Canadian takes command of the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai

[McG]

Good luck wished for MGen Thompson in his two year command of this mission.

Canadian Denis Thompson leads Sinai peacekeeping force
Major-General will lead team of about 1,600 army, air and naval troops for next 2 years
CBC News
04 March 2014

A Canadian general has been put in charge of a team of military observers in the violent border region between Egypt and Israel.

The CBC's Sasa Petricic was the only Canadian reporter at Canadian Maj.-Gen. Denis Thompson's swearing-in ceremony on Monday, and just the second reporter to ever visit the base.

Thompson, who was a brigadier-general in the Canadian Forces prior to this new role, will be the force commander of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) for the next two years.

The MFO — a team of about 1,600 army, air and naval troops — was created in 1981 as part of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and its role is to keep the peace in the area.

Petricic reports that the force is spread along the border between Egypt and Israel on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula. Not many people live in the rough, arid area, but several groups of militants, including Bedouin fighters and Palestinian and Islamist fighters, are active in the region.

The MFO soldiers, including 31 Canadians, have dug into positions surrounded with barb wire. Soldiers from Canada have served in the Sinai since 1985 as part of the Canadian Forces’ Operation Calumet. The force is there to observe what’s going on, but they also have to protect themselves.

Thompson previously worked as the commander of Canada’s secretive Joint Task Force 2 and he was NATO’s commander of Task Force Kandahar in 2008.

Off the battlefield, he also worked in Ottawa for some time, something Petricic suggested will help him negotiate the political sensitivities surrounding working in the Middle East hot spot.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/canadian-denis-thompson-leads-sinai-peacekeeping-force-1.2558925

 

[vonGarvin]

The CBC is inept. That the reporter was the only Canadian there isn't news, nor is it relevant to it. It only shows their arrogance and vanity.
And MGen Thompson  commanded SOFCOM, IIRC.

Anyway,  congratulations to him and his staff!

 

[Journeyman]

My thoughts exactly! 

The CBC's Sasa Petricic was the only Canadian reporter ......

  Big F'ing Deal. 

Petricic manages to get his name in there several times. :

 

[vonGarvin]

I'm so hipster, I remember when he spelled his name "Sasha".  ;D

 

[dapaterson]

On the other hand, he is highlighting the lack of Canadian media coverage - something this board would jump all over were we not so reflexively spewing vitriol at the CBC.






(...and I'm so hipster I remember when the TechnoViking was Mortarman Rockpainter...)

 

[Edward Campbell]

On the other hand, he is highlighting the lack of Canadian media coverage - something this board would jump all over were we not so reflexively spewing vitriol at the CBC.






(...and I'm so hipster I remember when the TechnoViking was Mortarman Rockpainter...)

:goodpost:

 

[GAP]

After that last bit of conversation,.....why do I keep thinking bobble heads......

 

[Journeyman]

For the record, I was "reflexively spewing vitriol" at 'journalists' who believe that they are somehow entitled to rock star status, not at CBC.

 

[Transporter]

I'm surprised even he was there given the logistics involved in travelling to the MFO.

 

[Journeyman]

To further my point (and continue the derail), in the Ukraine thread, there's a link

Government to send military observers to Ukraine

PM Stephen Harper says assets of ousted Ukraine regime held in Canada will be frozen

By Leslie MacKinnon, CBC News

Yep, way down in that tiny font, it names the journalist -- clearly she doesn't believe she's a rock star; her name doesn't appear multiple times in the story, because the word-count is tied up with passing along details.


According to her bio, she's neither a 'visible minority' nor handicapped by a sense of entitlement:

Leslie MacKinnon has been working in news and current affairs since newsrooms used teletype, televison was shot on film and radio tape was edited with a razor blade. She saw through The Journal's long run on CBC-TV, and since then has worked in Halifax, Toronto and Ottawa in the CBC's various permutations. Right now, she's a TV news reporter in the political bureau, and likes certain parts of Ottawa - the canal, the Hill - a lot.

If a Mod is house-cleaning and wants to move this to a media bias thread or elsewhere, I've no heartache.

 

[DAA]

I'm surprised even he was there given the logistics involved in travelling to the MFO.

If my thoughts are correct, Mr Petricic was only present in the area to report on the deterioriating conditions in the Middle-East and for lack of anything better to do, may have contacted the MFO HQ in Cairo and got an invite or maybe they invited him.

Besides, I think that position is not part of the CF mandate and the MFO canvasses supporting nations for appropriate candidates for the job.  I believe the last Canadian to hold that post was MGen Meating (Armd) and that was in the mid 2000's.

 

[Transporter]

If my thoughts are correct, Mr Petricic was only present in the area to report on the deterioriating conditions in the Middle-East and for lack of anything better to do, may have contacted the MFO HQ in Cairo and got an invite or maybe they invited him.

Besides, I think that position is not part of the CF mandate and the MFO canvasses supporting nations for appropriate candidates for the job.  I believe the last Canadian to hold that post was MGen Meating (Armd) and that was in the mid 2000's.

Even being "present in the area", it's still quite a logistical challenge to get to North Camp. Had to have been escorted somehow. As Force Comd, MGen Thompson reports to MFO HQ in Rome, not to Comd CJOC. The Comd TF El Gorah (a Col) reports to Comd CJOC.

 

[DAA]

Even being "present in the area", it's still quite a logistical challenge to get to North Camp. Had to have been escorted somehow. As Force Comd, MGen Thompson reports to MFO HQ in Rome, not to Comd CJOC. The Comd TF El Gorah (a Col) reports to Comd CJOC.

It's a mere "taxi" ride to El Arish and not that hard to do.  The only logistical challenge, is obtaining permissions to enter North Camp.  And your right, he does report to HQ in Rome but they also have a HQ in Cairo and the Comd TF El Gorah (Cdn Col) is commonly referred to within the MFO as "Chief of Liaison".  South Camp in the southern Sinai is just as easy to get to.  So I think the Force Comd deals more with Rome and the CLO deals more with Cairo.

Been to both and know them well.

 

[Transporter]

It's a mere "taxi" ride to El Arish and not that hard to do.  The only logistical challenge, is obtaining permissions to enter North Camp.  And your right, he does report to HQ in Rome but they also have a HQ in Cairo and the Comd TF El Gorah (Cdn Col) is commonly referred to within the MFO as "Chief of Liaison".  South Camp in the southern Sinai is just as easy to get to.  So I think the Force Comd deals more with Rome and the CLO deals more with Cairo.

Been to both and know them well.

A mere "taxi" ride to El Arish in the old days was not that hard to do at all I agree. However, the security situation in the Sinai is nothing like it used to be pre-2011. It's the wild, wild west now. I wouldn't travel there without armed escort, certainly not as a westerner, and certainly not just to get this story (no offence to MGen Thompson). Been there as well and fairly recently. Haven't been to South Camp though, but visited Tabah and Eilat.