Your Singhs today (Canada Post edition)

More evidence emerges today of how Sikhs have taken over the Canadian polity. On Sunday, Canada Post, a perennial money-losing agency of the Liberal government of Canuckistan, unveiled a new commemorative stamp paying tribute to Sikh Canadian soldiers.

Speaking at the 18th annual Sikh Remembrance Day ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery in Kitchener ON, Balraj Singh Dhillon, Canada Post's General Manager of Platform and Partnerships [and Canadians wonder why Canada Post loses so much money! Ed.] said the stamp honours the service and contributions of Sikh soldiers in the Canadian military dating back to WWI.

Inevitably, Sandeep Singh Brar, curator of Sikh Museum.com, played the racism card, telling the meeja that during WWI, only ten (count `em, 10) Sikhs were permitted to serve in the Canadian army. "Thousands of Sikhs at the time tried to join, but they were turned away. They were told that ‘Sorry fellas, this is a white man’s war."

Later on, however, 1000s of Sikhs were recruited into Canada's military and police forces, their only demand being that they be allowed to wear their turbans and holy underpants, and carry their kirpans. 

One Singh who rose to a position of prominence in the modern Canadian [sic] Armed Forces is Harjit Singh Sajjan, Lt-Col. Retd., a former police office who became the first of his kind to command a Canadian Army reserve regiment.

Inevitably (again), Mr Sajjan became a Liberal politician, riding into office on the Trudeau wave of 2015. He served as the MP for Vancouver South until 2025, when, sensing imminent defeat, he chose not seek re-election in the federal election. 

Immediately upon his election, Mr Sajjan was named Minister of National Defence, in which position he served himself until 2021. In 2017, he was forced to apologize for exaggerating his role in Operation Medusa, a 2006 military operation in Afghanistan in which he was involved. Four years later (!), he was censured by vote in the House of Commons for his claims about Operation Medusa, as well as his handling of the issue of sexual assault within the Canadian Armed Forces. 

Although he was no longer the defence minister, Mr Sajjan was still in the Trudeau cabinet and in a position to help his co-religionists. In 2024, he came under criticism for prioritizing the evacuation of Sikhs with no links to Canada during the 2021 fall of Kabul, as well as for requesting troops to appear as backdrop to a pop concert by a Punjabi singer.

For some reason, Mr Sajjan, who is believed to be still alive and living in Surrey BC, was unable to attend the ceremony in Kitchener. However, the Liberal Party line was stated with admirable brevity by Sandeep Singh Brar (see above) who said that the stamp is a strong representation of Canada's diverse population.

In Brampton ON and Surrey BC, diversity began when the first Sikh family moved in, and will end when the last non-Sikh family moves out... probably sometime in 2026.

"We can be great again!" - The retired general's anti-woke speech the "legacy media" won't let you see

Here's the headline and the lede from an article which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on November 15th. 

Canadian Forces officers applaud speech slamming Canada's climate change policies, cancel culture, weak leaders

Serving senior Canadian military officers gave a standing ovation to a speech by a retired general who criticized everything from the removal of historical statues and apologies to victims to government climate change policies.

Did you note the date? November 15th. The speech referred to was made by Lt.-Gen. (Retd.) Michel Maisonneuve as he received the Vimy Award, a top Canadian defence award, on November 9th. Excerpts from his anti-woke speech appeared "below the fold" in some of Canada's lickspittle media a day or two later, but no video of the speech itself can be found. Believe me, Ed. has looked!

Nor has a full transcript been published, until today, when the editors of Canada's National Post summoned up the courage to run the full text, which apparently was submitted to them by the general, in response to popular demand. We've copied the whole thing, without permission, and believe Lt.-Gen Maisonneuve will be glad we did so. He wasn't talking just to hear himself, eh!

Lt.-Gen Maisonneuve is a decorated veteran of 35 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, and another 10 as Academic Director of le Collège militaire royal [Royal Military College] de Saint-Jean. He is a huge advocate for veterans, and served as the first Chief of Staff of NATO's Supreme Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk VA. In his November 9th speech, he pulled no punches in describing what he thinks needs to be done to make Canada great again. The emphasis is mine.

The Vimy Award. How humbling; what a tremendous honour. With this honour comes the opportunity to accept this award with a speech that acknowledges the spirit of Vimy and shares with you my vision for Canada today and for the future.

Canada — once we were great. We stopped the Americans in 1812, we gave the world Billy Bishop, Alexander Graham Bell and Lucy Maud Montgomery. We isolated insulin, invented the zipper and the snowblower. 

In World War One we mobilized 620,000 troops. We were victorious at Vimy Ridge. In World War Two we were brave enough to land at Dieppe, and we secured our beach on D-Day. The Devil’s Brigade remains the template for special forces the world over. Our small country boasted the world’s third largest navy at the end of that conflict. We became internationally recognized peacekeepers and more than 80,000 of us served on missions during the Cold War.

We beat the Russians on their ice in 1972 and a young man named Terry Fox continues to inspire us all with his unparalleled courage and determination. We gave the world the Canadarm in space; we won a world series. When the world changed again on 9/11, Canada stepped up — first to join the coalition of the willing and send in ships and JTF 2. Serving with distinction in Afghanistan — we still mourn the loss of our 159 men and women. Canada was a great nation and though we are faltering today I believe we can be great again.

Since this is my speech, I get to share what I believe Canada needs to do to take the world stage again; to be thought of first when it comes to seeking alliances, to be seen as a serious country once again. What will it take? Well, I believe it will take leadership and service. These two crucial foundations of greatness for any nation have somehow become secondary — lost in these days of entitlement, “me first”, “not my problem” and endless subsidies and handouts.

Let me start with leadership. Leadership applies in all pursuits and at all levels. Great leaders are distinguished by the success of those they lead and the entity they lead — be it a country, an army, a corporation or a sports team. When that entity succeeds, we recognize its leader … and when that entity fails, misses, or misses the playoffs, the leader must — should — take responsibility. 

History has given us many great leaders. Ask yourself: would those leaders have been as successful in today’s world? Well, let’s see; today’s world, where social media captures every move and word spoken — taken in context or not. Where cancel culture still flourishes and there is no call for redaction or amendment even when accusations are proved false. Truth is not a requirement; once cancelled, you are done.

Today’s world, where balanced journalism is difficult to find. The practice of presenting the facts — a truthful illustration of an event, a personality or issue that allowed the reader to form their own opinion — is no longer compulsory in mainstream media. The line between "news" and op-eds has blurred and too often we are subjected to sermons written not by seasoned journalists but by first-year graduates of woke journalism schools. Unbiased reporting seems to have died with Christie Blatchford and Matthew Fisher.

Today’s world, where extremism — once the almost exclusive purview of religious zealots — seems to be flourishing in all aspects of our lives, on the right … and on the left. Some of the most popular "causes" and beliefs of today are embraced by all manner of extremists with no thought of how to achieve this utopian ideal in a responsible or plausible manner.

For example, Canada’s prosperity is being sacrificed at the altar of climate change as opposed to being used to help the world transition to clean energy. Throwing soup and paint at the world’s art treasures is as heinous as it is useless. The perpetrators should be punished, not celebrated.

Today’s world is also where taking personal responsibility for our own actions has disappeared from the landscape while the phenomenon of collective apologies flourishes in our country. Individuals and groups fight over who gets to wear the coveted victim’s cloak. But any role they may have played in their own fate or in injuring others is dismissed as learned behaviour, inherited flaws or generational oppression.

So I am not here to debate whether those great leaders of yesteryear would be as successful in today’s world. But nor will I judge the decisions they made in their time against the standards of today. Enough statues have been toppled; erasing our history is not the solution. 

I believe that the most important leadership skills have not changed and are even more so today than ever. Number one is communication — it is more critical than ever in this world of sound bites and mic dropping. A good leader ensures his followers know where they are going and how to get there. A great leader makes them want to go there. A great leader can take a seemingly insurmountable objective and make it possible to achieve in the hearts and minds of their followers.

