Maj.-Gen. Jonathan Vance was asked, “What is Canada’s military goal?” He replied that it was to support France. The follow-up question is, “What are France’s goals?” France has a long history in the region dating back to the colonial era and has specific national interests that it is pursuing. If we are going to hitch our wagon to theirs let’s hope that our goals are the same as theirs.
He then went on to say that “kinetic action” (military action) would have limited effect and passed the question off to Kerry Buck, the DFAIT representative. She responded that we need to see this as a “whole of government” approach. This is “bureaucrat speak” for everyone gets to have a finger in the pie — CIDA, DFAIT and DND. Unfortunately, if we have no stated goals of our own, we are stuck with the sometimes competing and conflicting goals of others.
It would have been useful had the government made a statement about its goals and then have the discipline to stick to them. The Islamist jihad across the Sahel has to be contained. It will likely never be defeated but its ability to inflict damage beyond the environs of the Sahel could be limited with swift and effective action. Therefore, it is in Canada’s security interests to support the French and Malian forces as they retake towns and villages in northern Mali.
Resist the temptation to be too ambitious. Mali is a bit of a mess. It became a democracy in 1991 but last year experienced a military coup and a counter-coup. The shadowy Capt. Amadou Sanogo, the self-appointed Chairman of National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State until acting President Dioncounda Traoré was installed, led the coup and commands an army that is poorly trained, lacks discipline and is prone to extra-judicial killings. The Tuareg people of the north don’t recognize government authority and at the first available opportunity have and will declare independence. They are a fierce Berber tribe who are well-armed thanks to the post-Gadhafi dispersal of Libya’s armaments. Having joined and then separated from the jihadists, some now support the French, but for how long is anyone’s guess.
The concept of time is not well understood by the West. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is a fundamentalist movement based upon a 7th century interpretation of Islam. The destruction of religious sites in and around Timbuktu and gratuitous amputations for minor infractions reflect a poorly educated and closed-minded religious viewpoint. They consider democracy to be anti-Islamic. These warriors fight to die while ours fight to go home. It should be easy for a 21st-century military to defeat a 7th-century mentality, but it is not. If you’re on Allah’s side you never lose. Therefore, this month’s or next year’s battlefield setback will be redeemed someday. We in the West, however, respond to time pressure. Our governments and our peoples will not support a long-term engagement and the AQIM know it.
It is instructive, therefore, to look at the Harper government’s response. Point one: state your goal and limit your intervention to that goal. We have yet to hear our government state its goal. Either Prime Minister Harper doesn’t know the mission goal or we have adopted France’s goals by default.
Point 2: resist the temptation to overreach. The announcement of $13 million from CIDA is instructive. Putting aside whether this is actually new money or merely reprofiled funding, why would you contribute aid to humanitarian initiatives (however worthy) while other nations contribute to African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA). Surely at this stage stabilizing security is the primary goal and handing it off to the African authorities as soon as possible is the priority. Humanitarian relief is an important secondary goal but can only become a primary goal once security has been established.
Third, understand the mentality of the enemy. Time is their luxury, not ours. Limit your aspirations to containing in as small a space as possible these murderous thugs and turn the operation over to the African authorities as soon as possible. Fund, train and develop African capability (AFISMA) now.
The confusion exhibited by the Harper government is a direct result of its decisions to pull out of Africa, turn its back on the UN and degrade our diplomatic capacity. The chickens are coming home to roost. Little clarity and a lot of confusion do not instill confidence.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: John McKay
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