"New shit has come to light, man"

is Glen McGregor's Big Lebowski summation of the latest Jason Kenney follies regarding Canada smart bombing Syria.

Last week DefMin Kenney justified why Canada was about to start bombing Syria at all :

"There are only five coalition partners doing airstrikes against ISIL terror targets in eastern Syria. The United States is the only one of those five that has precision guided munitions. That is a capability the Royal Canadian Air Force has so one of the reasons our allies have requested we expand our air sorties into eastern Syria is because with those precision-guided munitions our CF-18s carry we can be more impactful in the strikes we make against ISIL."

However, in Gen. Tom Lawson tries to dig Jason Kenney out of a bomb crater of his own making, David Pugliese noted that  

"both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, part of the current five country U.S.-led coalition bombing targets in Syria, have precision guided weapons and have already used them against Islamic extremists."

So the DND then trotted out a statement from Lawson defending Kenney :

"As stated by the Minister of National Defence, the Royal Canadian Air Force’s precision targeting capabilities make Canada a valuable partner in the fight against ISIL. ... Currently, only the United States uses these advanced precision-guided munitions in Syria..."

... which Kenney happily waved about in the House on Monday as his vindication against Pugliese's column. Note no mention of coalition partners either having or not having them - a good part of Kenney's justification for pursuing the US into the IS quagmire.

Now today we get to Glen McGregor's Big Lebowski quip as General Tom sends his regrets: Gen. Tom Lawson :

"Since the publication of the letter below, in which I stated that the United States was the only nation that used advanced precision-guided munitions in Syria, new information has come to light,” Lawson explained in a statement. “A coalition ally has in fact used advanced precision-guided munitions in Syria ... "

Department of National Defence sources say Lawson was pressured by Kenney’s office to issue his original statement supporting the minister."

Kenney wasted no time blaming the Defence Department for his own mistake about coalition partners having smart bombs in the House today : 

"I did not receive accurate information in briefings about that. But I have to take responsibility for all of the information provided by my department, including that so I regret that inaccurate information was provided. As soon as more accurate information came to the attention of the military, the CDS issued a clarification."

So either Gen. Tom knew Kenney was full of shit but tried to back up his bs to the public anyway after being leaned on, or Canada's Chief of Defence Staff actually had no clue as to the current military capabilities or actions of our "coalition allies" Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, and the UAE in bombing Syria, or our DefMin just bussed the Chief of Defence.

Not sure which is the worse possibility here really.

Thurs. night update : Michael Den Tandt: Bumbles make the once all-star Jason Kenney seem more like a reflection of Tories’ worst traits
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Edited to add quote to pic and Kenney's remarks in the House today.
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Harper "whips out" his ISIL lawyer joke

The Con bench seals laugh and clap at Steve's joke blowing off the UN and international law because grade six. 

Harper went on to explain that Canada will be bombing Syria as part of an international coalition, although the US is the only NATO member currently bombing Syria. The other coalition countries bombing Syria are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, and the UAE. 

This same coalition of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Morocco, and the UAE minus Qatar also began bombing Yemen today. Egypt and Kuwait will be joining the offensive while Pakistan is still considering it. Nobel Peace Prize recipient President Obama has authorized the provision of US logistical and intelligence support to help bomb the Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting Al Qaeda and IS.
The Saudi-led air campaign against the Houthis in Yemen is dubbed “Decisive Storm”.

Harper says IS is a threat to Canada and will extend the mission for another year. 
DefMin Jason Kenney says they have no particular exit strategy..

h/t Maclean's for vid.

Update : Kenney whips out his "smart bombs", claiming Canada and the US are the only *coalition* bombing members that have them. David Pugliese shoots it down - both Saudi Arabia and UAE have 'em - in Saudi Arabia's case since 2008.

Harper and Kenney are leaning very heavily on the word 'coalition' in their bomb bomb bomb statements but as to who those coalition members actually are - not so much. 

Update2 : Aaron Wherry weighs in tonight on Harper joking about international law :
 Stephen Harper on the legality of bombing Syria: LOL

Shorter bonus grade six from Wherry : The government's position yesterday was that under UN Article 51, they 1) would be bombing Syria and 2) would not be informing the UN about it because it wasn't required. 
Turns out right in Article 51 it specifies that "Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council" so the government has now *clarified* its earlier stance and will be sending notification after all. 
World stage.

Update 3 : David Pugliese : 
Gen. Tom Lawson tries to dig Jason Kenney out of a bomb crater of his own making

Gwynne Dyer : Yemen: Unintended consequences   and 

Gwynne Dyer explains why terrorism is overblown and why Islamists want western countries to attack the Islamic State

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Steve, plumping for wartime PM

Yesterday at Goldman Sachs in New York in a Q&A with the WSJ editor, Harper seemed keen to give the impression that the US had taken the initiative and come to Canada cap in hand requesting further military contribution in the fight against ISIS in Iraq :



Transcript excerpt :

WSJ : "Would you rule out a military contribution to any effort?"

Harper :"I haven't ruled out ... we haven't ruled out anything."

WSJ : "Has the United States formally asked you to contribute?"

Harper : "The United States just recently in the last couple of days has asked for some additional contribution and we're weighing our response to that."

WSJ : "What are they looking for? More logistical support? More direct military support?"

Harper : "Since they didn't release the letter publicly, I'm not going to do that. I'll just say the Government of Canada will make a decision on that very shortly."

Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson also gave that impression in the House today:

"We've been very clear - we just recently received this request from the US and of course we will review it."