Thankfully these leaders still do exist in today's world and there is no better example than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In his nightly address he clearly, continuously, and passionately articulates the mission to his fellow Ukrainians. Dismissed early on as "an actor, a comedian, a dancer," President Zelenskyy has rallied the world to his just cause. He surrounded himself with good people, made difficult decisions and by communicating, has captured our hearts and souls with Ukraine’s plight. God speed Mr. President and Slava Ukrainii.

Secondly, cohesion, acceptance and tolerance. Today's leaders must stop dividing those they lead! Hasn't history shown us that success as a leader demands cohesion, unity and respect of all those they lead — not just those who agree wholeheartedly with them? Can you imagine a military leader labelling half of his command as deplorables, fringe radicals or less-thans and then expect them to fight as one?

Today’s leaders must find a way to unite; not divide. Leaders lead. There is a difference between making a good decision, based on research and consultation, and making a decision because it is popular or it polls well. The best decisions are those made for the good of the whole — not just good for friends of the leader. Today, special interests have trumped the collective good. Making decisions for the collective good requires strength of character, the communications skills to explain, and a great deal of courage.

Courage remains one of the most important qualities of a leader. The courage of ideas, courage in the face of criticism, the courage to guide and lead. The courage to create a vision for the good of all. The courage to recognize a mistake and accept responsibility — personal — for that mistake.

The second key to bring Canada back to prominence is service. Just a short two months ago, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, queen of Canada, died. It would be impossible to find a better example of service. On her coronation she promised that she would dedicate her life, whether long or short, to the service of all. Over the next 70 years, in good times and in bad, she placed the care of her realm and subjects above all else. She exemplified character and duty and provided us all with an example of dedication to service. She kept her promise. May she rest in peace.

The idea, the concept of service seems to be forgotten in our "me-first" culture. Service to others, to one's country, to humanity must be a noble aspiration. The obligation to give back in gratitude for a life filled with blessings, peace and good fortune should not be innovative. It seems that Canadians have lost the desire to serve and the need to serve their country.

The military — being in the service of one’s country — used to be a most highly regarded profession. Today, I see a military woefully underfunded, undermanned and under-appreciated; a force where uniforms have become a means of personal expression rather than a symbol of collective pride and unity: uniforms are no longer uniform. The idea of serving in our armed forces is getting little traction. Could it be because the moral contract under which our military serve is broken?

Members of the Armed Forces fulfill their side of the moral contract that exists between them and Canadian society — they serve and are ready to serve in dangerous missions at home or abroad to protect our country and project Canadian values. But Canada should also be holding up its end of the contract: providing them with the state-of-the-art tools they need, the best leadership, equipment, education and training to be safe and successful, and looking after them when they become veterans.

In my opinion, we are failing. Because for Canadians generally, the Armed Forces are not important until there is a crisis, and successive governments’ support of the forces reflect that mindset. Our troops who have dedicated their lives to serve this country deserve better.

We are in Veterans Week, commemorating those who exemplified the concept of service by putting their life on the line for us, and honouring those who gave up their tomorrows for our todays. Let's use them as our example to serve.

If more inspiration is required one need not look far: let’s remember the words of two of the finest leaders of our time: Margaret Thatcher believed "There’s no such thing as entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation." And of course, JFK most famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country."

Soon the festive season will arrive; a season of generosity and benevolence. In the name of service, I challenge us. Offer to volunteer, no matter where: an animal shelter, home for the homeless, seniors or veterans. The most important gift we can give is our time. I challenge us all to donate — instead of selling that surplus coffee maker on Kijiji, let’s donate it to Mission Services or Goodwill or the Salvation Army. I challenge us to be compassionate: give the panhandler enough cash for a warm meal but also ask them their name, wish them well and shake their hand.

I believe we can make Canada better. To find common ground with our neighbour and to unite our country rather than divide it. To apply our leadership and service; to live with compassion, tolerance and patience — but most of all to be proud of Canada and everything we once stood for.

We Canadians live in the greatest country in the world with almost unlimited resources, a tolerant and diverse people, and an educated population who can aspire to the greatest heights. We should be prepared to serve our country and be proud to do so. And our leaders must share this vision. "If not us, who? If not now, when?" Because, as Satchmo has told us, in spite of it all … it is a wonderful world.

I thought the last line was kind of lame, but I understand the sentiment. Take out the reference to Queen Elizabeth and a few others which Americans wouldn't get, and Lt.-Gen. Maisonneuve's address would make a fine campaign speech for... errr... whoever you think could deliver it with a straight face and be believed.

VIDEO: Max Bernier at the Ottawa Rally for Freedom

 "Freedom is the fundamental value that unites us! That's why we're here!"

The lickspittle Canuck media have been trying to give the impression that the Ottawa protest is fizzling out. Not true! (Are ya surprised?) Two items to note:

Emperor Trudeau II said yesterday that he would not order the use of troops to supress the protest... unless of course the province of Ontario or the City of Ottawa absolutely demanded it. The truth is that he is afraid to order the army to attack the protesters, for fear that the soldiers won't obey.

The Ottawa police have been imploring towing companies for miles around to help them by hooking up the "illegal parked" trucks, but have found no-one willing to do so. The truth is that the tow truck drivers are virtually unanimous in support of the Freedom Rally.

And one more thing. [No reference to Vince Offer? Ed.] As I write, I am hearing reports that 100s of trucks and tractors are encircling Toronto's Queen's Park, the pink palace which is the seat of the Ontario government. That's right... tractors! Big John Deeres! Driven by fed-up farmers. Should be an interesting weekend in Toronto the Not-so-good.

2nd Cdn Chief of Defence Staff resigns over sexual harassment claim

Less than a month ago [on February 4th, to be exact. Ed.] Walt told youthe sad story of Canadian Army General Jonathan Vance, who was forced to step down from his position as Chief of Defence Staff over concerns about his alleged intimate relationship with a junior officer. Tsk, tsk. "Me Too!"

That was kind of funny (not "funny curious" but "funny haha") because Gen. Vance was the driving force behind "Operation Honour", the Canuck military's PR campaign to quash sexual misconduct in the forces. French-speaking members of the military quickly transformed the name of the exercise into "`Op On Her".

Nothing deterred, the alleged government of Liberal Prime Minister Blackie McBlackface appoint a new CDS, in the person of Admiral Art McDonald. In announcing the appointment, Mr Socks praised him in these words: "Vice-Admiral Ronald... sorry... Art McDonald brings decades of experience in a variety of command and staff roles, and I am confident that he will provide dedicated leadership to the Canadian Armed Forces as they continue to respond wherever is needed to protect Canadians and our values."

"Canadian values"... yes... sure. Just two days ago, Adm. McDonald sent a message to all Canadian Forces personnel saying he was committed to earning their trust as well as taking bold action against sexual misconduct! 

The ink was barely dry on the press release when a source contacted the meeja with a series of allegations of sexual misconduct, complete with the specific file number for an ongoing police investigation that had been launched a month earlier. 

A victim had come forward and multiple witnesses were providing corroborating statements to police, the source noted. Just seven hours later, 45 minutes before midnight, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan (the Hero of Afghanistan -- you can look it up) announced the CDS was "voluntarily" leaving the job "until the probe was completed." 

Whether Adm. McDonald will regain his position as Monarch of the Sea remains to be seen, but at least Canucks can be glad that, unlike the British Navy, which has always "run on rum and buggery", Her Majesty's Canadian Navy is staffed by officers and men [and women. Ed.] who are resolutely heterosexual.

Canada's top general latest victim of "Me Too"

Meet General Jonathan Holbert Vance, CMM, MSC, CD, recently --very recently -- retired from the Canadian Army. General Vance served as the chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Armed Forces from 2015 to 2021. 

