Going against public sympathies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he will pull the six remaining Canadian jets that have been bombing IS targets as part of a US-led coalition since April 2015. Canada will, however, keep two surveillance planes in the region and triple the number of soldiers training Kurdish troops in northern Iraq.
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“The people terrorized by ISIS every day don’t need our vengeance, they need our help”, said Trudeau.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers a question as he is joined by Minister of National Defense Harjit Sajjan, left to right, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion during a news conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Canada’s ISIS airstrikes are being halted by its new liberal prime minister in favor of building up military forces on the ground to train Iraqi soldiers over the next two years, according to CBC News. This government believes Canada has a military role in the struggle and is ramping up our military’s involvement – as long as we avoid actual combat.
“I suspect there will be engagement”, Vance said.
As well, the government will deploy medical personnel to provide training to Iraqi forces in how to treat battlefield casualties.
“There’s no mistake about it – we are in a conflict zone”, Sajjan told CTV’s Power Play later on Monday. That is what we have articulated today: “a complete and robust mission that engages all different aspects of where Canada is good, and where we can best help to offer stability and security”. The decision, which was not welcomed by the coalition allies, is still to be put up for debate and a subsequent vote in Parliament next week.
Trudeau said the Liberals would withdraw Canada’s fighter jets from the air campaign against ISIL and has not backed down despite calls from the opposition to rethink his decision.
He has steadfastly said he won’t rethink his election campaign promise.
“The lethal enemy of barbarism isn’t hatred, it’s reason”. “We know Canada is stronger, much stronger than the threat posed by a murderous gang of thugs who are terrorising some of the most vulnerable people on Earth”.
Conservative politicians in Canada rejected Trudeau’s move as a “shameful step backward”, while the social democratic NDP slammed Trudeau for sending Canadian soldiers on an “open-ended combat military mission in Iraq”, CBC reported.
But Mr Trudeau is adamant that his announcement on Monday makes sound strategic sense. “Canada remains an essential partner in the counter-Daesh mission”, he said, using another name for ISIL, “and we will continue to discuss with all coalition partners additional ways to intensify efforts”.
August 7, 2014 -United States President Barack Obama authorizes targeted military intervention in Iraq.
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Especially positive is Ottawa’s plan to spend more than $1 billion over the next three years to ease some of the horrific suffering let loose by the wars in Syria and Iraq.
