CF-18s to Afstan?

The NDP's national defence critic suggests considering such a deployment is a further "quagmire" indication. In an interview this morning on CFRA, Ottawa, Minister of National Defence O'Connor said that nothing about this had crossed his desk--which does not mean it's not being considered. Note the gratuitious comparison with "development" in the first sentence of the Toronto Star story.

While publicly touting redevelopment efforts in Afghanistan, the federal government has quietly laid the groundwork to deploy CF-18s, its front-line fighter jet [it's our only fighter, Mr Campion-Smith], to support Canadian troops battling insurgents, documents show.

Ottawa has awarded the U.S. government a $1.9 million contract for "deployment support" for the CF-18s, according to a list of contracts from Public Works and Government Services...

Lieut. Adam Thomson, a defence department spokesperson, said the military was simply doing "prudent planning" in considering a possible deployment of the fighter fleet but stressed the final decision rests with the government.

"Yes, it's always something that is being considered but we haven't received any direction," he said yesterday.

New Democrat MP Dawn Black (New Westminster-Coquitlam) obtained details of the military contracts for Afghanistan, including the previously undisclosed proposal that CF-18s could be deployed. She said the swelling cost and scale of Canada's military involvement should worry Canadians.

"The whole thing is escalating. I share the concern that so many other Canadians have that we're getting into a quagmire here that we're not going to be able to get out of," Black, the NDP's defence critic, said yesterday in an interview...

Our Hornets have just finished the first phase of an extensive upgrading program. The new capabilities likely are essential for a possible deployment to Afstan.

Update: Maybe not.

The O'Connor interview was mainly about the rally on Parliament Hill at noon; CDS Gen. Hillier was also interviewed.