Sajjan is a liar and should resign.

There should be rules in Parliamentary debate that forbid any member from repeating themselves. And their should be penalties for doing so.

Answer the question or face the consequences.

On last night's news it seems even CDS Gen Vance is ok with what Sajjan said. Sorta lost respect for Vance too.

Oh and isn't cute when JT stood and said the same thing to every point? Sounded like my niece's Teddy Ruxpin doll she had as a kid.

Whether or not, the Prime Minister has confidence in Minister Sajjan is irrelevant. What matters is, do our men and women in uniform, the veteran community and the public at large have confidence in Minister Sajjan?

As a member of the veteran community and the public, I for one have lost confidence in Minister Sajjan. It is with a heavy heart that I say this and I wish things were different.

Sajjan to face calls for resignation in wake of Afghanistan battle claim


Harjit Sajjan is expected to face calls to resign as Defence Minister in the House of Commons today in the wake of his claim he was the "architect" of a major assault on the Taliban in 2006.

MPs are back in Ottawa after a two-week break, and the controversy over Sajjan overstating his role in Operation Medusa during an April 18 address in New Delhi is likely to dominate the daily question period.

The Conservatives are set to call for him to step aside or be removed from his post, alleging a pattern of misleading the public.

Sajjan said he was sorry in a message posted to his Facebook page Saturday, but opposition parties say that's not enough. He is scheduled to make a statement in the foyer of the House of Commons at 2:05 p.m. ET, according to a notice from his office, and CBCNews.ca will carry it live.

The Conservatives say this is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a pattern of questionable comments from the minister.

Conservative defence critic James Bezan also refuted claims by Sajjan that the Iraqis were accepting of Canada's decision to withdraw its CF-18 jet fighters from combat against the Islamic State. He said the minister also made misleading statements about the air force's capability gap and who was responsible for cutting danger pay for soldiers in Kuwait.

The NDP is also prepared to raise questions about the minister's credibility.

Former soldiers with direct knowledge of Sajjan's role in Afghanistan told CBC News that he served as a liaison officer with local Afghan leadership, and provided critical intelligence and insight that helped shape the battle, but that he did not plan the September 2006 operation west of Kandahar City.

Sajjan served on one tour to Bosnia and three deployments to Afghanistan as a reservist.

On the weekend, Sajjan said he made a "mistake" in how he described his role, retracted the statement and apologized.

"I am truly sorry," he said in his Facebook post. "While I am proud of the role I played during my deployments to Afghanistan, my comments were in no way intended to diminish the roles of my former superiors and fellow soldiers. To them I offer my sincere apologies."

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/sajjan-apology-operation-medusa-1.4093270#commentwrapper

The Prime Minister needs to address this issue. He can't ignore it.

What Harjit Sajjan really did while serving in Afghanistan

At 'no time was he in on the planning' of Operation Medusa, soldiers tell CBC News


Truth being the first casualty of war has taken a decidedly different turn with growing outrage in both the political and military communities about Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan's characterization of himself as the architect of Operation Medusa in Afghanistan.

The bloody, protracted battle in the scorched grape fields west of Kandahar city in September 2006 was a significant milestone in Canada's five-year combat mission in the country and an emotional touchstone for many soldiers involved.

Sajjan's claim, made earlier this month during a visit to India, is not the first time the former lieutenant-colonel has referred to his role in the battle in this way.

On a regional B.C. podcast called Conversations That Matter, he said the current chief of the defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, considered him to be the central figure.   

"If I could quote him, he said I was the architect of Operation Medusa, one of the biggest operations since the Korean war that Canada has led," Sajjan said in July 2015, when he was running as a Liberal candidate.

The political and social media firestorm that followed the India speech, made April 18, prompted a pinched apology from the minister, who regularly references his three tours of Afghanistan as a reserve officer to burnish his credibility in the defence portfolio.

His appointment to cabinet in November 2015 was followed by a series of flattering stories about his service, including photos of him smiling in the field, clad in a flak jacket, prompting some to call him "Canada's badass defence minister."

There has, however, never been a critical examination of his role beyond vague suggestions that he did some intelligence work.

In fairness, Sajjan has tried on occasion to downplay the notion he was an intelligence officer, but that has only muddied the perception.

He has declined to discuss his work in Kandahar in detail.

