In justifying Canada’s entry into the war, Kenney recently claimed that Canada and the U.S. were the only members of the Syrian coalition who had smart bombs.
But an article last week in the Citizen noted that the minister was wrong, as both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, part of the current five country U.S.-led coalition bombing targets in Syria, have smart weapons and have already used them against Islamic extremists.
Kenney then found himself under attack from opposition MPs who accused him of misleading Canadians about the new mission against Islamic extremists in Syria.
Kenney’s staff mobilized a response to the Citizen article and on the weekend Lawson published a letter on the Department of National Defence website, criticizing the newspaper’s article and claiming that only Canada and the U.S. had advanced smart bombs.
Kenney also took to Twitter to denounce what he called a “misleading” Citizen article, citing the claims made in Lawson’s letter as proof he was right.
Kenney, under fire in the Commons Monday, also pointed to Lawson’s letter. “The statement of the Chief of the Defence Staff confirmed what I said,” Kenney pointed out to the NDP.
But on Tuesday night Lawson admitted he was wrong.
“Since the publication of the letter below, in which I stated that the United States was the only nation that used advanced precision-guided munitions in Syria, new information has come to light,” Lawson explained in a statement. “A coalition ally has in fact used advanced precision-guided munitions in Syria on at least one occasion. The information contained in the letter, and which was provided by the Canadian Armed Forces to the Minister of National Defence, was based on the best information available at the time it was written. This error is sincerely regretted.”
Department of National Defence sources say Lawson was pressured by Kenney’s office to issue his original statement supporting the minister.
Kenney’s office did not respond Tuesday night.
Kenney made the claims about the smart bombs to a number of media outlets last week.
“There are only five coalition partners doing airstrikes against ISIL terror targets in eastern Syria,” the minister explained to CTV. “The United States is the only one of those five that has precision guided munitions. That is a capability the Royal Canadian Air Force has so one of the reasons our allies have requested we expand our air sorties into eastern Syria is because with those precision-guided munitions our CF-18s carry we can be more impactful in the strikes we make against ISIL.”
Fighter jets from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are equipped with the same or similar U.S smart bombs that Canada has acquired.
The Saudis bought their bombs in 2008 as part of a $20 billion arms deal with the U.S.
In addition to its stocks of U.S. smart bombs, the UAE also spent $500 million in 2013 to buy South African-made precision-guided munitions for its fighter jets. In addition, it signed a deal to manufacture the smart bombs in the UAE.
Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: DAVID PUGLIESE
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