(Canadian)Tanks going to Afghanistan after all

[maddezmom]

Published: Saturday, September 09, 2006

OTTAWA -- Less than three weeks after denying it was sending Leopard tanks to Afghanistan, the Canadian military is set to ship as many as 20 of the heavy tracked armoured vehicles to Kandahar.

Although the tanks have been used once overseas on a peace support mission in Kosovo in the 1990s, this is the first time they will be sent into an actual combat situation.

A warning order was issued earlier this week to the Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) in Edmonton to prepare for the deployment. Twenty tanks are being readied for the operation and about 300 personnel will be heading to Afghanistan.

The Leopards will be used for escort duty for Canadian convoys, which have continually come under attack by the Taliban, government sources said. In addition, some soldiers have suggested the presence of tanks would make insurgents think twice about attacking Canadian convoys.

more:http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=23e65690-7e71-49b2-8db6-33f71acb6aef

[Demeter]

1. How Soon Before Canadians Dump Harper into the St. Laurence?

[theoldman]

2. The Russians used a lot of tanks in Afghanistan.

The problem was that the Afghanis destroyed them with anti-tank rockets.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Better hope the Taliban don't get hold

of some of the anti-tank rockets Hezbollah was using against the Israeli tanks.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Most of the Israeli military casualties in south Lebanon - including a majority of the 15 killed yesterday - have been caused by Hezbollah's powerful arsenal of anti-tank missiles, according to a senior Lebanese security official.

The Shia guerrilla group also has deployed well-trained anti-tank teams in the south to transport these missiles and fire them in ways that would inflict heavy casualties on Israeli forces. The units are made up of four to six fighters who move around in cars or on foot, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"These anti-tank units are the most effective Hezbollah weapon in fighting the Israelis," the official said. "They have the training and missiles to inflict heavy damage."

Hezbollah is using three kinds of sophisticated anti-tank missiles that have enabled it to disable - and, in some cases, destroy - Israel's most powerful armored vehicle, the Merkava tank. The Merkava is reinforced with several tons of armor, a virtual fortress on tracks intended to ensure its crew's survival on the battlefield.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-womiss104846398aug10,0,2488200.story?coll=ny-worldnews-toputility

[daleo]

9. I might be wrong, but I don't think Leopards are that heavily armoured

Especially compared to the Israeli Merkava tank.

[happyslug]

11. These are Leopard I, from the 1960s.

Now some people in the US Army wanted the Leopard I adopted instead of the M60 in the 1960s but do to politics the US ended up adopting the M60. Since WWII where you see a difference between US Weapons and Canadian Weapons it is often because the US Army was forced do buy something else do to US internal politics Example of this include the M60 Tanks instead of the Leopard, the M14 Rifle instead of the FN's FAL Rifle, the M60 Machine gun instead of the FN MAG machine Gun (In the 1990s the US Army finally adopted the MAG as the M240 Machine Gun).

The Leopard I was the best western tanks of the 1960 period, it is NOT the German Leopard II, the US M1 Or the Israeli Merkava series of Tanks adopted in the 1980s and afterward.

[MrPrax]

4. So it's a troop increase...

Liars and bastards...we gotta get them out.

TODAY...just passed

NDP delegates vote in favour of withdrawing Canadian troops from Afghanistan

QUEBEC (CP) - Delegates attending the New Democratic Party's convention in Quebec City have voted in favour of pulling Canadian troops out of Afghanistan.

About 90 per cent of delegates voted for NDP Leader Jack Layton's resolution, giving him a massive endorsement from his party's grassroots in his push for a withdrawal of troops from the war-torn country.

After the vote, there was a loud standing ovation.

News1130 -- not much more at the link...it's a bulletin from the convention.

[Roy]

5. That's strange..

I am watching at this very moment a Canadian broadcast (HNN channel - CPAC), political discussion. The question is "What do you think of policy to pull all troops out of Afghanistan.
I know nothing of Canadian politics, but they say the NDP has just voted to pull all Canadian troops from Afghanistan immediately.

[Lisa]

6. the NDP is one of the opposition parties

Because the Conservatives now are in charge of the government (since the election earlier this year), the NDP motion probably won't affect official policy. Unless the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc all team up on this one and hold a non-confidence vote (together they hold more seats than the Conservatives, who are only in on a minority).

In terms of the US political spectrum, the NDP tend to be like the progressive portion of the Democratic party.

They've already been critical of the shift to a combat role in Afghanistan. The party leader, Jack Layton (used to be on Toronto city council) has been speaking out on this over the summer. (I had forgotten about them holding a party convention this week ...)

http://www.ndp.ca/page/4200

[Roy]

12. Thanks Lisa...

For the education. It was fascinating watching this conference.

[CHIMO]

7. DND denies rumour aging tanks bound for Afghanistan

Military maintenance crews are working overtime to prepare the Forces' Leopard tanks for a deployment, but the army says soldiers who believe the armoured vehicles are being readied for use in Afghanistan are mistaken.

Several soldiers have said the tanks are being prepared for shipment to Afghanistan by early next year and that work is underway at Canadian Forces Base Edmonton to prepare the vehicles for that mission. They say the tanks would not be used in an offensive role, but instead to add more protection for Canadian patrols and convoys, which have faced increasing attacks from suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices.

In addition, some soldiers suggest the presence of tanks would make insurgents think twice about attacking Canadian convoys.

But an army official said yesterday there is absolutely no truth to such suggestions and that the Leopards are instead being prepared for an exercise in September at CFB Wainwright in Alberta.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=732df853-5ac3-47eb-a080-e284cc6a6f1d

[daleo]

8. This is a nice example of the (Canadian) military lying.

"-- Less than three weeks after denying it was sending Leopard tanks to Afghanistan, the Canadian military is set to ship as many as 20 of the heavy tracked armoured vehicles to Kandahar."

Just for those people who still think the military doesn't lie when it suits their purposes.

You wonder how bad things are if they have to bring over tanks that they had planned to mothball.

[SoCalDem]

10. Hey, now..

They had their fingers crossed behind their backs when they said that :P