However, also today : U.S. says Canada offered to help in Iraq – not the other way around

"The United States government says it was Canada that asked what more it could do to help in Iraq – an offer that led to the letter Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he recently received from the U.S. requesting further military help in the fight against ISIS."

Were they referring to this back on August 12? : Harper offers ‘additional help’ to Obama in phone call over crisis in Iraq

"Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed strong support for U.S. air strikes in Iraq during a telephone conversation today with U.S. President Barack Obama ... and expressed Canada’s willingness to do more on the humanitarian aid front."

Or perhaps this editorial by Harper and Stockwell Day about their eagerness to participate in what became a nine year cakewalk in Iraq, published by the Wall Street Journal in 2003:  
Canadians Stand With You : 

"Today, the world is at war. A coalition of countries under the leadership of the U.K. and the U.S. is leading a military intervention to disarm Saddam Hussein. Yet Prime Minister Jean Chretien has left Canada outside this multilateral coalition of nations.

This is a serious mistake. For the first time in history, the Canadian government has not stood beside its key British and American allies in their time of need. The Canadian Alliance -- the official opposition in parliament -- supports the American and British position because we share their concerns, their worries about the future if Iraq is left unattended to, and their fundamental vision of civilization and human values. Disarming Iraq is necessary for the long-term security of the world, and for the collective interests of our key historic allies and therefore manifestly in the national interest of Canada. Make no mistake, as our allies work to end the reign of Saddam and the brutality and aggression that are the foundations of his regime, Canada's largest opposition party, the Canadian Alliance will not be neutral. In our hearts and minds, we will be with our allies and friends. And Canadians will be overwhelmingly with us.

But we will not be with the Canadian government.

Modern Canada was forged in large part by war -- not because it was easy but because it was right. In the great wars of the last century -- against authoritarianism, fascism, and communism -- Canada did not merely stand with the Americans, more often than not we led the way. We did so for freedom, for democracy, for civilization itself. These values continue to be embodied in our allies and their leaders, and scorned by the forces of evil, including Saddam Hussein and the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That is why we will stand -- and I believe most Canadians will stand with us -- for these higher values which shaped our past, and which we will need in an uncertain future."

Messrs. Harper and Day are the leader and shadow foreign minister, respectively, of the Canadian Alliance. 

But no, according to CBC tonight, it was indeed the August phone call : Canada mulls deploying CF-18 jets to join U.S.-led strikes

"The federal cabinet will meet next week to discuss deploying Canada's CF-18 fighter jets to join a U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Sources tell CBC News U.S. President Barack Obama brought the idea of an air war conducted by an international coalition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in August and asked for Canada 's support."

So will Steve finally get his wish to become a war time president PM?
Hey, unlikely anything else would have got Dubya re-elected.
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Update : "If there's a combat mission, I think the prime minister has always been very clear, that would go before Parliament for a vote, that has not changed," Baird told reporters at the United Nations on Thursday, shortly before Stephen Harper spoke to the assembly...

UN screencap via Ben Parsons
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Eleven years and six months later, Steve finally gets his wish

Finally, eh?

A small deployment of 100 "special ops" at first to be sure, but still a significant addition to the ongoing campaign to fund and arm the Mujihadeen, al Qaeda, Al Nusra, ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State, and whoever comes after them next. Blowback. It's a never-ending job. 

Here John bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran McCain poses with Free Syrian Army rebels in 2013, in photos purportedly released by ISIS . McCain disputes claims these men are IS-related. McCain press secretary : "If the individual photographed with Senator McCain is in fact Mohamed Nour, that is regrettable."

"I believe there are ways to get weapons to the opposition without direct United States involvement,” McCain said in 2012 during his Mideast tour with Lindsay Graham. "The bloodshed must be stopped, and we should rule out no option that could help to save lives. We must consider, among other actions, providing opposition groups inside Syria, both political and military, with better means to ... to fight back against Assad’s forces."

In Syria, you see, IS are the good guys fighting against Basher Assad, while across the border in Iraq, they are the bad guys. 

Here they are rolling across the Iraq border in their column of 43 shiny yellow Toyota Hiluxes, allegedly a gift to 'moderates' from the US, in another photo of disputed origins.

Top GOP Senator Lindsey Graham warns of 'inevitable' next attack :

 "The seeds of 9/11s are being planted all over Iraq and Syria". 

Yup. Although technically you're still working off having invaded Iraq after the last one.

"Speaking to reporters at the NATO summit on Friday, Harper condemned the "barbaric acts" of ISIS, the jihadist group behind recent beheadings of American journalists."

Harper offered no comment on the 19 beheadings committed by our ally Saudi Arabia last month - some of them for "sorcery and witchcraft" - presumably because Canada has "two contracts totalling $14.8-billion awarded to General Dynamics Land Systems Canada of London, Ontario for the 2013-14 fiscal year to supply Saudi Arabia with military armoured vehicles."

"The Canadian government hopes that over time, ISIS could be pushed back into Syria"  

where they will be our friends again.

Durka, durka, durka, Steve.

Monday Update : ‘Property of US Govt’: Islamic State jihadists armed with US military weapons

Islamic State fighters appear to be using captured US military issue arms and weapons supplied to moderate rebels in Syria by Saudi Arabia.

 ... “significant quantities” of US-made small arms including M16 assault rifles and included photos showing the markings “Property of US Govt”.

It also found that anti-tank rockets used by IS in Syria were “identical to M79 rockets transferred by Saudi Arabia to forces operating under the Free Syrian Army umbrella in 2013″.

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