Our man in Afghanistan
MEET THE GENERAL: David Fraser is Canada’s new warrior chieftain He’ll command multi-national brigade Believes U.S. has ‘trust in our abilities’
EDMONTON— With his thinning, sandy hair, less- than- bulky build and master’s degree, David Fraser could be an academic. With his firm handshake and a glint of almost missionary zeal in his dark eyes, he could be a muscular Christian, out to spread the good word. If it weren’t for his camouflage fatigues.
This is Canada’s next warrior chieftain, the man who will lead the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry back into battle; a campaign likely to bring Remembrance Day jarringly uptodate. This time next year, we can expect to be observing two minutes’ silence for the fallen heroes of Kandahar.
Fraser, newly promoted to brigadier- general, has just been named commander of an elite multi- national brigade, including between 1,600 and 2,200 Canadians and more than 4,000 British and U. S. troops. There’s the possibility of Dutch and Australian participation, too, as they go after Al Qaeda, the Taliban, drug warlords and bandits in southern Afghanistan.
For once, this isn’t a peacekeeping mission. When he goes there in February, he’ll be at the head of a fighting force, aggressively pursuing these fast- moving private armies who work together when it suits them in a region that Fraser says is probably bigger than Ontario, “ with everything — mountains, desert, rivers, urban areas. It has heat, it has cold. Up to 40 Celsius in summer, minus 20 in the mountains in winter. The environment is particularly hostile.”
“ When we identify the enemy, we will work with the Afghan army to take them out,” Col. Steve Noonan, current commander of Canada’s military presence in Afghanistan, told the Ottawa Citizen. “ Our goal will be to kill or capture those elements.” As Defence Minister Bill Graham and Gen. Rick Hillier, Chief of Defence Staff, have been saying for months, “ those elements” are well-organized, at home in the harsh terrain and eager to fight back. Graham and Hillier are trying to prepare us for our soldiers being shipped home in body bags; for possibly the biggest loss of life since the Korean War more than half a
century ago, when 516 Canadians died. “Canadians perhaps do not yet have a full understanding of what we are getting into,” Noonan said. “ It is only fair to tell Canadians that this is dangerous stuff and that people may be killed.” The man who will lead them is 47, a military brat who thinks of Ottawa as his home town. He drives a black Honda and has a wife and two teenage sons, who he’d rather keep out of the conversation, and a dog Seiko, “ who has to be reintroduced to me every time I go home.”
Fraser has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and political science and a master’s in defence management and policy. He joined the army in 1980 and is a combat veteran. He’s served in Bosnia twice, Iraq and Cyprus. He knows what it’s like to call a woman and tell her her husband or her son is dead.
“ It’s about the worst thing you ever have to do,” he says over coffee in the officers’ mess.
Fraser’s command will last nine months. Defence analyst John Pike is, if not cynical then skeptical, given Canada’s record of “peacekeeping, not peacemaking . . . I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s unusual but it’s certainly noteworthy” that America is giving him control of U. S. troops. The Pentagon has “ obviously got some confidence in this guy,” says Pike, director of Washington-based GlobalSecurity. org. “ But North American relations over Iraq are so sour right now, both countries are looking for some way to make nice. I can easily imagine the deal was that Canada would come in on this escapade in return for getting the command billet.”
Fraser’s view is that America has “ an awful lot of trust in our abilities. We have a good reputation as professional soldiers. We’re experienced and capable of difficult tasks.” Why him? “ Right place, right time,” he says laconically. “ It’s not that I’m better than the commanders of other brigades. I’m equally as good as them. But it was this brigade’s turn.”
Fraser, as a colonel, was commanding officer of the 1st Battalion’s Mechanized Brigade Group. He has also been co- director of the U. S.- Canada Binational Planning Group, based in Colorado Springs and working to enhance military intelligence sharing and maritime surveillance.
He’s replacing an American as head of the joint force. Troops from the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton, are going with him. They’ve been training in the mountains of western Canada to prepare for the high altitudes they’ll encounter. There also reportedly will be special forces commandos from Joint Task Force Two, reconnaissance troops from Lord Strathcona’s Horse and heavy guns from the 1st Regiment of Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.
Britain is contributing 3,000 troops and the Netherlands possibly up to 1,000. Australia may send Special Air Service commandos. The ground troops will be supported by jet fighters and attack and transport helicopters. There’s no word yet on how many Americans will participate but they’ll include special forces and pilots.
Fraser has been in Afghanistan twice in recent months to study what needs to be done and how he best can do it.
“ I finished the second reconnaissance Thursday last week. I took 34 people with me, all the commanders at various levels to see the ground they’ll be operating in. A picture is worth 1,000 words. Well, they got 10,000 words at least.” He speaks of the need to minimize “ collateral damage” — that is, killing civilians and destroying their homes. Of a non- combatant role in rebuilding infrastructure. The need for cultural sensitivity. The importance of training Afghan forces to fight for themselves. He doesn’t try to downplay the risks but he speaks of them with carefully chosen words.
“ We’re going into a very dangerous area. We will do everything we can do to mitigate those risks but we cannot guarantee to zero-out those risks. We’re well- trained, wellequipped and ready to deal with the threat.
“ I call it a full- spectrum operation. You can be simplistic and call it combat operations. When you’re being shot at, it’s intense. You’ve got to be prepared to take care of yourself.
“ I spent a couple of hours walking through a little town called Qalat with the governor. A brave man. He was talking about what he wants to do. He’s building a hospital, schools, he wants to build commerce and business. He needs help.
“ I wouldn’t call the terrorists well- equipped. They have small arms, they have anti- tank weapons. They’re small, they’re mobile and they attack success stories. If something’s working, they attack it. Are they determined? Yes. But so are we.” How much can be achieved in only nine months? Fraser says he noticed small improvements between his visits to Afghanistan in August and last month. “ Little steps. There isn’t a soldier going over who, he or she, doesn’t believe they can make a difference.”
Fraser says neither of his sons is interested in following in his footsteps. His wife, he says, is very supportive. When he called her to tell her he’d been offered this command and what should he do, “ she said, ‘ You stupid fool. Of course you’re going to take it.’ This is the life we’ve chosen.”
People who join the military, he says, as the conversation moves around again to the inevitability of combat deaths, “ recognize this is a job unlike any other job. He challenges the assertion that Canada has done nothing in recent years but peacekeeping missions. “ In the early ’ 90s, that changed. Our experience in the Balkans, in Afghanistan. We are experienced warriors.”
This particular warrior has been working 14 hour days. Tonight will be his third night in a row sleeping in his own bed. “ That’s the first time since August,” he says. “I might even spend the weekend with my family.” Even the dog, Seiko, is used to him again once more. For a while, at least.