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08/27/2004 Archived Entry: "Subtraction by addition; Peacekeeping brigade will decimate forces"

Posted by steve @ 01:38 PM EST [Link]

SELF-PROMO ALERT: I have a piece in today's Kitchener-Waterloo Record about Paul Martin's proposed "peacekeeping brigade", the creation of which I charge will gut the rest of the Canadian Armed Forces. If you live in Kitchener-Waterloo feel free to pick up a copy (it will surely appreciate in value) or read it after the break.

Subtraction by addition; Peacekeeping brigade will decimate forces

By Steven Martinovich

Long-time watchers of the Canadian Armed Forces were pleasantly surprised last year when Prime Minister Paul Martin announced that the federal government would add 5 000 new soldiers to the ranks. After years of atrophying numbers the news was welcome and many hoped it signaled the end of an era where our military died the death of a thousand cuts.

Unfortunately it appears that the federal government is practicing subtraction by addition. According to a report by Jane's Defence Weekly last week, the addition of Martin's "peacekeeping brigade" may end up costing the military significant assets. Although the federal government is expanding the number of soldiers, it will not be providing any extra money to pay for them.

And it's quite a bit of money. Jane's estimates that the new brigade will need $1.5 billion in equipment, $750 million in infrastructure funding and $400 million annually to maintain. That's a significant sum of money for a brigade whose mission will do little to enhance Canada's war fighting capacity.

To cover the costs of these new soldiers, senior Canadian officers have reportedly come up with a plan that effectively guts much of our operational capability. Although the Chief of Defence staff denied on August 23 that any cuts would be made, the plan reportedly includes mothballing the entire fleet of Iroquois-class destroyers, some frigates and grounding of to up 20 CF-18 fighters – a quarter of our fighter aircraft – the same ones we're spending $2.3 billion to modernize. No one should be surprised if it also means base closures and a delay to previously announced planned purchases of badly needed transport craft or supply ships.

Regardless of how our military will pay for the new brigade – they're already grappling with an annual $1 billion deficit for current operations – they don't have much time to figure out how to do so. Martin will be unveiling his new brigade to the United Nations later this year.

For those of us who actively watch the state of our military, it almost seems pointless to remind people how dire their predicament is, especially given how many times we've done it. Thanks to decades of cuts and apathy the military is barely able to undertake even modest peacekeeping missions. Much hand-wringing occurs in the United States because the massive commitment of American soldiers overseas and the resulting strain on their military but here in Canada our forces are strained with only 1 915 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan (1 002), Bosnia-Herzegovina (651), the Golan Heights (193) and other postings.

A recent Queen's University report stated that it would take decades to rebuild the military to meet our growing international commitments. Capital spending would have to rise by $15 billion over the next five years before the plight of the armed forces wasn't considered critical. That doesn't mean healthy or even passable, merely no longer critical.

Canadians tend to shy away from black and white declarations but Prime Minister Martin's plan demands nothing but stark commentary. If we proceed with this new peacekeeping brigade, we are essentially shattering the military, quite possibly beyond repair. By eliminating extensive operational capacity, including the ability to command naval task forces, air to ground attack and logistical capabilities in favour of what is likely to be a relatively lightly armed peacekeeping unit, Canada will all but permanently cede its capability of engaging in large scale operations.

A military increasingly limited to the oxymoron-laden "non-combat" peacekeeping mission will not be able to advance our foreign policy goals or influence nations not impressed by our "moral superpower" approach. Our allies will have little need to consult us on important issues because we won't have the capacity to serve beside them when needed. We will not be able project force when legitimately needed and it's doubtful that we could even protect ourselves.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario.