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Canadian will run Persian Gulf naval task force
Washington/Ottawa â Canada has dramatically increased its naval responsibilities in the Persian Gulf as the United States prepares for war against Iraq. Ottawa and Washington have agreed that a senior Canadian officer will command all allied naval warships, aside from the U.S. aircraft carrier and its close escorts, in the Persian Gulf south of Kuwait and extending through the Strait of Hormuz, The Globe and Mail has learned.Watch what we do, not what we say. Although the hugely expanded area of navy operations comes as the Pentagon readies a massive U.S.-led coalition for war against Iraq, the tasks so far assigned to the Canadian-commanded naval task force remain part of the Operation Enduring Freedom, the name assigned to the Afghanistan campaign to smash al-Qaeda and catch fleeing terrorists. "We are sticking exclusively to Enduring Freedom," Major Saint-Louis said. Yeah, right. Monday, facing a possible backbench revolt, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said the United States must have a United Nations mandate before it can launch an attack on Iraq. One Liberal backbencher said in the House of Commons that he would vote no confidence in his own government if the cabinet decided to join the United States in an attack without a UN mandate. No Canadian I know would pull out when the shooting starts, but I've never met an MP. Posted by: JAB 2003-02-11 |
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