a strike at York and his money was running out, he joined the Marines with the belief that they would help with him with his education. Gooden was a member of the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division and died during a fire fight in April 2003. [2]^{[citation needed]}

• Vatche Arslanian was a member of the Red Cross and was killed when his convoy was caught in a fire fight between American and Iraqi Forces.^{[citation needed]}

• Sgt. Jonathan J. Simpson a Marine was a dual Canadian and U.S. citizen was killed in combat operation on Oct. 14.^{[citation needed]}

• Michael Seeley a Mi'kmaq from New Brunswick, was killed in a bomb attack on October 30 [3]^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Canadian hostages in Iraq

See also Foreign hostages in Iraq

Eight Canadians have been taken hostage in Iraq over the course of the conflict. One, Zaid Meerwali, an Iraqi-Canadian truck driver, was killed in 2005. A second Iraqi-Canadian, Rifat Mohammed Rifat, has been missing since 2004 and is presumed dead. The six other Canadians taken hostage were released or rescued. The most prominent Canadian hostage taking was the 2005 abduction of Christian Peacemaker team members James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. They were rescued in a multi-national 2006 operation that included Canadian special forces. The rescue force was led by elements of 'Task Force Black' - a multinational counter-kidnap unit consisting of British SAS, American, and Canadian Special Forces. They were supported by 'Task Force Maroon', a support unit made up of British Paras and Marines.^[17] Joint Task Force 2, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian Security Intelligence Service were also involved.^[18] For full details see 2005–2006 Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis.

Other Canadians taken hostage but since released are:

• Fadi Ihsan Fadel, a Syrian-Canadian employed by the International Rescue Committee, was taken hostage in Najaf on April 8, 2004 but released on April 16, 2004.
• Naji al-Kuwaiti, was taken hostage on April 28, 2004, and released on May 4, 2004.
• Fairuz Yamucky was abducted on September 6, 2004, but rescued by a US National Guard unit sixteen days later.
• Scott Taylor, was a journalist abducted by Ansar al-Islam in Tal Afar on September 9, 2004. He was released five days later.

[edit] Protests

There have been frequent protests against the Iraq War both prior to the invasion and afterwards.

On Saturday, November 16, 2002 (prior to the invasion) in Canada an anti-war demonstration of about 2,000 people occurred at Queen’s Park in Toronto. ^{[19][20][21][22]} On November 17, 2002 a large anti-war coalition held a peace march in Vancouver marching from Peace Flame Park as part of a Cross-Canada Day of Action. In Vancouver, about 3,000 people gathered in the rain. Washington must take any complaints against foreign governments to the United Nations, they said. Many accused the White House of targeting Saddam Hussein in order to try to take control of valuable oil reserves. About 1,000 marched through a shower of ice pellets in Montreal, and about 500 showed up in a blur of white snow on Parliament Hill. Rallies were held in several other cities, including Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton. ^{[23][24][25][26]}

In February 2003, (also prior to the invasion) there was another set of global protests. Canada saw protests in 70 cities and towns (WSWS estimate).^[27] The biggest took place in Montreal where more than 100,000 people protested (SW and WSWS each estimated 150,000) despite wind-chill temperatures of below −30 °C (−22 °F). 80,000 people joined a demonstration in Toronto, 40,000 in Vancouver, 18,000 (by police estimates) in Edmonton, 8,000 in Victoria, 4,000 in Halifax and 6,000 in Ottawa. Some of the other major centres where protests were held included Windsor, Calgary^[28] There were protests in 70 cities in total. These demonstrations took place despite very cold weather, average temperatures were below −35 °C (−31 °F).^[29][27] In Chicoutimi, 1,500 people braved a −40 °C (−40 °F) wind-chill temperature including wind gusts reaching 50 km/h (31 mph), in what was surely one of the coldest marches of the global day of protest.

[edit] Iraq War Resisters

Main article Conscientious Objector Immigration to Canada

Some objectors to the Iraq War (See List of Iraq war resisters) chose Canada as a place of refuge, in part because of the closeness of the Canada–United States border, as well as an historical precedent set during the 1960s, when draft dodgers were allowed into Canada without prosecution during the Vietnam War.

Pursuant to the Treaty between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, US authorities can request Canadian authorities to identify, locate, and take into custody US nationals who have committed a crime that carries a possible sentence of more than a year,^[30] and subsequently extradite the target back to the US, as per the Extradition Treaty Between the United States of America and Canada. ^[31] However, the US government must promise that those extradited will not receive the death penalty, in accordance with the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in United States v. Burns. Thus, deserters who may have had an arrest warrant issued against them in the US are liable for arrest in Canada, unless they legalise their status, which can be done by pursuing a refugee claim, which the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) will consider. If the claim is refused, the claimant can appeal the decision in the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and finally, the Supreme Court of Canada, if leave is granted. If, however, appeals do not overturn the decision of the IRB, the claimant must leave Canada within 30 days, under a removal order.^[32] If this is not done, or departure details are not confirmed with the Canada Border Services Agency, a deportation order is issued, enforcable by any officer of the Queen's peace in Canada.^[33]

[edit] See also

• Iraq War
• Military History of Canada
• Opposition to the Iraq War
• Views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Worldwide government positions on war on Iraq

[edit] References

[edit] External links

v • d • e Foreign relations of Canada Multilateral relations Caribbean · Latin America · Transatlantic (European Union, NATO)  · United Nations History Soviet Union · Cold War · Vietnam War · Afghanistan War · Iraq War Policies, doctrines, concepts Middle power · North Atlantic triangle · Responsibility to protect · Foreign policy of the Harper government Africa Egypt · Ethiopia · Kenya · Morocco · Nigeria · Tunisia · Zimbabwe Asia Afghanistan · People's Republic of China · Georgia · India · Indonesia · Iran · Israel · Japan · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Malaysia · Mongolia · North Korea · Pakistan · Philippines · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · South Korea · Thailand · Vietnam Europe Armenia · Austria · Belgium · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Greece · Holy See  · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kosovo · Latvia · Malta · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Romania · Russia · Serbia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom · North America and Caribbean Barbados · Haiti · Jamaica · Mexico · United States Oceania Australia · New Zealand South America Argentina · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Guyana · Paraguay · Peru · Uruguay · Venezuela Canadian Diplomats  · Missions Abroad  · Foreign Missions in Canada  · Treaties  · Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

• Pre-war DFAIT report on Iraq WMDs
• Canada and the War Against Iraq