As reported here -- see "Canadian Armed Forces' 'Operation Hop on Her'", WWW 26/10/15 --  Jonboy was also the driving force behind Operation Honour, the military's PR campaign to quash sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces, or at least stop people from talking about it. 

But (as Walt reported) Canadian boys will be Canadian boys [except of course for those who haven't had the op yet. Ed.] It didn't take long for some uniformed wags to come up with a new name for the plan. Some recruits at the Royal Military College, as well as other Canadian Forces personnel including individuals at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa, transmuted "Op Honour" to "Hop On `Er". [Geddit? If not, imagine saying "Op Honour" with a French-Canadian accent. It's a pun! Ed.] 

Now that General Vance has stepped down from his lofty position, some junior officers are suggesting that his alleged [We media professionals always say that. Ed.] behaviour undercut that initiative.

They say now that concerns about Jonboy's alleged relationships with female subordinates [Female! Nothing wrong with Jonboy. Ed.] were talked about among military leaders and in the defence community over the past several years, but no action was taken because "no official complaints were ever filed." 

(That's the same excuse used by former Governor General Julie Payette, even though it was disclosed earlier this week that indeed a complaint had been lodged even while the investigation into her unregal behaviour was under way.)

Yesterday, the Canadian Forces announced it will investigate allegations about the former chief of the defence staff. National Defence spokesthingy Dan "the Man" Le Bouthillier said the investigation will be independent but added that the "specifics around any investigation have yet to be determined." In other words (translated from government-speak), they're going to investigate something, but they don't know what.

The investigation follows a report by Canada's Global News that General Vance allegedly had an ongoing relationship with a woman he significantly outranked. [Not a non-com, shurely! Ed.] Global also reported the general is alleged to have made a sexual suggestion [not to be confused with a suggestion related to sex and travel? Ed.] to a second, much younger soldier in 2012, before he was appointed chief of the defence staff. So presumably that doesn't count.

But wait, as Vince Offer (the SlapChop guy) used to say; there's more! "Sources" say concerns about allegations of General Vance's alleged behaviour were acknowledged among senior staff and their wives when the general was named as chief of the defence staff in 2015 by then Prime Minister Steve Harpoon. 

Other generals were also aware of allegations and some National Defence headquarters staff discussed the situation among themselves but without formal complaints from the women they did nothing. Although the relationships may have been consensual, sources say there were concerns about the alleged "power-imbalance" of having a senior officer allegedly in a relationship with a woman in lower-ranked positions.

That's enough alleged allegations for today. We're certain General Vance is an officer and a gentleman. Or at least, he used to be. Ed.

The Aghanistan war: It was all for nothing

When I began this blog in July of 2009 [! How time flies when you're having fun! Ed.], the two countries closest to my heart (and other organs), the US of A and Canada, were heavily involved and invested in the Afghanistan "mission".

It looked like a war to me, but politicians of both blue and red stripes, on both sides of the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM), kept assuring us that it was a peacekeeping mission. Or maybe a peace-making mission. Or how about "nation-building"? I called BULLSHIT on that from Day One of WWW, as did many skeptics including Dr Ron Paul.

No-one paid attention. Many demonized Dr Paul and other anti-war thinkers and writers as "unpatriotic". The pro-war types told us that this was, after all, part of the war against terrorism. (Back then, some even dared to use the phrase "Islamic terrorism".) "If we don't fight them there, we'll have to fight them there!" "Nation-building is the best way to defeat the Taliban!" More bullshit, piled higher and deeper.

Those who opposed the war argued that the Taliban weren't out to get us, so much as to get us out of their country. It was a Muslim civil war, we said, in which we had no business meddling... no dog in that fight. Let them duke it out.

This week, the Washington Post is serializing "At War With the Truth: a secret history of the Afghanistan war", a massive report, based on hitherto secret military documents, proving that... wait for it... the whole Afghan war was a blunder from the getgo -- a colossal waste of money and lives. Putting it another way, we who opposed the war were right, after all. Lifetime pct .979.

MSN carries Monday's part of the WaPo report under the headline "Wasteful spending and half-baked ideas: U.S. officials reveal how massive rebuilding projects in Afghanistan backfired". The newly revealed government documents raise profound questions about the execution and results of the war in Afghanistan and the massive nation-building effort that surrounded it. No wonder, then, that the American government tried to shield the identities of the vast majority of those interviewed for the project and conceal nearly all of their remarks. The Post won release of the documents -- 2000 pages of interview records -- under the Freedom of Information Act after a three-year legal battle.

In the interviews, more than 400 insiders offered unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the United States became mired in nearly two decades of warfare. With a bluntness rarely expressed in public, the interviews lay bare pent-up complaints, frustrations and confessions, along with second-guessing and backbiting.

Through the interviews we hear the voice of Gen. Lute and scores of others who detail the core failings of the war that persist to this day. They underscore how three presidents -- George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump -- and their military commanders have been unable to deliver on their promises to prevail in Afghanistan. Here's a sample.

In 2015, US Army Gen. Douglas Lute, who served as the White House's Afghan war czar during the Bush and Obama administrations, told government interviewers, "We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan -- we didn't know what we were doing. What are we trying to do here? We didn't have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking.... If the American people knew the magnitude of this dysfunction...." He blamed the deaths of 2400 American military personnel on bureaucratic breakdowns among Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department.

Since 2001, more than 775,000 US troops have deployed to Afghanistan, many repeatedly. Besides the 2300 (that's the Dept of Defense number) who died in that shithole, 20,589 were wounded in action.

The number of Canadians who went to Afghanistan and didn't return was much smaller -- 158 soldiers and seven civilians died -- but proportionately greater than US casualties. 40,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces served in Afghanistan. 158 soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Walt ran a body count, in those first years of WWW, each time asking the question "Why did they die?"

Another 2000 Canucks were wounded in a "peace-keeping/nation-building mission" (read" war) which began under a Liberal government and was then enthusiastically embraced by a Conservative government. In 2006 and 2008, Conservative and Liberal Members of Parliament voted together to extend the "mission", at a projected cost of as much as C$18 billion. The Canadians finally realized the war was unwinnable, and bailed out (of military involvement, at least) in 2014. The Americans are still there.

The conclusions of the Post's report -- that the war lacked clear direction and purpose, that the American government misled the public about the war's progress, that the effort to establish a new government in Afghanistan was misguided and quickly corrupted, that billions of dollars in aid and development money were mishandled -- should trouble not just Americans, but citizens and taxpayers of every country meddling in the Muslim civil war. Can our politicians please just cut the BS, bring the trooops and "foreign aid" personnel home, and leave the Islamists to make of their countries what they will. Please!!!

Sikh soldiers from Canada ready to liberate Punjab?

There was much tightening of sphincters across the Indian state of Punjab, and much soiling of shorts in New Delhi and Ottawa yesterday, when this photo, taken on Sunday, appeared on the Net.

WTF? Where was this? Who are those guys?! What was going on? The answer to the second question is that they were parading down Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto -- the city that thinks it's world-class. The members of the Canadian Armed Forces (for that's why they are) are not (as some thought) Jagmeet Singh's personal bodyguards, nor are they (as rumoured) members of an elite squad of Indo-Canadians departing for a mission to liberate "Khalistan", aka the Punjab, homeland to Canada's million or so Sikhs.

They are Sikhs though, as is their ultimate commander, the Canadian Minister of Defence, Harjit Sajjan. Mr Sajjan claimed today that he did not authorized the appearance of this squad in the annual Khalsa Day parade, in which Sikhs anticipate the, errr, liberation of Khalistan. Mr Sajjan says (now) that there was nothing wrong with these turbaned heroes being in the parade, but that their commander should have ordered "No assault rifles!" Or "at least not 'at the ready' as if you're on combat patrol! That comes later..."

Both the commander who authorized the marching contingent to carry rifles (against government policy) and whoever told them how to carry the rifles (just plain stupid) definitely have some `splainin' to do! A spokesthingy for the CAF said the army's top commander in Ontario is following up with the unit and has issued additional orders prohibiting the carrying of weapons at similar events.

