Baird Hints That Fighting Terrorists in Iraq Might Take Time

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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During the discussion of the federal cabinet regarding sending fighter jets to Iraq, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has cautioned that Canada and other countries should be prepared to go in for a long mission. Baird established that battling extremists in Iraq and elsewhere will take time and highlighted that Canada is in uncharted territory when it comes to directly engaging terrorist elements.

Mr. Baird stated that “terrorism, radical extremism, this is the great struggle of our generation” and “whether it’s in Iraq, whether it’s in Nigeria with Boko Haram, whether it’s with al-Shabaab in Somalia … there’s no quick fixes.” The federal cabinet is deliberating over the option of deploying of CF-18 jets, along with surveillance aircraft, in according to the request by American for Canada to become more involved in the ever-expanding air war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Baird refrained from speculating over the decision Prime Minister Stephen Harper and their cabinet colleagues will reach, but he stressed that cabinet will play off recent military experiences in Libya and Afghanistan in deciding.

There are already four Canadian CF-18s flying air policing missions over the Baltic in according to NATO’s eastern European reassurance measures on behalf of Ukraine. Following the Libya bombing campaign of 2011, there was concern in the air force that the CF-18 fleet was already being driven too hard, even with life-extension upgrades completed under the former Liberal government.