As the army has been forced to fight a brutal counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan, Vice-Admiral Drew Robertson says the navy must prepare itself for conflicts where “threats are whatever your imagination can conceive.” In an interview, Vice-Adm. Robertson said an attack on an Israeli warship last year was the wake-up call…”Here we have a group that’s not a nation, armed with Mach-[speed], sea-skimming missiles,” said Vice-Adm. Robertson. “A year ago, no one had foreseen the idea that weapons of that kind could have proliferated to a non-state actor.” Vice.-Adm. Robertson said that from a planning point of view the navy can [[meet that threat]] by setting to sea with the “right mixture of surface ships and submarines.”… “Piracy is enabled by the current state of the government in Somalia,” Vice-Adm. Robertson said. “You’ve got pirates operating in a relatively unsophisticated manner in those calm waters of the tropics [and] they’ve been able to have quite an effect.”
11712 Drew Robinson (CMR RMC ’78)
Canada’s top general in Afghanistan says NATO is making plans based on the assumption that Canada and the Netherlands will extend their combat missions here past their 2008-09 deadlines. “We do not plan for a reduction of battalions. It is as simple as that,” said Brig.-Gen. Marquis Hainse, deputy commander of NATO forces in the war-torn south. “We have to remind ourselves why we are here in the first place. After 30 years of war (Afghanistan) was a failed state and a clear breeding ground for terrorists and all nations know that terrorists do not stop at their borders.” The general, who arrived in Kandahar four months ago, was replying to a question about political debates over whether to continue with missions set to expire in 2008 and 2009.
12966 Marquis J.M Hainse (CMR 82)