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Operation Medusa NEWSLETTER // SEPTEMBER 2020 OPERATION MEDUSA Operation Medusa (September 1-17, 2006) was one land, the Canadians found themselves in a desperate of the most deadly operations in recent Canadian seven-hour firefight. When they finally managed to military history. Over the course of a single weekend withdraw four soldiers had been killed. five Canadian soldiers were killed and another forty The following morning the Canadians were struck were wounded. by friendly fire. An A-10 aircraft pilot mistook the Beginning in the summer of 2006, hundreds of Taliban Canadians’ burning garbage pile for a smoke device insurgents had begun to gather in the Panjwaii district that was previously dropped to help him identify the of Kandahar Province in preparation for a major Taliban position. In the confusion the pilot opened fire assault on the city of Kandahar. The Panjwaii district on the Canadian camp. While many soldiers were is sometimes referred to as the Taliban’s spiritual wounded, former Olympian Mark Graham was the homeland and the Canadians knew that unless the only fatality of this tragic accident. insurgents were destroyed, they could destabilize the southern half of Afghanistan and undermine the INSIDE THIS ISSUE success of the United Nations-mandated mission. On 3 September, the Canadians were ordered to attack a Taliban stronghold, a white schoolhouse complex surrounded by marijuana fields. When the Canadians were fifty meters away from the main building, they were ambushed by the Taliban who had opened fire. Unable to see their attackers due to the marijuana crop and the Taliban’s strategic use of the • OPERATION MEDUSA • CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN • WORD GAME • HOW TO CONTRIBUTE • UPCOMING EVENTS • AUGUST 2020 ANSWER KEY Light Armored Vehicles providing perimeter security for Canadian soldiers as part of Operation MEDUSA. Kandahar, Afghanistan. 15 Sept2006 (Credit: Sgt Lou Penney, CAF/AR2006-P007-0007). PAGE 1 CANADA IN AFGHANISTAN: OVERVIEW that controlled the country since 1995. A few weeks later on September 28, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution 1373. This resolution in effect demanded the countries of the world to stop providing safe havens for terrorists (Operative clause 2c) and that UN member states may use all necessary measures to ensure this would be the case (Operative Master Bombardier Rob Penny, left, and Martin Brousseau, right, fire at clause 8). Essentially, then, it was an ultimatum to a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan using a 155 mm-Howitzer, August 2008 (Credit: Joe Bryska, Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press). the Taliban regime in Afghanistan: hand over bin Canada’s military involvement in Afghanistan Laden or face military action. The Taliban refused. began with the deaths of over 3,000 civilians, On October 7, the United States initiated including many Canadians, on September 11, Operation Enduring Freedom. This was a military 2001. effort to eliminate the Al-Qaeda network (and That day, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four bring to justice bin Laden) and to remove the airliners flying in the United States, aiming to destroy Taliban from power in Afghanistan. The day after, significant American landmarks by crashing the Canada offered its sea, land, and air forces to planes into buildings. Three of these hijackings contribute to the effort. succeeded, colliding into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Passengers of the fourth plane heroically prevented their hijackers from reaching their destination, losing their lives in the process when they crash-landed in a field in Pennsylvania. This event would become known as “9/11”. It was soon learned that the extremist Islamic FOB (Forward Operating Base), Ghar Afghanistan, Acrylic on Canvas (Courtesy of Keith Mac Innis). group Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, was behind the attacks. Since the 1990s, they For more articles like this - please visit our online military had been using Afghanistan as their base of history library. operations as “guests” of the Taliban regime VALOUR CANADA NEWSLETTER // AUGUST 2020 // PAGE 2 S T A L I B A N K D N A R H W D W P Q D L B S H E O Z M S Y D W S H V Q S Y L F M S T J E F E E A A P Y P N D L W I A H T Q D U N I T E D S T A T E S G R A Z H Q H P U C S S K L N H Z E J C W D U W G Q D Y K R H T C W L A N C J R T X O Q U U A R K X E F I E H W F U N T J Y E S A Z U L M F E E L A J N T T L K A N D A H A R A L Y K U K X D W J I I V P D P E M I H Y M Z R G O Q J E T I Z U L I E E A S M X K T H C Q D I T E U Z A T H P T K S G O X I O O E D M X I E O G E R A A K E N I H S Y J A Y I R H P C L Z P P C H E K D L B N F Z X O D A O A D U K S N L T J A L O X A I R N D O C P Y H V W E L N A P R F I L A U Z Y K O F R I E N D L Y F I R E A T P D P A X A I G O H D I X U P S V I C S G N U C L R Q H R G A C Q T C S N H G W F O C A L D B E V D Z F A R P F A N P B N R A I V D N F P E G P V I Q F N D B F X V J T Q V Z U E Y J F S O M F A J A R H A B O W G M P N G C T I F O T W J R H W V U N J O I N T T A S K F O R C E T W O G M V A G S M P N A T D S N G B K S T J S N P E H Q A M H V B K T Z B C I Q U I G E G B H P E A C E M A K I N G S Q J B Y O G W Y X K A J I B M WORDSEARCH WORDS: 1) MEDUSA 6) ATHENA 11) UNITED NATIONS 16) AL QAEDA 2) KANDAHAR 7) STEPHEN HARPER 12) AFGHANISTAN 17) PEACEKEEPING 3) APOLLO 8) NATO 13) IED 18) PEACEMAKING 4) JOINT TASK FORCE 9) UNITED STATES 14) FRIENDLY FIRE 19) PANJWAII TWO 10) DAHLA DAM 15) TALIBAN 20) ZHARI 5) PPCLI $50 (or ONE membership) allows three $50 students to attend Valour Canada’s = in-museum program. 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