Ex Canadian JTF2 commando makes eye-popping revelations

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I recently picked up a book written in French titled “Nous Etions Invincibles” (We were invincible) which is an autobiographical account of a former member of Canada’s secretive Joint-Task-Force two.

Now I have an interest in military history and matters, and JTF2 has been somewhat more secretive than it’s British counterpart, the SAS, or the American equivalent, Delta force, about which I’ve read a good deal. I was happy to finally find a book written by a former JTF2 member, as any info about our Canadian unit has been woefully scarce. In this book were a number of eye-popping admissions that I had read nowhere else. Folks, I honestly believe that the Canadian military censors / screeners dropped the ball this one, and that it’s probably because it was written in French, while the Canadian military operates mostly in English. So here they are, in no particular order:

The Japanese Embassy Raid in Peru.
See the wikipedia link for the background. While the Peruvian government’s official account was that the raid was carried out by special Peruvian troops, the author of this book states that he was on that raid, along with members of the SAS and Delta. US authorities continue to deny any Delta involvement in the raid. There was a disagreement between Delta and the other units on the raid, because Delta wanted to insure that all terrorist be killed, even if they surrendered. Delta was overruled and the plan was crafted to allow surrenders. Later on, the raid was initiated on an unplanned emergency basis when shots were apparently reported from a sector under surveillance by Delta personnel. All the teams went in, but SAS and JTF2 teams were a step behind due to being caught off guard. When they entered, all the terrorists were already dead.

Deadly Bank Robbery Raid in Ottawa
Early in the JTF2 history, the Ottawa police called upon JTF2 to carry out a raid on a hostage taking resulting from a bank robbery gone wrong. The bank in question was apparently very near the Canadian parliament. JTF2 agreed, on condition that they not be required to take any prisoners. The raid was carried out; all hostages were rescued alive, all bank robbers were killed. JTF2 was never called in to assist in a hostage situation again by any Canadian police force.

Assassination of a Spy
In the Balkans, a spy in the NATO armed forces (nationality not disclosed) was stealing NATO top-secret radio traffic. JTF2 followed the spy to a R&R centre in Hungary, where they observed him meeting with an Iraqi military officer in his hotel room. Whe they were both in the room, JTF2 entered the room and shot both the spy and the Iraqi contact to death with silenced 9mm handguns, then recovered several Top-Secret documents from the room.

Assassination of a War Criminal
In the Balkans again, JTF2 collaborated with the SAS to ambush and assassinate a know war criminal. SAS soldiers camouflaged themselves near a fishing spot frequented by the target. JTF2 personnel hid in the water. When the target arrived, he was killed, along with all his bodyguards.

Mystery Muscle Building Supplements
JTF2 soldiers were asked to take a supplement/drug, in the form of one pill a day, that was not identified to them, along with creatine and amino acids. On this regimen, one soldier put on 90lbs of lean muscle mass in three months. JTF2 personnel were so muscled that they were ordered to never take their shirts off when engaging in sports with other army units.

Well those are the more surprising ones. If you can read French, I really encourage you to read this book. It’s quite gripping. The author’s description of the atrocities committed in the Balkans war are utterly shocking. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the English translation of this book ran into some weird administrative problems that keep it from being published, seeing as it contains so many revelations of activities that violate Canadian policy, if not outright Canadian law.

2

That book should be translated into English as soon as possible. I want to read it, and my French isn’t that good. Also, we can hold it up to toast the toes of a good many more politicians that way.

3

There is no proof of any foreign military personnel being part of the raid. There are so many different versions that apparently there wer 100 foreigners waiting in line.
I’m sure intelligence and training were provided, but, everyone that came out of the tunnels was Peruvian.

4

Personally, I have no clue either way. This author says he was there. Himself. He wrote about what he says he saw. There’s so much other stuff in this book that I just don’t see what his interest would be in lying about it.

Also, this fits exactly with the admitted SOP of the SAS and Delta: do the work, deny any involvement, let the locals take credit.

5

Just be aware of exactly *whose *toes you may wind up roasting. All of the events in the book tool place during liberal administrations, iirc.

6

I’m curious about the muscle-building supplements. Does the author speculate as to their ingredients? Were they just steroids? Did they have mental side-effects? I know it’s a different issue, but didn’t a Canadian regiment have some huge scandal linked to supplements (vaccinations?) that basically turned them crazy and prompted them to rape and kill civilians while stationed abroad?

