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Canadian Forces In Very Bad Shape, Report Says
Canadian Press | 9-26-01 | John Ward

Posted on 09/26/2001 7:31:04 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache

Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2001

Canadian Forces in very bad shape, report says

By JOHN WARD-- The Canadian Press

OTTAWA (CP) -- Amid a world girding for a war on terrorism, the Canadian Forces are in sad shape, unable to fight against the best and win, a major defence group concludes in a new report.

The army can field little more than company-sized units of 150 or so in a crisis and the navy and air force are falling short in their responsibility to guard the airways and sea lanes while meeting overseas commitments, the Conference of Defence Associations says.

The conference, an umbrella group representing a variety of defence-oriented organizations, is to release the damning report, entitled Caught in the Middle, on Thursday. It cites a litany of military shortcomings and calls for at least $1 billion in new defence spending over each of the next five years.

"Today, the Canadian Forces could not (as required by the 1994 white paper) 'fight against the best and win' beyond a marginal level," the report says.

The Forces are short of money and trained manpower to the point where the army would not be able to field a brigade-size contingency force within 90 days as required by the white paper, the conference says.

"The army is not sustainable under the current circumstances."

The report says the army can't even maintain its 1,800-member contingent in Bosnia if it wants to modernize and be able to respond to any other crisis.

The navy is so short of sailors that one of its destroyers is tied up for lack of a crew.

"The navy will not be able to deliver its mandated level of maritime defence capability without additional resources."

The air force has a pilot shortage that is bound to get worse before it gets better.

"The air force is 'one deep' in many areas and has lost much of its flexibility and redundancy."

The group says the title of the report "implies that the Canadian Forces currently inhabit the worst of two worlds: conventional military capacities are in decline; new capabilities are unaffordable."

The conference blames government stinginess for the troubles, despite modest increases in defence spending in recent years.

"Canada spends only $265 per capita on defence. The NATO average is $589."

The defence minister's office refused to comment on the report. Defence Minister Art Eggleton, who was in Brussels attending a NATO meeting, wasn't available.

The report gives the Forces a failing grade when it comes to the ultimate test of any military: the ability to fight.

"The low level of collective training, the unsatisfactory state of some weapons and equipment and the lack of logistics support would make engagement in combat operations problematic without resolving those shortfalls."

As Canadians wonder what military help Canada might provide to the U.S. in the war on terrorism, the report states:

"The situation will not improve until Canadians and their government realize that the cost of effective armed forces is the price of doing business in the modern world.

"Nations, particularly those in the G-7 group, who shirk their duties in this respect may anticipate unfavourable treatment in the international economic domain."


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
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To: We fired the police department and put in a community hottub and moose petting zoo...
What! You mean bad decisions have consequences?

Draft the draft-dodgers.

41 posted on 09/26/2001 8:01:13 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: GroovyGuru,Luis Gonzalez
Yours is a country of vaginas,plain and simple. >>>

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHLMFAO! BUMP TO TOP!

42 posted on 09/26/2001 8:02:16 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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To: GroovyGuru
Would you like us to be rough and tough like you, or maybe....like the old Soviet Union? Use your head.No, I didn't think so.
43 posted on 09/26/2001 8:02:50 PM PDT by habs4ever
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To: My Favorite Headache
Yo....Adrian..Back-Off the Canucks....Think they're bad?....Look south of the Rio Grande.
44 posted on 09/26/2001 8:03:05 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
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To: habs4ever
Hey habs, don't worry. We're sending 10,000 reinforcements of gutless college pussys from Berkely that will run to your country in case of war. Have fun supporting them cuz we don't want any of them back! Viva Canada, nation of cowards!
45 posted on 09/26/2001 8:03:30 PM PDT by Bommer
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To: Chief Inspector Clouseau
The sky is blue...film at 11...>>>>>>>

AHAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...Man I am seeing some of the best one liner's in here tonight. This thread is filled with them.

46 posted on 09/26/2001 8:04:30 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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To: Diddle E. Squat
We fired the police department and put in a community hottub and moose petting zoo...>>>

Speechless....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

47 posted on 09/26/2001 8:06:14 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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To: habs4ever
Why don't the Canadians just vote Neil Peart as PM already and get it overwith? Jean C. is and always will be a laughing stock.
48 posted on 09/26/2001 8:07:16 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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To: My Favorite Headache
WHY do the Taliban prefer to ride Camels instead of SUV's
49 posted on 09/26/2001 8:08:52 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
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Comment #50 Removed by Moderator

To: Lets negotiate...
Time for another Louisiana purchase. Sell us everything west of Ontario, and pay us $500 per person per year, and we'll provide your remaining Canada Lite with all of its military protection. And you can keep the draft-dodgers.

We'll call the 51st state Texas North.

51 posted on 09/26/2001 8:09:38 PM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: My Favorite Headache Groovy Guru
"Yours is a country of vaginas, plain and simple".

Actually, plain and fancy.;^)

You, apparently, represent your country from the other end of the perineum.

52 posted on 09/26/2001 8:10:35 PM PDT by headsonpikes
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To: habs4ever
Well, we would LIKE for our neighbor to the north to start doing more to stop the thousands of terrs that use their country as a staging area against us.
53 posted on 09/26/2001 8:13:05 PM PDT by Nuke'm Glowing
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To: headsonpikes
oy vay....sighs~
54 posted on 09/26/2001 8:13:06 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
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To: Lazamataz
Maybe we can recruit Peter Jennings.
55 posted on 09/26/2001 8:13:09 PM PDT by Gracey
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To: My Favorite Headache
Oh great we have ME HE CO below us and CAN A DON'T above us .hmmmmmmmm please don't let anyone invade them
56 posted on 09/26/2001 8:14:12 PM PDT by classygreeneyedblonde
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To: habs4ever
When I was in Vietnam we had some Canadians there with us who had crossed the border and enlisted at a time when some of our folks had crossed the border to avoid the opportunity to serve this country when it counted big. I don't bash Canada in any case, nor any of the smaller countries, considering that the best that they could do at maximum expenditure would be worth about 15 minutes in a real war. My impression, though, has been that they do take their turns at bat, and maybe more, in the many situations where military forces at a somewhat less lethal level can be useful, and I suspect that individually in most cases and institutionally given a few months, we would find the Canadians quite welcome and useful in whatever we might be up to militarily in a lower techbology way.
57 posted on 09/26/2001 8:15:48 PM PDT by mathurine
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To: classygreeneyedblonde
sits down next to you....hi...s~
58 posted on 09/26/2001 8:16:14 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
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To: Harley - Mississippi
That requires changing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which has become a living, breathing endless moving target for the Supreme Court.Big job to do that.

Habs fans know no boundaries, they may even be in Louisiana, they are everywhere....:)

59 posted on 09/26/2001 8:16:19 PM PDT by habs4ever
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To: habs4ever
Hey, meathead, it ain't funny...if it was your country, you wouldn't laugh, would you?

We're not laughing. If Canada is overrun, where do we deport Peter Jennings? How about we trade Jennings and 2 Apaches in exchange for your Olympic snowboard champion, Ross Rebagliati? Fair, eh?

60 posted on 09/26/2001 8:17:03 PM PDT by captain11
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