Canada in Iraq - Troops Within Non-Combat Mandate: Gen. Lawson

CDS Gen. Tom Lawson during a briefing on OP IMPACT.
Photo: Ottawa Citizen, Labelled for Reuse. 

During a Parliamentary Committee hearing on Foreign Policy on Thursday January 29th 2015, Chief of Defence Staff, General Tom Lawson again reiterated that Canadian Special Forces operating in Iraq are well within the Non-Combat mandate of "Advise and Assist" that Parliament granted during the fall of 2014. Lawson continued to state that our role has evolved since first being deployed. He also regrets his comment to Parliament in October where he said Canadian Special Forces would not be guiding coalition air-strikes. Canadians learned in early January that Special Forces are in fact using lasers to help target and guide coalition strikes against ISIS. This was a role that Lawson says the military did not foresee, and are working on training the Iraqi forces to be able to conduct these tasks. 

To read the full article from The Star please see the link below.

Top General Says Canadian Soldiers Still Within Non-Combat Mandate