WHY IS THIS IN CANADA??DOES THE SAME EXIST IN THE U. S???

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08.11.2011, 16:51


3 comments

Will NATO remain after Libyan war?

Russian political scientist Igor Panarin believes that the Libyan
campaign, which ended October 31, demonstrated the weakness of NATO and
revealed the military bloc's potential to collapse.

Libyan conflict

11.05, 06:22


83 comments

Loving the bomb: NATO to splurge billions on nuclear weapons overhaul

The US is planning to spend $4 billion to upgrade NATO’s Western
Eruopean nuclear arsenal. The “unnecessary and expensive” initiative is
likely to stir new animosity with Russia, a report says.

30.06.2011, 08:09


6 comments

Gates’ legacy: spiraling budget and drone strategy

For almost five years Robert Gates has been the man at the helm of
the US military. He is now retiring, leaving behind an ever-growing
defense budget and the new way of waging war, which saves US soldiers at
the expense of foreign civilians.

11.05, 13:59


15 comments

Libya moving to democracy through torture?

Thousands of supporters of Colonel Gaddafi are being detained, with
some tortured in secret prisons by revolutionary brigades, the head of
the UN Support Mission in Libya says. Rights groups have already raised
the alarm on torture in Libyan prisons.

Libyan conflict

27.01, 10:50


30 comments

Tortured freedom: Libya’s new rulers resort to old tactics

Despite the changes sweeping Libya, violence and bloodshed have not
stopped. In shocking revelations, military and security forces stand
accused of torturing detainees to death. Rights groups say Libya's new
rulers have not addressed the problem.

Arab world protests
Libyan conflict

26.10.2011, 14:00


7 comments

NTC slow to probe rebel atrocities

Three hundred bodies of alleged Gaddafi allies have been found in
Sirte, shot in the head with hands tied behind their backs. Are Libya’s
new rulers guilty of ordering political executions identical to those
they claimed to be rebelling against?

Libyan conflict

Math problems? Canadian Defense Minister ‘lowballs’ Libyan op spending figures

A Canadian soldiers looks
on as an AV8 Harrier aircraft prepares to lands on the Italian aircraft
carrier "Giuseppe Garibaldi" during the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) operation codenamed "Unified Protectors" on June 15,
2011 in the Mediterranean sea. (AFP Photo / Marcello Patrnostro)

TAGS:
Arms,
Military,
Politics,
Libya,
War

Canada’s participation in the Libyan mission cost the country
almost $347 million – a staggering seven times what Defense Minister
Peter MacKay said it did last year.

­The figures come from a report released by the Department of
National Security. They include all the expenses of the operation – from
jet fuel to salaries. The total incremental costs – spending deemed to
exceed normal operating expense – were pegged at $100 million. Even that
is twice what the Defense Minister said last October.

Back
then, MacKay reported that the Libyan mission cost Canadian taxpayers
$50 million, $10 million less than what the Defense Department had
predicted earlier.

“As of Oct. 13, the figures that I've received have us well below that, somewhere under $50 million,” Kay told CBC News. “And
that's the all-up costs of the equipment that we have in the theatre,
the transportation to get there, those that have been carrying out this
critical mission.”

The discrepancy in the numbers has put MacKay under intense scrutiny from Canadian MPs.

“What is it this time?”
David Christopherson, the deputy leader of Canada’s opposition New
Democratic Party (NDP) was quoted by CBC News as saying during a
questioning session. “That they still can't keep their numbers straight or that they're misleading Canadians?”

MacKay
responded by defending his October assessment of the spending, arguing
that the additional spending took place afterwards.

“What I said was that, as of October 13, the figures that I received from the department were under $50 million,” he stated. “Of
course, the mission went on. There were extensions … there was, in
fact, then the cost of bringing equipment and personnel home. This is
incremental costing.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also
backed his Minister, saying that the $347 million includes the cost of
operating the Canadian military and that Canada always gives the most
up-to-date information on its military spending.

Harper also
stressed that the total cost of the Libyan mission was within the budget
set by the government. But the opposition is arguing that the Defense
Minister thinks he can get away with presenting a lower cost of military
operations to the public.

“Peter’s got problems with his math yet again and this government’s got problems with trying to figure out how to cost things,” said NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar. “I
suppose he just thinks that if he can lowball it, people won’t be
concerned about the costs. But, you know, in the end, the costs add up
and it caught up to Mr. MacKay.”

Earlier, the Canadian
government came under fire for intentionally reporting only the
incremental costs of buying F-16 stealth fighter jets. Incremental costs
for the airplanes are $10 million less than the actual amount of money
the Canadian government had paid for them.

Canada deployed six
CF-18 fighter jets and a navy frigate, plus 570 military personnel to
Libya last year as part of what it dubbed Operation Mobile. The aim of
the operation was to enforce a UN no-fly zone against Gaddafi loyalists.