The General Hillier Years. The Merged Superthread

[gaspasser]

I'd like to comment here on the main story about the CDS's and the MND's visit. 
If Canada did not hand over detainees and terror suspects then we'd be accused of cultural interferrence or interferring with the domestic policies of a foreign country. 
My 0.02


Three VIP's visits in as many days, looks good on the highers.

 

[geo]

I'd like to comment here on the main story about the CDS's and the MND's visit. 
If Canada did not hand over detainees and terror suspects then we'd be accused of cultural interferrence or interferring with the domestic policies of a foreign country. 
My 0.02


Three VIP's visits in as many days, looks good on the highers.

Ahh.... must not interfere with the local culture

Must follow the "prime directive"!..... (or was that Star Treck?)

 

[MarkOttawa]

Jim Travesty of the Toronto Star has his knives out:

Damage control
A single thread connects most of Canada's missteps in Afghanistan: Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier
http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/191006

Gordon O'Connor's surprise visit to Kabul and Kandahar this week is pure and simple damage control. Having glossed over the fact that Canada effectively washed its hands of PoWs, the defence minister is now trying to restore public confidence that prisoners will be treated as the Geneva Convention requires and self-interest demands.

But the problem runs deeper than a defence minister so superficially briefed that he either didn't understand the agreement with Afghanistan or misled Parliament that the International Red Cross is monitoring detainees and reporting any abuse to Ottawa.

O'Connor's loose grip of what's happening in Afghanistan is symptomatic of governments that put Canadians in harm's way without fully defining the mission, analyzing limitations on success or limiting the risks.

Harsh as that sounds, the record is worse.

Liberals dithered so long in shifting the mission from north to south that more decisive allies grabbed the safer reconstruction projects while Canada was left to go toe-to-toe with the Taliban.

It's just as revealing – if easier to forgive – that neither the military nor its political masters forecast the fierceness of the fighting or that major battles would require Cold War weapons left at home.

Conservatives are guilty of reckless haste and playing partisan politics. In successfully dividing Liberals by extending the mission to 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper failed to extract from NATO, Pakistan and the Afghan government any of the admittedly hard-to-get commitments necessary to give the troops a fighting chance...

A single thread connects most of this [emphasis added]: Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier. As former Liberal defence minister Bill Graham says, Hillier's fingerprints are all over a mission that, among many other things, was intended to shake Canada's dated image as the world's peacekeeper and justify rebuilding the forces, particularly the army, into something leaner, faster-moving and more muscular.

Hillier's tough talk and blatant politicking continue to raise eyebrows: After all, he is a senior public servant and in this country mandarins are anonymous.

But Hillier is popular with the troops and useful to politicians who don't mind that he's increasingly identified with a war polarizing public opinion...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[ArmyRick]

Oh yeah whatever. More fiction from the taliban star.  :

Its funny they don't mention that the liberals put Hillier in as CDS (one of there few but smart decisions)

 

[MarkOttawa]

Travesty actually makes two  very stupid, but typical, mistakes:

1) The CDS is no "public servant" or "mandarin"; those by definition are civilians.  He is a soldier.

2) In Canada mandarins are no longer "anonymous"; they testify constantly to parliamentary committees, make public speeches at conferences, and so on.

As the CDS said in July, 2005:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1121433777212_154

'"We're not the public service of Canada," he said. "We're not just another department. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people."'

Mark
Ottawa 

 

[Kirkhill]

Jimmy's just bugged that he doesn't get invited over to 24 Sussex for beer and pizza anymore.

His rolodex isn't what it used to be.

 

[Yrys]

Have a question for the CDS?

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier answers your questions on the Canadian Forces
http://www.cbc.ca/news/chats/2007/03/chief_of_defence_staff_gen_ric.html

They will post the answers soon, but the comments section his still open.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070309.whillierQA0313/CommentStory/Front/home

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070309.whillierQA0313/BNStory/Front/home

 

[GAP]

General Rick Hillier on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan
Globe and Mail Update Update Thursday, March 22, 2007
Article Link

General Rick Hillier has answered your questions (see below). Due to reasons beyond our control, Gen. Hillier was not able to provide answers last week as expected. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience. The reader response to this Q&A was phenomenal. Many questions were submitted after the cutoff. While these can't be answered, we encourage you to leave a comment here. Thank you.

