Canada Offered to 'Discreetly' Assist Iraq Invasion

The day Jean Chrétien told Parliament Canada wouldn't join 'Coalition of the Willing,' a top diplomat told the U.S. we'd help out in the margins.

Despite then-prime minister Jean Chrétien's commitment to keep the Canadian Forces out of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, top diplomats told American officials that military units stationed in the Middle East were ready to “discreetly” assist the American mission, according to a U.S. memo released by WikiLeaks. James Wright, a diplomat who is now Canada's high commissioner to Britain, told his American counterparts that two ships near the Strait of Hormuz and a number of aircraft in the region would be on hand to provide escort and supply services to U.S. forces despite public statements made to the contrary. Just how much assistance the Canadian Forces provided in the region is unknown.