She could not, however, say whether a formal investigation or disciplinary action had been launched. Chances of that happening when those involved, including the Honourable Mr Sajjan, are Sikhs? Slim and none. Hey, there's an election coming in less than six months!

UPDATED: Iraq at Sweet (?) Sixteen - Why are we still there?

UPDATED ADDED 25/3/19 - This comes under the heading of "Further reading", but I just became aware of it this afternoon. Click here to read a transcript of Dr Ron Paul's speech to Congress opposing the authorization of military force against Iraq. If only they'd have listened!

Today is the 16th anniversary of the American-led invasion of Iraq, which resulted in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and then... chaos. The Paranoid States of America and its "Coalition of the Willing" involved themselves in the endless Muslim civil war -- a four-cornered one featuring Sunni Muslims vs Shia Muslims vs ISIS vs Kurds -- and there we are, still... 16 years later, after the expenditure of trillions of dollars (literally) and the loss of 1000s of lives of American and other Westerns. 16 years...

Is there any sign of the conflict in Iraq ending? NO! POTUS and our top military people tell us ISIS is "just about" defeated, reduced to a few hundred jihadis encircled in a shithole somewhere in Syria. Once they surrender, we can declare victory... again... and go home. Errr, not the part about going home. There will be a drawdown of some of the US personnel, sometime, but there will be a US presence in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Why? Because there is still a power vacuum, with no united and effective national government in place. And because ISIS has not been vanquished, but is merely going to ground. They will resurface at opportune times, whether in Iraq or Syria... or the Netherlands... or the USA!

I said "American-led" in the first sentence to emphasize that the US is not alone! In 2003, America's gallant ally, Canada, decided to take a pass on Iraq. Apparently the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien asked itself what the point of the mission was, and decided discretion was the better part of valour. A couple of years later, to repair relations with their disgruntled neighbours, the Canucks joined in the invasion of Afghanistan. After 160 troops lost their lives, the Canadians pulled out, leaving the US holding the Afghan bag.

But that was OK (they said) because they'd changed their mind and would send a token force to Iraq instead, to help with training and, like, you know... anything that didn't involve more body bags being repatriated. No more motorcades along the "Highway of Heroes", please! And more than a decade later, the Canucks are still there, working with the American forces to bring peace, order and good government to the shithole that is Iraq. Isn't that wonderful?

How appropriate, then, that Canuck Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan (a Sikh person) and Diplomat of the Year (2018 -- look it up) Chrystia Freeland (the one not wearing a turban) picked yesterday to announce that Canadian armed forces, almost 200 strong (!), will stay in Iraq for another two years... like it or not. That should come as a great relief to the US military. What would the "Coalition of the Willing" be without Canadians?! What do Canadian voters think of this exercise in peacekeeping and nation-building, and other initiatives of Just In Trudeau's Gliberal government? We'll see in October.

Further reading: The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, by George Packer. Farrar Strauss & Giroux, New York, 2005. Mr Packer's thesis is that President Bush II and his advisers (Hello! Messrs Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz) had no idea what they were getting into when they pressed ahead with the invasion of Iraq even though Saddam posed no threat to the USA or even his Gulf neighbours, and no plan whatever for stabilizing and rebuilding the shithole once the invasion was over. And remember, he wrote this book in 2005. Things only got worse after that. Where and when will it all end?!

Seasickness keeps Canuck Coast Guard Heros in port in rough weather

Frostbacks, you have to face up to it! Canada is a nitwit country. Not just because you've got a useful fool as prime minister, but because it's part of your national character. Way more stupid-but-funny stories (proportionately) come to Walt from Canada than from the Excited States of America. Hey, come to think of it... maybe that's not such a bad thing. It's not good to take yourself too seriously, EH.

The latest Canadian story to tickle my funnybone comes today from out of the mist that hangs perpetually over Halifax, the east coast home of Canada's alleged navy, as well as its C$227-million ($170 million in real money) fleet of mid-shore coast guard vessels, like this one, the CCGS G. Peddle S.C.

The vessels, which are about 136 feet long by only 23 feet wide, are known as the "Hero" class since each is named after a heroic officer of the Canuck military, the Mounties, the Canadian Coast Guard or... wait for it... the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Their primary mission is fisheries enforcement and maritime security in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The ships also provide search and rescue and pollution control.

The pollution control part is a bit tricky because the Hero-class ships keep "rolling like crazy" at sea, causing crews to spew a great deal of pollution over the rail. The seasickness is so bad that, according to a report dug up by the CBC, some ships have to be kept in port during harsh weather conditions.

The problem seems to be a lack of stabilizer fins -- blades that stick out from the hull to counteract the rolling motion of waves -- on the nine Heros built in Halifax by the Irving Shipyard between 2010 and 2014. So bad is the roll that a trip along the west coast required a DFO supervisor in BC to place rolled-up jackets under the outer edge of his bunk to keep him pinned against the wall, rather than tossed out onto the floor ["deck", shurely! Ed.] "It goes without saying that the crew [is] in favour of [stabilizers]," said supervisor Mike Crottey, in a fine example of the civil service penchant for saying things that don't need to be said. "Seasickness is felt both by conservation and protection and coast guard personnel and has an impact on vessel operation."

Mr Crottey said that in exposed water, the skipper of the CCGS M. Charles sets a weather course to "keep the ship from really rocking around," which can result in more fuel consumption and increased operating costs. "This course is based on the swell and the wind direction and is used [to] alleviate excessive ship motion and not based on the shortest distance to destination."

At the time the Heros were under construction, the Coast Guard decided it didn't need stabilizers. They deny there is any problem with the safety and stability of the fleet, but in a March 2017 "configuration change request", a project manager described "an increased hazard of crew injuries and program failures." Nearly two years later, the change request is still "under consideration". That's the Canadian way. Nitwit country.

Canadian Army officer cadets punished for desecrating Qu'ran

Does the name "Bagram Air Base" ring a bell? It's the largest American military base in Armpitistan, still very active in spite of that misguided war being over... more or less. You may remember that in February of 2012, 1000s of angry Afghans tried to storm the base when it was learned that American forces had burned hundreds of old Qu'rans that had been used by Taliban prisoners.

In the mélée that ensued, at least 41 people were killed, including several US soldiers who were shot by their allies in the so-called Afghan National Army. Desecrating the Holy Book is something Muslims take very seriously!

Canadians are always kind of slow to pick up on the latest trends, following months and sometimes years or even decades behind their cousins south of the World's Longest Absolutely Undefended Border. So it wasn't until a few weeks ago that four cadets from the Collège Militaire Royal at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu QC thought to have some sport dirtying a copy of the Qu'ran. They are alleged to have smeared the book with bacon and "bodily fluids" during a cottage party over the Easter long weekend.

The incident is said to have involved at least eight army officer cadets, most of them first-year students at the Canadian Armed Forces' military college. According to Lt.-Gen. Charles Lamarre, the CAF Chief of Military Personnel, "Four of those individuals went to sleep at some point and four other individuals stayed up and unfortunately desecrated a Qu'ran. They actually desecrated it with, if I'm not mistaken, bodily fluids, and there might have been bacon involved."

While the head honcho of the HR division Lamarre would not divulge the nature of the "bodily fluids", sources told Canadian Press that it appears to have been, errr, semen. [I would've expected that of the Navy! Ed.] Military commanders have expressed frustration and disappointment over the allegations, particularly at a time when they are pushing to make the Forces more inclusive -- "Diversity is Canada's strength!" dontcha know! -- and say they are taking the case extremely seriously.

