This week's announcement that Chief of Defense Staff General Rick Hillier will resign in the summer prompted a flood of media adoration and rosy comments. They went on and on about his abilities to connect with the soldiers in Afghanistan and spoke about his strength in standing up for the military.
However, it seems that no one has taken the effort to substantively criticize Hillier for his inappropriate politicization of the Department of National Defense. This man has worked very hard to promote the mission in Afghanistan as a military mission, as opposed to diplomatic and/or humanitarian mission. However, his job is not supposed to be political. That is the role of the Minister of Defense, not the Chief of Defense Staff. I believe quite strongly that we would not be engaged in such a combat-oriented mission in Afghanistan if it were not for him
Hillier has spent far too much time criticizing the former Liberal governments under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin. He should have stayed out of the political arena rather than throwing himself into it.
I just wish the media would stop their Hillier love-in for just a few minutes to take him to task for overstepping his boundaries.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Dead right
thanks
It's too late now for any attempts at reining in Hillier. From what I've read it seems his successor will be chosen from a markedly different cloth. You're right though, Hillier was a very flawed man who didn't seem to understand where lines are drawn in democratic societies.
Post a Comment