Don't tell us how to run our military,
defence minister admonishes U.S. president. Second Canadian official
calls Bush'a moron' for pushing Iraq onto NATO agenda
PRAGUE -- Defence Minister John McCallum bluntly told George W.
Bush yesterday to stop lecturing Canada about increased defence
spending after the U.S. president urged the federal government and
the NATO allies to boost their military budgets to confront new
international threats from terrorism and rogue states.
The Bush administration, particularly through Paul Cellucci, its
ambassador to Canada, has been calling on Canada to increase defence
spending and to purchase new heavy-lift aircraft so it does not have
to rely on the U.S. to transport Canadian troops.
Mr. McCallum said yesterday he is fed up with the Americans
hectoring Canada about its low defence expenditures, even though he
himself has been publicly lobbying for greater military
spending.
"I would not urge the president of the United States or the U.S.
ambassador to Canada to do my job to ask for more defence spending.
I think that is a Canadian matter," Mr. McCallum told reporters.
He added: "I think a number of Canadians were a little bit ticked
off when the ambassador keeps pushing."
"It is a made-in-Canada decision, so while Mr. Bush may be asking
for what I am asking for, I am not asking for his help."
On the eve of today's opening of the 19-member NATO summit in the
Czech capital, Mr. Bush made an impassioned appeal for the western
alliance to strengthen its military "to confront terror camps in
remote regions or hidden laboratories of outlawed regimes."
Mr. Bush said NATO needs to develop new capabilities, including a
21,000-member rapid reaction force, more special forces, better
precision weapons and more modern command structures if it is to win
the war against global terrorism and rogue states, like Iraq.
The president did not directly name Canada, but it has the
third-lowest military budget in the NATO alliance, spending more
than only Luxembourg and Iceland, which does not have a
military.
"NATO forces must be better able to fight side by side. Those
forces must be more mobile and more swiftly deployed," he told the
Atlantic Youth Council. "For some alliance members, this will
require higher defence spending. For all of us, it will require more
effective defence spending with each nation having the tools and
technology to fight and win a new kind of war."
At a later news conference, Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien would
not comment on Mr. Bush's appeal, other than to say he would like to
pump more money into the military, but the government has many other
priorities.
"Me too, I would like to spend more money on defence. I'd like to
spend more money on everything, but we have to make these decisions
when come the budget," he said.
Earlier in the day, a senior Canadian official, who asked not to
be identified, called Mr. Bush "a moron" because of his efforts to
push the war against Iraq to the top of NATO's agenda. The summit
was to focus on expansion and moderation of the alliance, but Mr.
Bush has used his clout to make Iraq the dominant issue at the
meeting.
NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson and the
Liberal-dominated defence committees of the House of Commons and the
Senate have all deplored Canada's $12-billion military budget, which
represents only 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product spending,
half the NATO average of 2.13.
But Canadian officials argued the "pure GDP numbers is a pretty
crude indicator" of Canada's military capabilities, noting the
Canadian military has played a role in almost every major United
Nations or NATO operation from Bosnia to the war in Afghanistan.
Mr. Chr�tien also picked up on that theme, saying the Americans
appreciate the role that Canada has played in operations around the
world.
"The Americans always compliment when we participate with them.
When we were in Kosovo, we were the third country with the greatest
number of sorties and we were complimented by everyone there by the
effectiveness of our troops. We did the same thing in Bosnia. In
Afghanistan, our troops did very well," he said.
Mr. Bush said NATO, devised as a static defence against the
former Soviet Union, is outdated and its military forces are
incapable of responding quickly to military threats outside Europe,
such as Afghanistan.
"When forces were needed quickly to operate in Afghanistan,
NATO's options were limited," he said.
"The allies need more special operations forces, better precision
strike capabilities and more modern command structures. Few NATO
members will have state-of-the-art capabilities in all of these
areas, I recognize that, but every nation should develop some."
The Senate defence committee recently called for a $4-billion
annual increase in the Armed Forces budget, while Liberal MPs on the
Commons defence committee have urged the prime minister not to
sacrifice Canada's military to fund a social agenda.
But officials close to Mr. Chr�tien say he's reluctant to approve
a substantial boost in spending for Canada's Armed Forces,
preferring to pump money from the federal surplus into social
programs and infrastructure improvements for cities.
Mr. McCallum has been seeking a modest increase in the defence
budget of $1 billion and is prepared to find savings of up to $250
million from within the Defence department, sources say.
Since 1994, the government has reduced defence spending by 23 per
cent and cut the Forces' regular personnel to 57,000 from 87,600 in
1990. Canada has the world's 54th-largest military and 77th-largest
reserve force, even though it has the 34th-largest population and is
a member of the Group of Seven industrialized nations.
A bevy of military analysts, most recently the Council on
Canadian Security in the 21st Century and the Atlantic Institute,
have also warned Canada is at risk of being unable to defend itself
unless it increases spending. Military experts say Canada needs to
double its equipment budget to $3.5 billion annually just to replace
aging equipment.
Behind the scenes, Defence department officials readily
acknowledge that military capability has suffered while other
allies, in particular the United States, have made substantial
improvements.