Soldiers who were there in 2006 tell CBC News that Sajjan did have a key role, but at "no time was he in on the planning of the operation."

Soon after arriving he was "bolted to the hip" of the battle group commanders.

First it was Lt.-Col. Ian Hope and then, in September 2006, Lt.-Col. Omar Lavoie, who led the fight in Zhari district against Taliban militants who had chosen to stand and fight a conventional battle rather a hit-and-run guerilla campaign.

Intelligence gathering

Sajjan was the liaison between Canadian commanders and two local Afghan leaders, the notorious governor Asadullah Khalid and Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of the former Afghan president and head of the Kandahar provincial council.

"My responsibilities were vague at first," Sajjan told military historian Sean Maloney in the bookFighting for Afghanistan: A Rogue Historian at War. "I discovered there was a gold mine of information flowing into the [governor's] palace."

Eventually, "Harj was able to send two pages of solid intelligence intelligence to [Task Force] Orion per week," said the book, which provides the most detailed public accounting of Sajjan's time in the field.

In the run-up to Operation Medusa, the Afghan leadership was putting pressure on the Canadians to stop the Taliban buildup west of the city.

"At meetings in Kandahar and Kabul, senior Kandahari leaders — including Governor Asadullah Khalid and presidential brother/provincial kingpin Ahmed Wali Karzai — have suggested that NATO's ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] is 'unwilling to take the fight to the Taliban,'" said a Canadian diplomatic cable, written on Aug. 28, 2006, and quoted in the book The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan.

How much of a role Sajjan's assessments played in convincing Canadian commanders that an offensive was necessary is not clear.

Politically, the exaggeration is likely to hurt Sajjan's standing among the troops more than anything else.

Conservatives have for weeks been eager to point out other misleading statements Sajjan has made, including references to the Iraqis being satisfied with Canada's withdrawal of CF-18s from combat against ISIS.

No architect of Medusa

A diplomatic readout of the December 2015 meeting with the Iraqi defence minister, dug up by Conservative researchers and shared with CBC News, flatly contradicted the minister.

Canadian soldiers often like to describe themselves as "quiet professionals" and take a dim view of bragging, which they consider to be an American quality.

"There was no one hero of Medusa, no one architect," said one senior officer with direct knowledge of Sajjan's role in Afghanistan.

He asked not be named because he didn't want to get dragged into the unfolding political battle over the minister's credibility.

It spoke volumes on Friday when Vance was asked about the controversy and declined to answer, choosing instead to go on answering questions about the politically toxic issue of sexual misconduct in the military. 

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/sajjan-medusa-architect-claim-1.4091609

Liberal Minister Harjit Sajjan has gone too far! Demand his resignation.

BRIAN LILLEY

REBEL CO-FOUNDER

https://www.therebel.media/sajjan-must-go#petition-form



Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s Defence Minister has lied about his war record, and now he needs to go.

Sajjan did one of the worst things you can do in the military, he lied about his battlefield record. In public and on purpose.

Speaking before the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank in India, Sajjan, already known for his brave and heroic work in Afghanistan, actually claimed that he was THE one that designed Canada’s biggest offensive during our time in Khandahar.

Note the language there. He didn’t say he was "one of the architects", he didn’t say he was "part of a team", he said he was "THE architect."

And this was no slip of the tongue, this was not an off the cuff remark that can be excused as a minor slip up. It was in his prepared remarks.

A written copy of his speech, posted on the government of Canada’s website shows that this was always the plan. What he said was slightly different than the text, but the text still claimed that he was "THE architect."

“On my first deployment to Kandahar in 2006, I was the architect of Operation Medua where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield…and I was proudly on the main assault.”

Now as Matthew Fisher, who broke this story points out, Sajjan was simply a major in the reserves when Operation Medusa went down. He wasn’t high enough in the system to be the person doing the planning.

Fisher, Canada’s only real war correspondent that we have left wrote: “It would be highly unusual for majors from the reserves to be the architects of large combat operations. Such duties in Afghanistan were the responsibility of generals and colonels in staff positions at headquarters in Kandahar, Kabul and Ottawa and of battalion commanders in the field.”

Who was in charge of planning that battle? Not Sajjan, veterans that were there are calling his claim a bald-faced lie.

The man in charge of planning Operation Medusa was Brigadier-General David Fraser who that point was in charge of the Canadian Forces in the region. Sajjan worked under him, but so did lots of other officers.