More worrisome to the rank and file, especially those about to be sent overseas to keep the peace in yet another shithole country, is the threat to the safety of Canadian military personnel, given the violent reactions that such incidents (like the one at Bagram) have provoked in recent years. Canada is preparing to send troops and helicopters to assist the Disunited Nations mission in Mali, and continues to operate in Iraq, both of which are populated mainly by Muslims. "So we did ask for an [threat] assessment to be done," said the general, "And we have come back and I'm satisfied with where we are right now on force protection and we'll continue to be that way."

Lt.-Gen. Lamarre also said it was fortunate that no videos of the alleged incident were posted to social media. Officials said military commanders have not actually seen any recordings and they are believed to have all been destroyed. Anyone who has a copy is invited to e-mail it to Walt, and I'll see that it gets posted where it will get Maximum Exposure.

Footnote: One of the Islamophobic miscreants has been booted out of the college, while a second has been reprimanded and ordered to write 500 lines saying "Islam is the religion of peace." The cases of two other officer cadets are under review, and the four who fell asleep have been reprimanded for not snitching on their comrades quickly enough.

Note from Ed.: Credit where credit is due. We scraped the meme from one of Walt's favourite blogs, Blazing Cat Fur.

Why the Canadian Army is "suspending" ops in Iraq

The big guys with the beards aren't ISIS jihadis or Iraqi "soldiers". They're Canucks! You can tell because they have better camoduds, with their maple leaf flag (cleverly died green) on the shoulders. They are pictured "advising and training" Kurdish Peshmerga "fighters" somewhere in northern Iraq.

"Gee whillikers, Walt! You mean there are Canadians fighting alongside the brave American forces in Iraq?" Well, not exactly, Bobby. There are Canadian Armed Forces personnel in Iraq, all right, but not all of them are, errr, fighting. There are intelligence officers (as in that great oxymoron "military intelligence"), a helicopter detachment and a medical contingent based in Erbil, the Kurdish capital. Separately, in Kuwait, there is a surveillance plane and an air-to-air refueller.

But yes, there are several dozen Canucks out there in camos, holding guns and other implements of destruction. By way of apology for not jumping at the chance to join the first Iraq fiasco, the government of former Canuck Prime Minister Steven Harpoon in 2014 sent roughly 200 Canadian commandos to "provide advice and assistance" on the ground in northern Iraq in an effort to help defeat ISIS militants. This summer, when it looked like the war was finally going to be won, the alleged government of Junior Trudeau extended the mission for two years.

And then, just as Walt predicted (lifetime pct .991) the war against ISIS took a sudden but not unpredictable turn in another direction. Having cleared the Islamists out of Mosul, the Kurds decided that it was time to consolidate their victory and assert their independence from the rest of Iraq. They held a referendum of sorts and voted to declare their own republic, a formalization of the autonomous state which already existed (in theory) in northern Iraq. The so-called national government of that wretched country, dominated by Shia Muslims, did not take kindly to the challenge to its authority, and sent their army, along with Shi'ite militias, to put the Kurds in their place... or out of their place, looking at it from the Kurds' point of view.

The Arab Iraqis seized the northern oil city of Kirkuk from the Kurds, with surprising ease, a few days ago, and are expected to move against Mosul and the Kurdish capital, Erbil, at any time. That puts the Canadian special forces in an awkward position, since they are based in Erbil and, if the Kurds take a stand against the Arab Iraqis, would be expected to lead their "trainees" into battle against the Iraqi forces whom the Canucks have also been "training".

What would you do, if you were the peace-loving Canadian Minister of Defence (who happens to be a Sikh) or his pussified boss, Justin Trudeau? Would you take the side of the "national" government of Iraq or the separatist Kurds? (See "Gulf Wars drag on: Walt's guide to who's fighting who", WWW 16/10/17.)

Perhaps you have already guessed the answer. It is not the Canadian way to offend anybody... anybody! Canadians, or their government at least, see themselves as the great peacemakers who can bring sanity and stability to a world dominated by crazy warmongers like Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. (That's M Trudeau's view, not Walt's!) So, rather than take sides, the clever and peace-loving Canadians have decided to do... errr... nothing, "until greater clarity exists".

That's the word from Col. Jay Janzen, the director of military strategic communications for the Canadian Armed Forces, in a brief statement made while everyone was watching the World Series last night. "Given the fluidity of the current situation, Canada's Special Operations Task Force has temporarily suspended the provision of assistance to various elements of Iraqi security forces," he said. "Once greater clarity exists regarding the interrelationships of Iraqi security forces, and the key priorities and tasks ahead, the task force will resume activities."

Monitoring the situation without taking sides might seem like the sensible and moral thing to do, but, as with everything the Trudeau government does, there is an agenda behind the decision to put a temporary hold on their training of Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the wake of fighting between the two factions. The Canadian government is deathly afraid of two connected ideologies: separatism and nationalism.

Almost since the day of Canada's creation, just over 150 years ago, the federal government has been fighting to keep the people of Québec --
distinct ethnically, linguistically and religiously from the rest of Canada -- from seceding. In the most recent referendum on the question, in 1995, the people of La Belle Province voted by the narrowest of margins to not become un état -- an independent state. But the spark of separatist sentiment is hard to extinguish, and now it is being fanned into flame by the rise of separatist/nationalist movements in Scotland, Catalonia, and, yes, "Kurdistan".

Just yesterday, Junior Trudeau affirmed his support for a united Spain. Statements by Canadian politicians on the Kurdish question show that the only support for the ideal of Kurdish independence comes from the (federal) Bloc Québécois and the (provincial) Parti Québécois. If the independence of the new Catalan republic is recognized, if the Kurds succeed in driving the Arab Iraqis out of their region, Canada's Liberals will have yet another battle to fight to uphold their ideal of a post-national society. Stay tuned.

Walt explains why the Muslim jihadists want to kill us

Last week -- before yesterday's tragic events in Brussels -- Agent 6 e-mailed me to express his lack of understanding of why the ISIS (and al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and Taliban) terrorists keep killing people.

Speaking of the Muslim terrorist attack on a Canadian Forces recruiting office, our esteemed agent calls it "a sordid story. One wonders what went through the mind of Ayanie Hassan Ali before the attack. What did he really hope to accomplish in the name of Allah? And he was born and raised [in Canada]! Could be a result of too much inbreeding through his heritage. Will raise suspicion for anyone with a beard."

Last night I heard a "security expert" giving his explanation for the Muslims' attacks on Westerners. He said that in Europe and North America, Muslims are "marginalized" and the victims of discrimination, demonization and (of course) Islamophobia. He made a thinly veiled reference to Donald Trump and others who preach "exclusion".

That's rubbish! Totally! A big black crock! The answer to Agent 6's question, and the contradiction to the politically correct explanation of the "expert", is to be found in what Ayanie Hassan Ali shouted as he knifed the soldiers. "Allah told me to do this," he yelled. "Allah told me to come here and kill people!"

The celebrators of diversity were quick to say that was just the rant of one deranged individual, not representative of the feelings of the vast majority of "moderate Muslims". That's rubbish too! Rewind to October 2014 when two "homegrown, radicalized Muslims" killed two Canadian soldiers in separate incidents in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Not long before the attacks, a young Canuck fighting in the sandpit for ISIS posted a video warning "We're coming to get you!" -- referring to not just the Great Satan but the British, Canadians, Australians and any others who would dare to wage war on them, or stand in the way of their jihad to establish a New Caliphate in the Middle East.

That's pretty much the truth of it. The Islamic terrorists -- ISIS (or whatever we're calling it today), al-Qaeda and the rest of them -- have declared jihad (holy war) on all Christians and other unbelievers, and are exhorting their followers and sympathizers in every country to "kill the infidels, wherever they may be found!"

"Wherever they may be found" includes Paris, Madrid, London, New York, Boston, Ottawa, Toronto, San Bernardino... and now Brussels. This shouldn't come as a surprise. See "Turkish President Erdoğan predicted Brussels bombings last Friday!", WWW 22/3/16. And please, let's stop saying it's because we're being mean to Muslims. The Islamic extremists want to kill us... because Allah's telling them to!

