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In October, Chief of the Defence Staff, General Tom Lawson was clear about the issue of whether Canadians would be on the ground in Iraq directing airstrikes. It was not going to happen, he told CTV. The reason? Because that would be combat, he noted. And thus, not the mission presented to Parliament for the ground segment of the Iraq contribution.

Well things have changed it seems.

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Lawson just issued the following statement:

“I understand that there may be some questions about my comments on Oct. 19th about the nature of activities being undertaken by Canada’s Special Operations Forces in Iraq. To be clear, the situation on the ground has evolved since I offered those remarks, and we have increased our assistance with respect to targeting air strikes in direct correlation with an increased threat encountered by the ISF. “Our SOF Personnel are not seeking to directly engage the enemy, but we are providing assistance to forces that are in combat. The activities of Canada’s Special Operations Forces in Iraq, as described by Generals Vance and Rouleau on January 19th, are entirely consistent with the advise and assist mandate given to the Canadian Armed Forces by the government. You should be justifiably proud of your men and women in uniform.”

So to summarize – if Canadians had been on the ground in Iraq directing air strikes they would have been in combat….at least in October, and thus would have violated the mandate approved by Parliament. But in November and beyond, it is no longer combat, and thus okay.