Sajjan is now apologizing, he is acknowledging that he goofed up. But that's not enough.

Everyone had high hopes for Sajjan, the "bad ass" Defence Minister. We respect his service, respect what he actually did in the war, his three tours, his commendations from Canadian and American military officers.

But Harjit Sajjan’s lie here is about honour and for the honour of those that did fight in Afghanistan, those that did plan Operation Medusa and those that will fight in the future, Sajjan must resign.

https://www.therebel.media/sajjan-must-go

Harjit Sajjan Apologizes For Claiming He Was 'Architect' Of Massive Afghanistan Operation

By Mohamed Omar
April 28, 2017

Canada's defence minister says he regrets claiming he was the "architect" of a major anti-Taliban operation in Afghanistan.

The National Post reports Harjit Sajjan reached out and apologized to Canadian, Afghan and American troops who served during Operation Medusa, a crucial battle in September, 2006, that sought to drive the Taliban out of the Panjwayi district in Kandahar province.

Sajjan, a veteran of three combat tours in Afghanistan, was in New Delhi earlier this month speaking to the Observer Research Foundation when he made the remarks.


Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan is a veteran of three combat tours in Afghanistan.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am no stranger to conflict," Sajjan told the audience, according to a transcript of his speech on the defence department's website.

"On my first deployment to Kandahar in 2006, I was the architect of Operation Medusa where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield…and I was proudly on the main assault."

"I regret that I didn't say this then."

Some retired members of the armed forces interviewed by the newspaper said Sajjan was effective as an intelligence officer but described his "architect" comment as a "bald-faced lie" and "really quite outrageous.”

Sajjan told HuffPost Canada in a statement Friday he did not mean to diminish the role of any armed forces members and leaders.

"Every military operation our Forces undertook in Afghanistan, including Operation Medusa, relied on the courage and dedication of many individuals across the Canadian Forces," he said.

"What I should have said was that our military successes are the result of the leadership, service and sacrifice of the many dedicated women and men in the Canadian Forces. I regret that I didn't say this then, but I want to do so now."

Praise for intelligence work

Sajjan was lauded, however, for his intelligence work during Operation Medusa, when he was a reserve officer with the military. On the day he was sworn in as defence minister, the National Observer published an article on him that included a letter of praise from David Fraser, a now-retired Canadian commander who led NATO into southern Afghanistan 11 years ago.

"Through his courage and dedication, Major Sajjan has single-handedly changed the face of intelligence gathering and analysis in Afghanistan."
"[H]is analysis was so compelling that it drove a number of large scale theatre-resourced efforts, including OPERATION MEDUSA... that resulted in the defeat of the largest TB cell yet identified in Afghanistan, with over 1500 Taliban killed or captured."
"I rate him as one of the best intelligence officers I have ever worked with."
Sajjan told HuffPost Operation Medusa was successful thanks to Fraser's leadership as well as "the extraordinary team" he worked with.

The operation was Canada's "largest combat operation in more than 50 years," according to Veterans Affairs, and involved more than 1,000 Canadian Armed Forces members. Twelve Canadian soldiers and three Afghan troops died during the effort.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/04/28/harjit-sajjan-architect-afghanistan_n_16309502.html

The confusing part is his record and dedication to duty, spoke for itself, it needed no embellishments.

This incident makes our military and government look foolish. I haven't read it, but apparently CNN is carrying the story. It's a nightmare. I'm so stunned by this, I'm still having trouble believing it.

The media needs to continue publishing articles on this particular issue, keep the pressure on.

You're right nemo, what Sajjan has done is a form of stolen valour. He'll get no respect going forward from anyone still in uniform or the veteran community I imagine.

When Sajjan first became MND, I gave him some room to see how he would do. And if you remember, at the beginning the media fawned over him making him out to be a mighty warrior. I guess that 'fawning' made him think he really was greater than he is.

I really think he should resign. What he did is no different than those that wear military medals that they never earned, or put on a uniform that they were never entitled to wear.

He needs to be given his walking papers.

Not a very intelligent individual thinking he could get away with making such a statement knowing the number of forces members who would come forward to dispute his description of events.

You gotta be kidding me. What was he thinking.  I've done nothing but defend his role as Minister of Defence to every redneck in my town.  They're going to a have field day with this.