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All the best troops, stay alert and keep safe. Thanks for going and here's to your safe return.
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Taliban get 'heads-up' about Canadians message
'Ominous' online notice warns about new troops
Chris Wattie, with files from Stewart Bell
National Post
Friday, July 29, 2005
Islamic extremists have issued a warning about Canadian troops headed to southern Afghanistan this week in a notice posted on a jihadist Web site that one analyst calls "ominous."
Rita Katz, the director of the Washington-based SITE Institute, said the message on the al-Anbaar site does not include direct threats against the Canadians, on their way to the Kandahar region, but was intended as a "heads-up" to Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the area.
"It's a notice to their people in Afghanistan -- the mujahedeen on the ground -- so they know what's coming and presumably can prepare," Ms. Katz said.
"It's useful information to their commanders -- information that is very difficult for them to get otherwise."
The message, posted this week, was translated by the SITE Institute, which was formed in 2002 to monitor and disseminate information on Islamic terrorists.
"A Canadian force of 300 soldiers left Trenton base in Canada, heading to Afghanistan to help the coalition of the occupying forces there," the message reads.
"Canadian radio said today that it was decided that these additional forces will be stationed south of the city of Kandahar, which had an increased number of attacks from Taliban fighters with the [Afghan] Parliament election day approaching ... in the coming September."
The message exaggerates the size of the force: Nearly 250 Canadian soldiers are on their way to Kandahar this month to form a provincial reconstruction team, a humanitarian and development aid team protected by the military. On Wednesday, 110 troops left Edmonton on their way to the region and another 100 soldiers are to leave for Afghanistan next week.
Dr. Wesley Wark, of the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, said the message indicates Kandahar will be much more perilous than an earlier, two-year commitment in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
"The message is that Canadians are coming and they're going to be part of the so-called 'occupying forces,' " he said. "That tags them clearly as the enemy."
"It's very rare to see this sort of thing, particularly about Canadians," Ms. Katz said. "They are clearly taking an interest in the Canadian troops ... It's an ominous sign, I think."
The Web site is a regular source of messages from purported al-Qaeda members, some military discussions and "how to" postings for terrorist attacks. "For instance," Ms. Katz said, "we are currently translating a message from that site titled, 'What is a good way to explode oil refiners?' "
There are more than 9,000 members of the al-Anbaar site, but because no password is required to read or join the online discussion, she said, there could be thousands of others with access.
Some of the site's users may be in North America, acting as lookouts for fighters in Afghanistan.
"This is intelligence collected by the supporters of these jihadists -- someone in Canada or the U.S. listening to the radio or reading the newspapers," she said. "This tells the [Taliban or al-Qaeda] commanders what to expect."
General Rick Hillier, the chief of defence staff, has bluntly predicted that the Kandahar mission will be a dangerous one. He expects Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists to engage coalition forces, including Canadian troops, and that casualties are a distinct possibility.
"Kandahar and southern Afghanistan is a risky and dangerous region," he said this week, while seeing off the Canadian troops flying out of Edmonton. "[The Taliban] has been much more active in the past month than it has in the past year."
The Kandahar team will be joined by a battle group of more than 1,500 soldiers early next year.
© National Post 2005
Have we too lost our marbles?
~RoKo~ said:"Black Ops Store?" I don't remember seeing that when I was surfing through that list a couple months ago..
I'm on the next flight out... Can't wait.