Articles found December 23, 2008
Pentagon gives Canadian firm contract for 3 helicopters, crews in Afghanistan
18 hours ago
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MONTREAL — The United States government has hired a Canadian company to provide three Bell 212 helicopters and crews to ferry supplies and personnel in Afghanistan.
Canadian Helicopters Income Fund (TSX: CHL.UN) said Monday that contract could be worth up to US$120 million over five years.
The helicopters will be used to move supplies and personnel in Afghanistan, where the United States, Canada and other NATO members have been fighting the Taliban.
Canadian Helicopters is the largest helicopter transportation services company operating in Canada and one of the largest in the world, serving primarily the resource industries.
The Obama administration is expected to increase the U.S. government's military presence in Afghanistan soon after officially coming to power in January.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on the weekend that the United States would send an additional 20,000 to 30,000 troops to Afghanistan by summer.
Canadian Helicopters said Monday its contract with the Pentagon begins with a one-year base period beginning in the first quarter of 2009. The Pentagon also options for four one-year extensions.
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Injured veterans born anew
For former soldiers who have returned to Canada as parents, the mission is on the home front
SIRI AGRELL sagrell@globeandmail.com December 23, 2008
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When Jonathan Klodt saw a man in a wheelchair in Shoppers Drug Mart recently, the two-year-old tried to climb in his lap.
"It makes me chuckle," said his mother, Deena Schreyer. "He associates them with his dad."
Jonathan was not yet born when his father, Corporal Chris Klodt, was shot in the spine in the Pashmul region of Afghanistan on July 7, 2006, and paralyzed from the chest down.
Jonathan arrived exactly two months later, with his father watching from the first of many wheelchairs.
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Taliban 'narco-terrorist' begs for mercy, gets life sentence
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A distraught, sobbing Afghan Taliban member begged the court for mercy, but got none as an unmoved federal judge here Monday handed down maximum life sentences for convictions on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges
Khan Mohammed, 38, of Nangarhar Province became the first person convicted and sentenced in the United States under a 2006 law that increased the penalty for a defendant found to be involved with terrorism and distributing illegal drugs.
Mohammed, who had been extradited from Afghanistan, was convicted by a jury in May of plotting a rocket attack on U.S. military forces and Afghan civilians at Jalalabad Airfield.
He also was found guilty of distributing between $1 million and $3 million worth of heroin into the United States "to kill Americans as part of a jihad."
Mohammed's court-appointed lawyer, conceding that "what he did was wrong," urged U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to be lenient and sentence his client to only 20 years in prison.
Then the full-bearded Mohammed, dressed in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit, addressed the judge. With tears streaming down his face, and choking back his words, he begged for only one or two years.
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Seoul denies considering troop deployment to Afghanistan
South Asia News Dec 23, 2008, 9:55 GMT Article Link
Seoul - Seoul is not considering whether to deploy its special civilian-military unit to Afghanistan, as reportedly requested by US officials, a government spokesman said Tuesday..
'Since we have not yet received any official request from the US, we are not yet even in a position to consider this issue of whether to redeploy our troops or not,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-Young told reporters.
Local media quoted military sources saying the incoming US administration hopes for elite military forces capable of self-defense and training, like Seoul's Zaytun force, to be deployed in Afghanistan.
The Zaytun contingent completed its four-year mission in Iraq and returned home last week. The force was praised as a success in providing vocational training to local residents and providing medical services.
More on link
Pentagon gives Canadian firm contract for 3 helicopters, crews in Afghanistan
18 hours ago
Article Link
MONTREAL — The United States government has hired a Canadian company to provide three Bell 212 helicopters and crews to ferry supplies and personnel in Afghanistan.
Canadian Helicopters Income Fund (TSX: CHL.UN) said Monday that contract could be worth up to US$120 million over five years.
The helicopters will be used to move supplies and personnel in Afghanistan, where the United States, Canada and other NATO members have been fighting the Taliban.
Canadian Helicopters is the largest helicopter transportation services company operating in Canada and one of the largest in the world, serving primarily the resource industries.
The Obama administration is expected to increase the U.S. government's military presence in Afghanistan soon after officially coming to power in January.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on the weekend that the United States would send an additional 20,000 to 30,000 troops to Afghanistan by summer.
Canadian Helicopters said Monday its contract with the Pentagon begins with a one-year base period beginning in the first quarter of 2009. The Pentagon also options for four one-year extensions.
More on link
Injured veterans born anew
For former soldiers who have returned to Canada as parents, the mission is on the home front
SIRI AGRELL sagrell@globeandmail.com December 23, 2008
Article Link
When Jonathan Klodt saw a man in a wheelchair in Shoppers Drug Mart recently, the two-year-old tried to climb in his lap.
"It makes me chuckle," said his mother, Deena Schreyer. "He associates them with his dad."
Jonathan was not yet born when his father, Corporal Chris Klodt, was shot in the spine in the Pashmul region of Afghanistan on July 7, 2006, and paralyzed from the chest down.
Jonathan arrived exactly two months later, with his father watching from the first of many wheelchairs.
More on link
Taliban 'narco-terrorist' begs for mercy, gets life sentence
Article Link
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A distraught, sobbing Afghan Taliban member begged the court for mercy, but got none as an unmoved federal judge here Monday handed down maximum life sentences for convictions on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges
Khan Mohammed, 38, of Nangarhar Province became the first person convicted and sentenced in the United States under a 2006 law that increased the penalty for a defendant found to be involved with terrorism and distributing illegal drugs.
Mohammed, who had been extradited from Afghanistan, was convicted by a jury in May of plotting a rocket attack on U.S. military forces and Afghan civilians at Jalalabad Airfield.
He also was found guilty of distributing between $1 million and $3 million worth of heroin into the United States "to kill Americans as part of a jihad."
Mohammed's court-appointed lawyer, conceding that "what he did was wrong," urged U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to be lenient and sentence his client to only 20 years in prison.
Then the full-bearded Mohammed, dressed in an orange jailhouse jumpsuit, addressed the judge. With tears streaming down his face, and choking back his words, he begged for only one or two years.
More on link
Seoul denies considering troop deployment to Afghanistan
South Asia News Dec 23, 2008, 9:55 GMT Article Link
Seoul - Seoul is not considering whether to deploy its special civilian-military unit to Afghanistan, as reportedly requested by US officials, a government spokesman said Tuesday..
'Since we have not yet received any official request from the US, we are not yet even in a position to consider this issue of whether to redeploy our troops or not,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-Young told reporters.
Local media quoted military sources saying the incoming US administration hopes for elite military forces capable of self-defense and training, like Seoul's Zaytun force, to be deployed in Afghanistan.
The Zaytun contingent completed its four-year mission in Iraq and returned home last week. The force was praised as a success in providing vocational training to local residents and providing medical services.
More on link