Footnote: On the Vatican Insider web page, Andrea Tornielli quotes the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, as taking issue with the US announcement that a genocidal campaign against Christians is taking place in the Middle East. "The statement comes too late, when everything has already happened," said the prelate. "Everyone has either escaped or [is] dead."

Ezra Levant comments on Muslim attack on Canadian soldiers

Walt wasn't the only one to take note of the refusal of the Canadian meeja and Toronto police to make any connection between Monday's terrorist attack on a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting centre in Toronto and the religion of the attacker. See "2 Canuck soldiers stabbed by Muslim terrorist ... IN TORONTO!", WWW 14/3/16.

Toronto police chief Saunders had to admit, the next morning that the words uttered by Ayanie Hassan Ali (pictured) that caused the cops so much "concern" were "Allah made me do it!" But, Chief Saunders warned, we'd better not get into "that Islamophobia thing". Wouldn't be politically correct, you know, to mention that Allah is what Muslims call the One God that we supposedly all worship. Mr. Ali is a Muslim. His religion is called Islam. That's the word that no good pro-diversity Canadian will say.

Ezra Levant, of course, is not that kind of Canadian. He is not afraid to call a spade a spade, or a knife-wielding Muslim an Islamic extremist. Here's what Mr. Levant wrote in his blog today, under the heading "Islam: The word Canada’s police and media refuse to say".

Yesterday a 27-year-old Muslim man walked into a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting office in North Toronto and started stabbing soldiers, saying that he was doing it for Allah, the Muslim god. But at a press conference, Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders got whiny at the mere suggestion that a Muslim committing terrorism in the name of Islam might be... an Islamic terrorist. It was weird to watch.

This terrorist was born in Canada. But he decided to hate us and kill us, starting with symbols of our country. What did this? Well, the one thing so terrifying that Chief Saunders and the CBC and most of the rest of the media won’t dare even name: Islam.

2 Canuck soldiers stabbed by Muslim terrorist ... IN TORONTO!

LATEST NEWS: Walt was lucky he didn't make bets on the suspect's name being "Mohammed". (See update below.) In fact he's Ayanie Hassan Ali, shown here in a picture released by Toronto's finest(?). He has been charged with one count of attempted murder, two counts of assault with weapon, one count of weapons dangerous and one count of aggravated assault. According to Inspector Knacker, Mr. Ali is a Canadian, born in Montréal and now living in Toronto (as Her Majesty's guest, since yesterday).

No mention was made of Mr. Ali's religion. However, sez Toronto's top cop, he shouted "Allah told me to do this, Allah told me to come here and kill people." Lifetime pct (taking into account being wrong about the name) still .989.

ORIGINAL STORY, called in by Agent 3 yesterday:

Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders says a 27-year-old man is under arrest after two members of the Canadian Forces were stabbed in north Toronto Monday afternoon. A man walked into a federal building, which houses a Canadian Armed Forces recruitment centre, pulled out a knife and attacked the person behind the counter. The attacker attempted to move farther into the building, but was taken down by a group of between six and eight soldiers. Two soldiers reportedly suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Chief Saunders refused to divulge any information about the suspect, except for his age and gender, but did say that the suspect uttered "certain comments that are of concern". Agent 3 suggests that the "comments" might have been "Allahu akbar!" or words to that effect. All the police chief would say is that his minions are "strongly considering the possibility that the attack was an act of terrorism."

WWW will bring you an update just as soon as the PC police and censors at the CBC have figured out how to spin the story.

UPDATE 15/3/16 -- Just as we predicted (lifetime pct .989), the Toronto Sun reports (14/6/16. 7:06 PM EDT): A brazen knife attack that sent two Canadian soldiers to hospital was disturbing enough, but police sources say it was the attacker uttering the word "Allah" that prompted Toronto Police to call in terror experts.

Chief Mark Saunders told reporters outside of the federal building at 4900 Yonge St., north of Sheppard Ave., Monday that the male suspect used "certain comments" that were as concerning as the violent attack. He did not elaborate, but several police sources say witnesses told them "Allah" was used.

"Some heard him say, 'Praise Allah' and others heard 'Allah' or 'Aly,'" a police source told the Sun. "Several heard the man use this terminology. It’s not something you take a chance on and this is why the call was made to the police agencies who handle terror issues."

The suspect is still unnamed, but Walt is having trouble getting bets against "Mohammed". No word on his nationality, ethnicity, religion or status in Canada. Can you spell "refugee", boys and girls? I knew you could!

Going after Taliban was a mistake, sez former general

A lot of Americans (and Canadians) think that the Canadian Armed Forces kind of let the side down by withdrawing their half-dozen aging CF-18s from the US-led mission against ISIS. When it comes to fighting Islamic terrorism (their argument goes) the Canucks will hold your coat until your nose starts to bleed. This is not true. Let me set the record straight.

True, the government of Jean Chrétien declined to join in Dubya's invasion of Iraq, presumably because they thought it was a huge mistake but (being Canadian) wewre too polite to say more than "We'll take a pass on this one. Maybe next time." The wisdom of this decision is apparent in retrospect. If you don't find it so, take a look at Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. You'll find a link to the full-length documentary in "Republican voters: WATCH 'Fahrenheit 9/11'!", WWW 17/2/16.

All the same, the Canadian government took a lot of flak -- figuratively speaking -- from within and without the Great Not-so-white North. So much so that when the Paranoid States of America decided to go into Afghanistan to chase after Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they decided they'd better get into the scrap to make up for missing the first round. Little did they know that they'd have to fight not just al-Qaeda but the Taliban, since the Taliban controlled huge swathes of Armpitistan, including Kandahar province, one of the toughest targets. Sure enough, that's where the Canucks wound up. They lost proportionately more soldiers than the USA, beginning with four killed by "friendly fire" from the USAF. Some friends, eh!

Major-General Dave Fraser (seen here getting a gong from former Governor-General Michaëlle Jean) commanded both the Canadian task force and the expanded mission of the "Coalition of the Willing" to extend the authority of former Afghan president Krazi Karzai beyond the capital of Kabul in 2006. That was just over 4 1/2 years into the Afghan war and three years into the larger, bloodier struggle in Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

Today, in an interview marking the 10th anniversary of the Canadian deployment into Kandahar, Maj-Gen. Fraser had some rather astonishing things to say about the commission. He told Canadian Press that the West made a mistake deposing the Taliban regime in the aftermath of 9/11, and should have simply trained its guns on al-Qaeda. "We thought, naively, that regime change was the solution to the problem," he said. "Looking backwards, I would have actually left the Taliban government in power and said (to them) 'Stay out of the way. We’re here to find Al Qaeda. And as long as you stay out of the way, the special forces will go in there, they will do what is necessary to get Al Qaeda and we will leave.' Had we done that, we wouldn’t be where we are today."

Back then, no-one seemed to appreciate how profound the power vacuum was, he went on, and that the West was creating for itself "a 30- or 40-year problem" not only in Afghanistan but throughout the Middle East.

Maj-Gen. Fraser said the West has only repeated the same mistakes over the last decade. "We repeated it in Iraq," he told CP. "In Libya, we didn’t put any ground troops in and we created an even bigger mess because there’s no government whatsoever in Libya. We went back into Iraq and now for the very first time the international community is beginning to appreciate that regime change is not the solution. [That's] why we’re not pushing to do a regime change in Syria."

Right. Has anyone told the Prez, the Pentagon and the folks at Foggy Bottom about this? To take Maj-Gen. Fraser's argument to the logical conclusion, which is... wait for it... that Western meddling in what is basically a Muslim civil war is only making things worse for the people of the Middle East, and for the West as well? Has anyone learned anything from the events of the last 10 or 20 or 25 years? Errr, apparently not.

