Deployment to Kuwait stirs memories
Islamic State: In shades of 1991, RCAF establishing temporary airbase south of Iraq
Establishing a temporary airbase in Kuwait from which to bomb Islamic State targets in Iraq represents a homecoming of sorts for Canada’s CF- 18 Hornets.
Twenty- three years ago, Canada’s venerable Hornets — they were almost new then — were part of an allied coalition that liberated this tiny oil- rich emirate from Saddam Hussein’s invading army.
I was on a Royal Air Force VC- 10 tanker that refuelled four Canadian Hornets one clear night on the southern edge of Kuwait shortly before U. S. general Norman Schwarzkopf unveiled his famous left- hook strategy. That manoeuvre sent tens of thousands of U. S., British and French ground forces to attack the invading Iraqi forces from further along the Saudi border. Schwarzkopf’s strategy added a second front that Hussein’s army in the Kuwaiti desert was unable to deal with after weeks of being pounded by coalition aircraft.
During the First Gulf War the Hornets flew from Qatar, which is to the south of Kuwait. At the same time, a Canadian field hospital was established in northern Saudi Arabia, and Canadian warships were part of an armada of coalition vessels in the Persian Gulf.
The Canadians will find themselves inserted into a complex air space when they reach here. They will be flying with or near fighter bombers and support aircraft from as many as 14 countries. There is also a strong possibility that Islamic State has some surface- toair missiles. This is an extra risk that did not exist when Canada was part of NATO’s air campaign over Libya two years ago.
The air war against Islamic State extremists is already an international hot potato with a constant stream of sharp questions about the efficacy of bombing if there is not a ground campaign at the same time. The clamour has grown because U. S. airstrikes have until now failed to reverse gains Islamic State has made in northern Syria, or to prevent the jihadists from edging closer and closer to their ultimate prize: the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
Details about the planned RCAF deployment to the Middle East were still sketchy during the Thanksgiving weekend. As a small advance party returns home, a Theatre Activation Team that is to set up the basic infrastructure for follow on forces is expected to arrive in Kuwait on Wednesday or Thursday.
An air bridge with daily flights spanning 10,100 kilometres from CFB Trenton to Kuwait should get rolling soon after that with fighterbomber aircraft dedicated to the mission probably arriving last. Most of those deploying for what
may be six months or more in the Middle East have been busy getting medical clearances and preparing tonnes of gear for the mission at bases across Canada.
They’ll have a logistical twist when they get here: The Hornets will probably be based at a different airfield than the two reconnaissance aircraft and a refuelling tanker.
Pressure will probably grow in Ottawa over the next few weeks about how long it’s taken Canada to get set up. The first explanation for the lag is that moving about 600 men and women almost halfway around the world when Canada has little strategic airlift capability requires immense co- ordination and time.
The checklists being prepared mostly in Ottawa, CFB Trenton and CFB Cold Lake have thousands of often arcane items on them. They include boarding ladders, communications gear, aircraft generators and clerical supplies, as well as a trove of spare parts for the three aircraft types that are being sent. Battle planners have had to quickly decide who gets to go. They started with what specific technical skill sets are required and whether those who had them were free to deploy. Some of those deploying will presumably live at the airfield, which has long hosted U. S. forces transiting back home from Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Another factor that may be pushing back Canada’s start date has been an apparent lack of urgency on the part of U. S. generals to expand the current air war. This may be a result of the strong response to the White House’s appeal for international support for the mission.
Washington got quick contributions of 19 warplanes from the Belgians, Danes and Dutch as well as six Australian Super Hornets. It had been expected that one or two of these countries would sign up for the air war. To get four of them at once to swiftly agree to be part of it must have been a welcome surprise to Pentagon planners.
Canada may be the last member of the coalition to show up. But with Islamic State pressing the attack along a 1,000- kilometre arc in northern Syria and northern Iraq, there is so much to be done to try to roll it back that when the RCAF gets here there should still be lots for them to do.
With ominous reports Monday that Baghdad is effectively surrounded and that Islamic State has carried out more mass beheadings, whatever the complications triggered by the Harper government not buying enough C- 17 transport aircraft for distant operations, there is a growing sense that with the enemy still on a rampage, Canada must get into this fight as soon as it can.