There is no shortage of news coming out of Afghanistan and the Canadian Forces mission there.
More on link

 

[CdnArtyWife]

In Depth
Canada's Military
Chat with Gen. Hillier
Last Updated March 2007
CBC News
Article Link

Gen. Rick Hillier (Les Perreaux/Canadian Press) Before taking command of the Canadian Forces in February 2005, Gen. Hillier was in command of the NATO's stabilization force in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2000. In 2003, he was appointed Chief of Land Staff, commanding the Canadian army, and later commanded the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in 2004.

Recently, Hillier gave a speech at a meeting of the Conference of Defence Association Institute in Ottawa, in which he described the "negative legacy" of the defence spending cuts that began in 1994 and that left "deep wounds." He called the past 10 years in the Forces "a decade of darkness," but didn't name the Liberal government specifically.

Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre called Hillier's comments "highly political" and "inappropriate."


"I never thought he would become a prop for the Conservative party," Coderre said. Full story

In a later interview with CPAC, Hillier said he's "been called every name in the book." But, "I don't think I've ever been so insulted as to be called a prop for a political party," he said. Full story

Hillier has also faced questions about the mission in Afghanistan and whether other NATO members are pulling their weight. Gen. Hillier on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos

These are his replies to questions asked earlier this month by our readers.

Hillier: I thank you for taking the time to ask me questions through this forum, and for being patient with me, as I took some time to respond to your many excellent questions. As many of you know, I was in Afghanistan last week and hoped to respond from there with that immediate and fresh context in my mind. Once I received your questions, however, it was clear that I needed to dedicate several hours to respond fully, and thus I have given your questions the thought and time they deserve. I hope you have found it worth the wait. Thank you for your interest in the work of the outstanding men and women serving in the Canadian Forces, whom I have the honour to represent.
More on Link

 

[Cloud Cover]

Well, he didnt answer my question, but I think the CBC vetted it in favour of the idiot who asked the question about 'detestable scumbags."

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Nor mine...then again I would not expect CBC to do anything on the contrary

 

[GAP]

Hillier in Kandahar with Stanley Cup and ex-NHLers
Updated Wed. May. 2 2007 6:50 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier arrived in Afghanistan today with 19 former NHL players and the Stanley Cup in a show of support for Canadian troops.

The group of players includes enforcers Bob Probert and Dave (Tiger) Williams, goaltender Ron Tugnutt and former Montreal Canadiens stars Rejean Houle and Yvon Lambert.

The players also brought along the Stanley Cup for troops to take pictures with and even laced up for a little old-time hockey.

Last month, Canadian troops received another taste of home when they were visited by Eugene Melnyk -- owner of the Ottawa Senators.

Melnyk came to the base in Kandahar to deliver $50,000 worth of hockey equipment and 2,500 Tim Hortons gift certificates.

The troops, many of whom play ball hockey as a pastime, received new goalie equipment, hockey sticks, inline skates, balls and NHL and Team Canada jerseys.
More on link

 

[geo]

Hoo-ahh!
The cup in Kandahar

That is great! - and you couldn't ask for a better santa-claus (with newf accent and all )

 

[a_majoor]

Good thing I'm on duty that day; being hip checked into the boards by the General would be a very painful experience 

I'm glad people are coming over, not only is it good for the troops, but these visitors will be bringing back a positive first hand report on what we are doing and why; they'll tell two friends and so on...

 

[Journeyman]

Since today marks the 40th anniversary of the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, it's quite fitting that it should be displayed that far from Toronto.  ;D

 

[deedster]

Since today marks the 40th anniversary of the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, it's quite fitting that it should be displayed that far from Toronto.   ;D

HaHaHaHaHa....good one!

 

[vonGarvin]

Since today marks the 40th anniversary of the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, it's quite fitting that it should be displayed that far from Toronto.   ;D

Of course, this is very depressing, as I realise that I am in the minority of Canadians now:

Someone who was alive when the Leafs won the Cup

:crybaby:

 

[Mike Baker]

Now this I like to see  ;D

Since today marks the 40th anniversary of the last time the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, it's quite fitting that it should be displayed that far from Toronto.   ;D

:rofl: That was a good one!

 

[deedster]

Of course, this is very depressing, as I realise that I am in the minority of Canadians now:

Someone who was alive when the Leafs won the Cup

:crybaby:

CS
I belong to the same minority, however, I lived in Montreal at the time and have therefore seen the Cup a few more times than you 

 

[Mike Baker]

Oh snap