WI Canada joined the US invasion force? Chretien opposed the use of force in Gulf I (I kid you not) and got a small popularity boost in Quebec. He's still hated as a vendu for his role in '82. What would be the consequences?
WI Canada joined the US invasion force? Chretien opposed the use of force in Gulf I (I kid you not) and got a small popularity boost in Quebec. He's still hated as a vendu for his role in '82. What would be the consequences?
Given the small size of the Canadian Army, not to mention well-documented equipment problems, plus that Canada had already sent the largest contingent in NATO, as a percentage of the national army, to Afghanistan just what kind of commitment could Canada even deploy?
2 guys with a flag is all that would be needed.
Canada's secret weapon 'Tim Horton's'
Get the Iraq's hooked and threaten to close!![]()
It worked in Kandahar.
With what they could send, I really don't think they could send anything. Once I get past my gag reflex towards even doing it, then I suppose the Canadian air force CF-18s could be sent in.
Perhaps 6 to 10 CF-18s co-located with the Australian and USMC Hornets out of Al Udeid in Qatar. (US Marine Corps and RAAF Hornet Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Tony Holmes)
That would alleviate most of the equipment problems, and the CF-18s have the ability to drop the ordnance needed for the missions they were flying. They've been upgraded since Bosnia and Kosovo, and those two missions gave the Canadian Forces a lot of experience in air-to-ground missions.
Given the Canadian commitment to Afghanistan, and given the extreme likelihood of Canadian casualties in Iraq, two things would happen:
If Harper, Day or another Tory was in charge when, Stefane Dion, Paul Martin or Michael Ignatieff (unless one of them backed the war) would be PM.
If Martin, Chretien or another Liberal was in charge, Harper or another Tory could be in power, but it's more likely we could see PM Jack Layton.
Army units are out of the question it seems, but what about aerial units? Mac said over on another thread concerning Iraqi airpower that they need helicopters instead of Migs and F-16's (At least, I think it was him). Does Canada have any helicopter-based units to be deployed?
While no other countries might get involved that where not originally involved or willing to send troops either during or after the invasion, might some countries like Italy, Spain, S. Korea, or Poland that originally sent sizeable contingents after the invasion be willing to commit troops to the invasion itself, or in the case of Poland, possibly expand the number of forces it would be willing to send in initially?
It actually is quite plausible. Chretien was under a lot of pressure from within his own party to go into Iraq. And the nation was split, with a majority outside of Quebec in favour, and with the opposite being true inside of Quebec.
While no other countries might get involved that where not originally involved or willing to send troops either during or after the invasion, might some countries like Italy, Spain, S. Korea, or Poland that originally sent sizeable contingents after the invasion be willing to commit troops to the invasion itself, or in the case of Poland, possibly expand the number of forces it would be willing to send in initially?
Maybe it will help the Dutch Governments efforts to get the Parlement to allow a Dutch contribution to the invasion. The US asked for a few specific units among which the 1MARNSBAT which is part of the UK/NL Landing Force and parts of the Airmobile Brigade supplemented by KCT Commandos.
That still makes me nervous about the state of Afghanistan. This is basically taking out available resources from IFOR.
One of the forces the Afghans still trust more or less on the whole in Afghanistan is IFOR. And that's because they didn't half ass it after mid-2002.
Even though there are no Dutch marines in Uruzgan (except for a handful of trainers) the costs in terms of money and more importantly spare parts would indeed make continued Dutch presence in Southern Afghanistan very hard indeed.
They'd Probably Kill a Few People, And Break Some Things ...Ummm, sorry wrong. Harper beleived that a majority of Canadians outside Québec supported the war (link), but he also believes that the solution to a recession is negative advertising, so I wouldn't put to much stock in his opinions. In effect both on diplomatic and government levels Canada was strongly opposed to the (illegal) invasion of Iraq in 2003.
As to the consequences, well aside from moral bankruptcy (but then again Chrétien already had that in spades). The liberals would have even less of a chance of winning a seat in Québec, never mind the sponsorship scandal. So a strengthening of the Bloc is most likely (like they needed any help). This screws up the federal elections even more leading to a series of minority governments, even weaker than the ones we have now, no guesses to who comes out with the PM booby prize, but likely the Bloc is in official opposition.
As to our military, well they're running pretty ragged due Kandahar right now, I can't imagine what seeing action in Iraq would do to troup levels and casualty figures. More than likely the Americans would only want us on for PR anyway, so maybe like in the first American Invasion of Iraq only the air force would be committed, what good they could do is beyond my limited knowledge of military capabilities.