National Defence Committee on Nov. 4th, 2014

[MGen Michael Hood]

Most of northern Syria and those lines of communication are under the complete control of ISIL or ISIL-friendly entities. There is a Kurdish part in northern Syria, and then you would actually end up with regime capabilities south of Aleppo. I don't have it on this map, because I was focusing my comments on Iraq.

It's safe to say that a very large part of Syria is under ISIL control.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Ms. Gallant.

Mr. Harris, I understand you're sharing the time with Mr. Chicoine.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

That's correct. I have just an initial question.

General Hood, I was rather surprised, I guess, at your answer to Ms. Murray about the question of cost estimates. On October 17 General Lawson told the media, in a press briefing, that the cost estimates for the military contribution had actually been provided to cabinet. So why would you tell us that the CFO is actually preparing them, giving us the impression that there are no such things as cost estimates available?

That bothers me a little bit. Is this maybe a public relations gesture of some sort?

[MGen Michael Hood]

Mr. Harris—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I mean, if these estimates exist, either we're being denied them or there is some other story.

[MGen Michael Hood]

I've said previously, before this committee, that I'm not, in my position, responsible for the costs of the Department of National Defence. It is the CFO—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I understand that, but the information seems to be that they do exist. You may not know them. Does General Vance know them, do you think?

[MGen Michael Hood]

Estimates are always provided in general terms when different activities are contemplated, to give a sense of what costs may be. Those differ, often quite greatly, from what we expend on those operations, so we use them just as a touch point, but then they're updated with real costs coming in and then reported to government and the minister at the appropriate time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Monsieur Chicoine.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to thank the witnesses for joining us and shedding some light on the Iraq mission.

Major-General, in your presentation, you talked about Canada's training mission, which began on September 5 and lasted 30 days. I would like you to provide us with more details on that mission and tell us what were its concrete results.

[MGen Michael Hood]

Sorry, I understand French, but I did not really understand the question. Could you please repeat it?

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Certainly.

I would like you to elaborate on the 30-day training mission and tell us what its concrete results were.

[MGen Michael Hood]

A 30-day mandate was given to our Special Operations Forces. We said that we would report on our progress after working with the Peshmerga. We discussed this issue with the government, and a decision was made to establish the air task force. Both the Special Operations Forces and the Canadian Royal Air Force now have a six-month mission.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Okay, but do you have some more information on the results of that training mission? The mission helped the Peshmerga, among others, but do you have more information on its concrete results?

[RAdm Gilles Couturier]

The goal of the 30-day mission was to send our Special Operations Forces on site to assess what kind of a contribution we could make on the Iraqi soil. We began by holding discussions with the Iraqis to ensure they were open to this mission. We also held discussions with the U.S. forces, which are currently deployed in the region.

That initial contact led to a general plan setting out our potential contribution in the region through our Special Operations Forces. We submitted that plan to the government for its consideration.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Canada participated in the transportation of ammunitions and weapons to help the Peshmerga forces fight ISIL.

What were the results of that participation?

Are we still involved in the transportation of weapons to help the Peshmerga?

[RAdm Gilles Couturier]

We have fulfilled our contribution commitment. General Hood provided the exact number of missions.

In close collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, we delivered the military equipment to Iraqi forces, in Erbil. They now control that equipment and distribute it to those who need it most in the fight against ISIL.

[Sylvain Chicoine, NDP, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

Thank you.

Rear-Admiral Kirby, of the American army, said that the United States expected this mission to last several years—so much longer than six months or a year. I would like you to comment on the U.S. army's forecast.

Considering that we are coming out of a conflict that lasted 10 years and was among the deadliest we have been involved in, is our army ready to engage in a conflict likely to last several years?

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Answer briefly, please, General.

[MGen Michael Hood]

When our mission was approved and announced by the government, a time frame of six months was provided, but I think that the coalition's mission will last much longer. We are actually stopping the advancement of ISIL, but Iraqi forces will have to be trained and ready to launch missions in a ground war perspective. I think that will take more than six months.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you very much, General.

Mr. Williamson, please.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

General, it's good to see you here today. Thank you for attending.

I have a couple of questions I'm hoping you'll be able to answer to shed some light on concerning the situation on the ground in Iraq. I thought your description of the two red bands was very helpful. Do you have any idea what percentage of the Iraqi population lives under that ISIL-controlled territory?

[MGen Michael Hood]

I wouldn't want to hazard a guess. I will tell you that Mosul, which is under ISIL control, is the second largest city in Iraq, so certainly a significant proportion. But there certainly is a very heavy Iraqi population to the east of Baghdad down toward Kuwait. I don't have the specific numbers with me.

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

I'm going back to my recollection from the Gulf War and Gulf War II. Is most of the refining capability on the coast near Kuwait? What kind of refining capability do you find in those ISIL territories?

[MGen Michael Hood]

A significant oil refining capability is in that red banded area. You may have heard the oil refineries in Beiji supplied 80% of the oil to the western part of the country. Beiji is near Tikrit on that map. While there are significant oil refining capabilities in the south around Basra and on the coast, it is fair to say that it is distributed widely, so they would have that under control.