Footnote: Is Michaëlle Jean's ADC looking at her chest or what? Whatever happened to Her Serene Highness anyway? Last we heard she was swanning around Paris as the UN's "special ambassador" for her native Haïti. Is it possible she finally went home to share the misery of the poorest state of the Western Hemisphere? Errr, apparently not.

War begets terrorism begets war begets terrorism... etc

Note from Ed.: Walt began this piece around lunchtime yesterday, then got distracted by the terrorist attack -- for that's what it was -- in California. I asked him to get up early today and finish this, by which time the connection between these thoughts and the San Bernardino massacre should be clear. And so it is.

Three announcements were made today [Wednesday] in Washington, Ottawa and London, all connected more or less directly with the jihadist attacks in Paris. French President François Hollande has declared that his country is at war with ISIS, and has urged his NATO allies to do more to help.

In Washington, it was announced that the Paranoid States of America would be sending a few dozen more "advisers" to help the good guys fighting ISIS in Syria. Their problem, of course, will be identifying the good guys -- separating the sheep from the goats, as it were. Nevertheless, dozens of American troops will be on the ground in Syria within a few days. Then hundreds. Then thousands. (Walt's lifetime pct .985)

In Ottawa, Rona Ambrose, the fragrant new (interim) leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, has urged Canada's hot new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, to reverse his decision to withdraw Canada's CF-18 fighter-bombers -- all six (6) of them -- from the mission against ISIS in Syria. Ms Ambrose told her caucus that there are times when you have to "go out to meet the enemy".

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron won (on the second try) the support of the House of Commons for Britain to join the "coalition". This was after an intense debate of over ten hours, just before which Mr. Cameron is said to have accused those who didn't support British intervention in Syria of being "terrorist sympathizers".

So... the terrorist attacks in Paris lead to an increase in the West's involvement in the Muslim civil war in the Middle East. The Arabs, unsurprisingly, aren't altogether pleased to have the "crusaders" "helping out", while dropping death from the air on thousands of innocent civilians and generally laying waste to the already barren countryside.

Some of the militant Islamists are so displeased that they decide to go and meet their enemies -- that would be US -- on their (OUR) soil -- Madrid, London, Paris... or San Bernardino. And so the wheel of death turns, becoming ever more vicious, ever more unstoppable.

In A War Against Truth: An Intimate Account of the Invasion of Iraq (Raincoast Books 2004), Paul William Roberts writes: If our response to terrorism is merely to terrorize other people in return, we are not in fact fighting terrorism at all, we are creating yet more terrorism for the future.

In 1997, the American Defense Science Board reported that "historical data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States." Given that "involvement" is a standard euphemism for covert or overt military intervention, what you have there is the real explanation for terrorist acts.

Indeed. That brings us to what happened in San Bernardino, which is my topic for the next post.

Canadian Armed Forces' "Operation Hop on Her"

Meet General Tom Lawson, formerly Canada's Chief of Defence Staff. His retirement in July had nothing to do his claim in June that sexual harassment was still an issue in the Canadian Armed Forces because men were "biologically wired in a certain way."

General Lawson was commenting on a report by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Marie Deschamps, who had looked into a number of reports of sexual assault and harassment in the Canadian military. Her report, released on April 30th, raised warnings about a "sexualized culture" that subjected women in uniform to abuse ranging from sexual jokes and harassment to rape. She concluded that sexual misconduct was not only "endemic" in the Canadian Forces, but accepted by the military leadership.

Strong stuff, eh! To deal with the politically incorrect situation, the Canucks chose a lady, Lieutenant-General Christine Whitecross, to head a special team to, errr... well... deal with it.

But wait (as Vince Offer used to say), there's more! Incoming top dog General Jon Vance unveiled a hard-hitting plan to crack down on sexual misconduct in the ranks and send a tough message to those who engage in sexual harassment, assault or other inappropriate behaviour. He called it "Operation Honour".

But, Canadian boys being Canadian boys, it didn’t take long for some uniformed wags to come up with a new name for the plan. Some recruits at the Royal Military College, as well as other Canadian Forces personnel including individuals at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa, transmuted "Op Honour" to "Hop On `Er". [Geddit? If not, imagine saying "Op Honour" with a French-Canadian accent. It's a pun! See, now? Ed.]

Military officers told the Ottawa Citizen (our source for this story) that they'd heard such terminology, but couldn't say how widespread the use of the phrase has been. Canadian Forces spokesthingy Captain Jean-François Lambert said in an e-mail to the paper that the crude rephrasing of "Operation Honour" is unacceptable and not condoned. "These matters do not call for levity. This type of behaviour is one of the many reasons [Gen. Vance] has implemented Operation Honour. We expect all members [of the military] to take this issue seriously."

But how seriously does the CAF take it?  After not quite three months, Lt-Gen. Whitecross has been reassigned. The new head of the "Strategic Response Team on Sexual Misconduct" is Rear Admiral Jennifer Bennett, who took over on September 28th.

In her short time on the job, Lt-Gen. Whitecross racked up a lot of air miles, on Canuck taxpayers' dime. She visited 13 military bases and installations across the Great Not-so-white North to hear directly about sexual misconduct. [From whom did she hear? Ed.] She also travelled to the USA, whose armed forces have a stellar record on the file, as well as France, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Asked about the rather sudden departure of Lt-Gen. Whitecross, Capt. Lambert explained that Rear Admiral Bennett, previously in charge of reserves and military cadets, will still report to Lt-Gen. Whitecross, who is now in charge of the military personnel command. And, he said, "the overall effort against sexual misconduct is led by the Chief of the Defence Staff." So that's OK then.

Capt. Lambert added that the military believes it has made significant progress dealing with sexual misconduct but "we cannot expect to change culture overnight." Which is more or less what General Lawson said. Capt. Lambert's retirement is expected to be announced shortly.

Humorous footnote: Walt cannot refrain from repeating a story about two officers in a Canadian regiment [the Forlorn Scots? Ed.] who were chatting in the mess.
Said the first one, "Did you hear about old Smythe? Got drummed out of the service."
"Why?" asked the second.
"Got caught screwing a polar bear," was the reply.
"Male or female polar bear?" was the next question.
"Male, of course!" was the response. "Nothing wrong with old Smythe!"

"Radicalized Muslim" calls Cirillo killing an act of retaliation

Once upon a time in Libya [Great beginning! Ed.] there was a mujahideen -- a Muslim terrorist -- named Bulgasem Zehaf. Whether to flee the dictatorship of Muhammar Qaddafi or to spread its Islamist poison, Mr. Zehaf wanted to come to the West. Naturally he applied to enter Canada -- infamous then and now for its ultra-liberal immigration policies -- as a "refugee".

It wasn't long before Mr. Zehaf was welcomed into the Great Not-so-white North, where he met and charmed one Susan Bibeau, who seems to have had a soft spot (or spots) for refugees. (She is now Deputy Chair of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board.) On 16 October 1982, Ms Bibeau gave birth to a son, whose name was recorded as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau.

The boy's parents settled in Laval, Québec, where the father ran a café. Susan Bibeau started working for the IRB as a Refugee Protection Officer in 1990. When civil war broke out in Libya in 2011, Mr. Zehaf rushed back to his native land to take part. Whether he fought for Qaddafi or against him is unclear.

Around this time Michael decided that he should follow in his father's footsteps. He converted to Islam, and applied for a Canadian passport, possibly to go to Libya, or possibly to Syria to join the Islamic extremists fighting against Assad. Because he was in contact with someone who was on the RCMP's terror watch list, his passport was held up.

Last October, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went to Ottawa to see about his passport. Evidently it occurred to him that he could strike a blow for the Islamic jihad without going all the way to the Middle East. How? By killing a soldier, just like Martin Couture-Rouleau, who, on October 20th, killed Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent by running him down with his car. Like Zehaf-Bibeau, Rouleau was a recent convert to Islam and told a 911 operator that he killed WO Vincent in the name of Allah.

