POLITICS: Canada Will Help Monitor Iraq Vote, PM Says, page 1

Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said on Sunday that Ottawa is willing to send Canadians to Iraq to help train Iraqi election workers, but will not send in Canadian military to war torn Iraq. As of today there has been no official requests from Iraq. Mr. Martin said, "we can move very quick if we are asked we�ve done this before." Mr. Martin claimed he wants to build a Canadian military that would have a peacekeeping presence in all the hotspots of the world. Martin went on further to suggest Canadians would serve in Sudan; the Canadian government announced in August that it would boost troops by 5,000 to 65,000 over the next several years in a desire for a top peace keeping force. In regards to sending troops to Iraq; Mr. Martin said the military is just spread to thin. There are just not troops available, but on the other hand the country is training Iraqi police and spent over $300-million and are one of the major donors to Iraq.

www .theglobeandmail.com

Ottawa � Prime Minister Paul Martin offered Sunday to send civilian Canadians to help train Iraqi election workers but said the military would stay out of the war-torn country
This [election] is an area in which Canada has a great deal of expertise . . . and we're prepared to offer it," Mr. Martin told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
So far there's been no official request for Canadian help in organizing the election, scheduled for Jan. 30.
But Mr. Martin said Ottawa has "indicated that if we're asked, we will participate. And we can move very quickly once we're asked; we've done this before."
Mr. Martin wants to build a Canadian military that would have a peacekeeping presence in all of the world's hot spots but not in Iraq, he said.
"Iraq is very, very important, but so is Afghanistan. The President made that very clear. So are other hot spots. Canada intends to play a role where it can play a significant one," he said.
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This sounds all very noble but we don�t have the facilities to house and train more troops or so Vice-Admiral Ron Buck has to say, I think Prime Minister Martin is talking through his hat trying to grand stand and look like he�s doing something.

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Military can't handle new troops, vice-admiral says

[edit on 6-12-2004 by Banshee]