Helping Canada Improve Counterinsurgency

Washington Post blogger Robert O'Harrow, in his Government, Inc. blog, points out that Canada has hired the Terrorism Research Center, "a part of the universe of companies owned by Blackwater founder Erik Prince." The company will provide Canadian troops with higher-level expertise on the Taliban and related terrorist groups.

"Government Inc. was sifting through new contracts and saw that Canada had given the Arlington company a sole source contract worth about $848,000. Terrorism Research will be working to help counter insurgency forces perform better in Afghanistan," O'Harrow reports.

"This according to Canada's Globe And Mail: 'The move was announced yesterday, after weeks of mounting attacks by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, including Kandahar province, where Canadian soldiers are fighting, and the security situation has markedly worsened.

"'Traditionally, cultural awareness training was a brief introduction to the language, culture, customs and food. This training, while providing basic instruction in these areas, did not provide the operational relevance required to conduct [counterinsurgency warfare],' a Canadian government contract notice posted yesterday says."

Visit the Terrorism Research Center's website at http://www.terrorism.com/.