Instead of a car, Zehaf-Bibeau decided he would use a rifle. With any luck, he could kill not just a soldier or two, but maybe a couple of Members of Parliament. So he made a plan, and a video too, so that his reasons -- he wasn't crazy -- would be understood.

On October 22nd, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. He then stormed into the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, where he was killed in a gun battle with security guards while Prime Minister Steve Harper hid in a closet. For details see "Harper's Islamic chickens come home to roost".

Within 48 hours, the RCMP confirmed that they had seized the shooter's cellphone and the 73-second video which he had recorded, which they would release "soon". Then they changed their mind. (In Canada, the police are unaccountable. They don't have to say or do anything if they don't damn well feel like it.) Parliament Hill insiders speculated that the video, rather than recording the ravings of a drug-crazed lunatic, might instead say something about the Harper government's pro-Israel, pro-American, anti-Islam foreign policies. It just wouldn't do for the Mounties to let the public see anything critical of the Dear Leader!

Walt credits the Canadian lamestream media -- particularly the CBC -- and the opposition parties in the Canadian Parliament, for forcing the RCMP and its political masters to release the video after all. Well, most of it, at least. On Friday, at about the same time Sgt. Andrew Doiron was being killed by "friendly fire" in Iraq, the Mounties released 55 seconds of Zehaf-Bibeau's message. 18 seconds were edited out.

What was the message? What reason did Zehaf-Bibeau give for shooting a soldier who was on ceremonial guard duty -- with no ammunition in his rifle -- and then attacking the parliamentarians? As Walt predicted, the killer said Harper's Canada had made itself the enemy of Islam, and his actions were "in retaliation" for the country’s military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Walt's lifetime pct .989.

Zehaf-Bibeau refers to himself as part of the Mujahideen, the army of holy warriors engaged in jihad​. Walt hopes that the Prez has seen the video, because he still doesn't seem to have got it into his head that there is, in fact, an Islamic "holy war" against the West. Of course there. But who started it? If the West had left the Muslims to fight it out amongst themselves -- it's really an Islamic civil war -- would we now have to cower in fear in our own capital cities?

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. That was Zehaf-Bibeau's message to Harper, Obama and the rest of our so-called leaders. Here are his actual words: "Canada's officially become one of our enemies by fighting and bombing us and creating a lot of terror in our countries and killing us and killing our innocents. So [I'm] just aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you're not even safe in your own land, and you gotta be careful.​"

Obviously the message hasn't sunk in. The loss of WO Vincent, Cpl. Cirillo, and now Sgt. Doiron makes no difference to the notoriously stubborn and arrogant Prime Minister of Canada. Just yesterday his lickspittle Minister of Defence, Jason Kenney, told the media that the government is not going to change its (alleged) mind about the (alleged) wisdom of joining the American invasion of the Middle East. The mission will be extended, and the killing of Canadians -- and Americans and Westerners -- will continue. And for what? For what?!

First Canadian soldier killed in mission vs ISIS

No. 1

It was bound to happen. Sgt. Andrew Joseph Doiron, a member of the Canadian Special Operations Regiment, was killed Friday night (local time) somewhere in Iraq. Three other Canadian soldiers were injured and are being treated in Iraq. They are said to be in stable condition.

About six dozen members of Special Ops are in Iraq, participating in the American-led mission against ISIS (or ISIL, as Obama and his camp followers still call it). So was it ISIS jihadis who shot the four Canucks? Errr, no. Sgt. Doiron and his comrades were fired on by Iraqi Kurds. By mistake, of course.

Canadians were promised by their Dear Leader, Steve Harper, and his lickspittle ministers -- step forward Messrs. Baird, Nicholson, Mackay and Kenney -- that their troops would not be in harm's way, that they would just be "training" and "advising". Walt said at the time that trainers and advisors wear the same uniforms as combat troops, carry the same weapons as combat troops, and would doubtless be going into places where combat was taking place. It was therefore only a matter of time until they started coming home in body bags. See also "Canuck 'trainers' fired on in Iraq -- just fancy that!"

Since the initial Canadian commitment was for only six months, participation in the American invasion is supposedly up for review at the beginning of April. Messrs Harper et al. have, as recently as Thursday, been dropping broad hints that an extension of the mission was all but certain. Will they now rethink their mindless following the disastrous foreign policies of their good friends to the south, who, by the way, have not yet had a single casualty? Don't bet on it.

RIP, Sergeant Doiron. Walt hopes that the blowback from your death will prevent the deaths of others like you.

Canuck "trainers" fired on in Iraq -- just fancy that!

Memories are short, particularly in Steve Harper's Canada -- the more so now that everyone's in a big flap over ISIS, "homegrown" Islamic militants, Charlie Hebdo and what have you. Canadians seem to have forgotten why the government of Jean Chrétien, Harper's antipenultimate predecessor, refused to join in the American invasion of Iraq. It was quite simple, really. If they had done so, Canadians would have been killed (and millions of beaverbucks spent) in an unwinable and pointless conflict.

Dubya was pissed, though, so he called in M Chrétien's marker -- "Sorry. Maybe next time." -- when the US made the same mistake twice in a decade and invaded Afghanistan. The Canadians, along with the Brits, the Dutch and other running dogs of American imperialism [Hey, watch it! McCarthy might rise from the dead! Ed.] went into the sandpit right behind the Americans, with predictable results for all concerned. Canada lost 158 young men and women -- not much compared with the 1000s lost by the US, but a lot for a small country with a very small army.

Prime Minister Harpoon, however, is not quite as daft or insensitive to public opinion as President Obarmy. Having prolonged the mission twice, in the face of growing popular disapproval, he ended Canada's participation in the Afghanistan fiasco in March of 2014. See "Mission accomplished? Taliban, al-Qaeda still blowing up Afghans".

Well, errr, almost.... He did leave behind about 1000 Canadian troops, who, he told credulous Canucks, wouldn't actually be fighting, but only acting as "trainers and advisors" to the Afghan national army. And, when called upon by the Prez for a little help with the US reinvasion of Iraq, Mr. Harper responded "Ready, aye ready!" and sent some Canadian trainers there too.

The consequences this time weren't quite so foreseeable. Who'd have thought that two good Canadian boys -- Muslims by conversion and fanatics for whatever reason -- would have dared to attack Canadian soldiers right on Steve's doorstep? Even worse, one of them had the temerity to storm into the Parliament Building itself, gunning for the PM, who quickly ducked into a closet. But that's what happened. See "Harper's Islamic chickens come home to roost".

But let's get back to the fate of the Canadian (and American) trainers still stuck in the Middle East. Walt has said before, and will say again, that the Taliban, al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Muslim jihadists, don't recognize the difference between non-combatant trainers and the soldiers who are actually shooting at them. If you've got a uniform on, you're a target, no matter whose flag is on your shoulder! Even the guys you're supposed to be helping may take a potshot at you. See "Iraqi army trainees kill US trainers -- FAIL!"

The trainers referred to in that post were Americans, in Iraq. But, Canadians were told, that wouldn't happen to their boys. Members of Her Majesty's armed forces were not hated the way that Americans are. Canadian troops were not being put in harm's way. And if you believed that, Mr. Harper would appreciate your vote when he decides to call an election.

Yeah. Right! Today, a Canadian general finally fessed up to the fact that Canadian "special forces" in Iraq came under ISIS fire sometime last week, when they went to the front lines following a "planning session" with senior Iraqi leaders. Brigadier-General Michael Rouleau, commander of the Canadian special operations forces command, said the forces came under "immediate and effective mortar fire" and responded with sniper fire, "neutralizing the mortar and the machine-gun position."

Gee. Who'd have thought such a thing would happen? Walt -- that's who! Better ship over some body bags. They'll be needed, one of these days. Lifetime pct .989.

Worth reading: "Were Canadians misled about the mission in Iraq?" in Maclean's. Walt decries the use of the passive voice in the headline. IMHO it should read "Did Harper mislead Canadians about the mission in Iraq?" Answer: of course!