With just hours left in its military mandate on the Iraq/ISIS War, Canada DM Anita Anand announced another 12 month extension on Thursday evening, keeping a long but relatively minor engagement in the Middle East active.
Like most NATO members, Canada committed to support the war against ISIS in vague and fairly open-ended terms. A few hundred troops from Canada are involved, including training in Jordan and Lebanon which are at best tangentially related to ISIS.
Canada’s involvement in Iraq is mostly an extension of US involvement Canada is a trade partner with Iraq, selling cereals and wood to the Middle Eastern nation for oil and gas.
The 12 month extension is mostly just record-keeping, and neither reflects a likely deadline for the war, nor makes it unlikely Canada will rubber-stamp it again this time in 2023 for another 12 months.
With engagements like this, the mandates are mostly just a reminder that the operations are even going on at all. Since the Defense Ministry signs off on it there is little chance for debate nor possibility of not extending the mission.
Hey Canada, how does it feel to be STILL in Iraq after supporting the invasion TWO DECADES ago. Being a a blind follower to the Empire sure sucks, doesn’t it.
Iraq is a failed state , and will remain so.
As author Kurt Vonnegut would say: So it goes………………..
Jean Chretien declined America’s invitation to participate in the Iraq war despite pressure from Bush. He told Bush there was no evidence that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction or was involved in 911
Canada has and continues to participate in the war against ISIS.
I would be more comfortable with Canada withdrawing from NATO
as NATO is now a dangerous collection of idiots in thrall to America.
Canada in all liklihood will have a new government in the next 24 months
but I am not expecting much in the way of change.
Long gone are the days when Canada followed a more independent foreign policy and more the pity.
Why is Canada involved at all, what is the interest for Canadians anyway? A really sovereign nation would not even have to pretend to be a partner. Well NATO is about to end, so no point in trying to protect US interest using Canadians to get involved in a war in Europe. They used to have a small token base in the Black Forrest in Germany just to show to be allies, NATO members. It was a great assignment for the soldiers at the time.