Sorry my memory is so vague.

7

Well, someone was plenty nervous: he was arrested just before the book came out and accused of contacting two minors with the intent of committing sexual crimes. These details may explain why translators aren’t rushing to translate the book.

There are a lot more details of his experience in this (English language)http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/30/jtf2-book.html article.

8

Eh… I didn’t vote for the Liberals…

9

You’re absolutely correct, but those were anti-malaria pills, and they have a very nasty reputation if you have booze with them. Now you know soldiers never drink, so the bureaucrats probably thought it was ok.

10

Bullllllllshittttttttt.

Come on. So muscled that they were ordered not to take their shirts off? I don’t know how you can believe anything else in the book when stupid stuff like that is in there.

11

Beyond, of course, selling some bullshit book filled with unsubstantiated and entirely implausible fantasies, but beyond that, you’re right, no motive to lie.

12

The part about the embassy in Peru is a fairly small component of the book. You could totally remove it and still have a very sellable book.

Regarding the shirt & muscle incident, some more context may be appropriate: They were in Montreal to conduct an exercise in an abandoned warehouse at a very politically sensitive time (just before the second referendum). They were staying at an ordinary supply base (Longue Pointe) passing themselves off as regular supply grunts. There was an error in calculating breaching charges, and several windows near the exercise were blown out. Residents starting calling 911. JTF2 hurriedly retreated back to base. With nothing to do, they got into some ball hockey with the local supply clerks and had stripped to play shirts & skins. Seeing their physique, the regular troops started asking all kinds of questions about who these guys really were, and whether they had anything to do with the explosions in nearby Montreal-east. Orders were given not to remove their shirts. Because of that, they had to hightail-it out of Montreal, and word got out that some kind of sneaky & super-fit soldiers were at the base. When word got to the press, the separatist side accused the federal government of intimidation tactics by staging an antiterrorist exercise so close to the referendum, and of trying to evoque fears of another October crisis.

Hope that helps.

13

My call of bullshit still remains. Look, when someone is really muscular you don’t need their shirt off to figure it out. The idea that these guys took their shirts off and suddenly the dimwitted supply clerk says “derr these guys are really strong” is just ridiculous.

14

90 pounds of muscle in 3 months, huh?

Consider me deeply skeptical. :dubious:

15

If word got to the press, and separatists were making accusations about shenanigans near a referendum, there ought to be a way to fact check that part at least.

Not being Canadian, I don’t care enough to do the checking myself.

16

Beyond that, spec ops physical training tends to emphasize agility and endurance over raw strength. Not that these guys aren’t pretty ripped, but they’re ripped in a way that is practical. Someone with and extra 90 lbs of lean muscle mass on top of what a normal athlete would have would look like a gorilla and move like a cow. At the very least, on the basis of what is reported in the book by the o.p., I’d call it bombastic exaggeration.

Stranger

17

What I can find is an article from September 2, 1995, in Le Devoir, announcing that the soldiers of the Saint-Hubert base would be wearing their uniform and boots on the base starting on September 18, officially in order to break them in in preparation for field exercices in early October. The Bloc québécois’s official critic for national defense called the exercises childish but didn’t view them as a provocation, while a Quebec government minister and a leader of an organisation for victims of the October Crisis suggested it might be intended to intimidate people.

Searching for this article I found many dealing with the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was raging at the time. Not to mention Somalia, Rwanda and Chechnya. Bad old days… :frowning:

18

Exactly. I’ve known plenty of special-ops types, and most of them tend towards the lean and wiry (and also not particularly tall).

19

This statement makes me doubt the whole lot. 3 separate SF groups?

Didn’t Ross Kemp do this in Ultimate Force? Or was it Spooks?

That’s a pound a day! That’s got to be rubbish.

20

I concur. Even if the remarkable 90 lbs of pure ripped muscle were true, who in 20 lifetimes would order an undercover op not to take his shirt off?? If a whole platoon of guys built like Ah-nuld were around me, I wouldn’t think ‘Special, supersecret commando unit.’ I would thing ‘group of super ripped body builders,’ and so would everybody else. Now, this does remind me of something I heard as a child: A highschool friend was talking about how tough he was. The story was so over the top that my brother couldn’t help but say, “You’d better not put your hands in your pocket, or you could go to jail for carrying a concealed weapon!” Same thing here: ‘You’d better not take your shirt off, or the whole national security structure could come tumbling down, mr. less muscles that you think!’

I say super BS.