http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1051125579759&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Iraqis offered Canadian police, planes
Canada has already committed $106M to post-war plans
STEPHEN THORNE
CANADIAN PRESS
Canada sent a diplomatic note to the United States today offering police, prison experts, legal officers, combat engineers and transport planes to help in reconstructing postwar Iraq.
The offer includes an expanded role for three Hercules aircraft operating in the region and "select units" of the military‘s Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, should they be required.
"We have planes there - we will use three of them to transport medication and transport food and so on to the different parts of Iraq," Chrétien said.
"We have offered to help them in policing and in training judges . . . There are engineers that will be available to help restore water and electricity," Chrétien said after holding his weekly cabinet meeting in Toronto as a symbolic gesture in the face of the SARS crisis.
Defence Minister John McCallum said about 150 DART members would be offered. He said Canada could not come up with all the options Americans requested in a diplomatic note two weeks ago.
"They might have wanted a large number of soldiers but … we committed 1,800 soldiers to Afghanistan in August and a further 1,800 six months later," said McCallum.
"When I discussed this with (U.S. Defense Secretary Donald) Rumsfeld, I made it very clear that this would preclude substantial numbers of soldiers in Iraq, whether it was a situation of war or a situation of peace.
"He understood that and he accepted that."
NDP Leader Jack Layton said Canada should be working through the United Nations, not the United States.
"It‘s good that they‘re considering some help in Iraq, but let‘s hope it‘s in the context of some sort of United Nations involvement," Layton said.
"That‘s the big question mark right now. Are we essentially going to play along with the U.S. rebuilding strategy or are we going to work in a multilateral context?"
He said Canada should have played a stronger role in trying to convince the Americans to go the UN route. U.S. President George W. Bush is "**** -bent on his own direction" in world affairs, said Layton.
Usually, DART is comprised of more than 200 military personnel kept outside the regular rotation for the express purpose of humanitarian relief.
Formed in 1996 to respond to humanitarian crises, DART is not a traditional military unit, though it includes a security platoon, medical staff and combat engineers.
Doctors, a key element of any DART mission, are in short supply, especially given the commitment to send a year‘s worth of troops - up to 4,000 - to Afghanistan.
Sources said a final determination about what is needed will be made by the Americans. There was some doubt whether any DART members would be required, though McCallum said he hopes they will be sent.
"We put it on the table. We have the capacity and I think (the Iraqis) need purer water."
Canada has committed about $106 million to humanitarian efforts in Iraq. More than $60 million has been disbursed through the United Nations and other organizations to help meet basic needs such as food, water, health care and protection from land mines.
A law enforcement package - including RCMP and provincial police, along with judicial and Corrections officials - was also offered today.
"Canada is pleased to make this further contribution to help meet the immediate needs of the Iraqi people," Chrétien said.
"We will continue working closely with the international community to determine how best Canada can help Iraq build a future that is secure and stable."
There are already more than 1,275 Canadian Forces personnel in the Gulf region in the war against terrorism, including two warships and two Aurora aircraft, as well as the Hercules transport planes.
Canada has committed two rotations of between 1,500 and 2,000 troops to the NATO-led, UN-sanctioned International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan, this August.
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I‘m wondering where the Star got 4000 troops figure from.
And I‘m still wondering how will CF meet even 3000 troops.