Hillier is just one giant puffed up buffoon with a humongous mouth. This should make him an excellent Conservative candidate because he is also praises the military every time he has a chance and to give him his due he does stand up for his troops.Perhaps the Conservatives might not be that happy if Hillier were to be in parliament because he could be a loose cannon who might not buckle under to Harper. Hillier's testimony should be contrasted with that of another military official involved Michel Gauthier:
Michel Gauthier
Position: Retired lieutenant-general who was the former commander of Canadian Expeditionary Force Command. Gauthier was responsible for all of the Canadian Forces' overseas missions. He ran Canada's military mission in Kandahar from his Ottawa headquarters. Colvin says he sent some of his memos to Gauthier.
Response to Colvin's testimony: In an email to CBC News, Gauthier said the following:
"First of all let me say I am deeply troubled by Mr. Colvin's testimony before the Special Committee. It's pretty clear, from what he said yesterday, that he has for some time had a deep-seated concern about Govt of Canada practices regarding detainees. I look forward to providing an absolutely frank view of some key aspects of Mr. Colvin's testimony when I appear before the committee next week.
"In the meantime, I simply want to assure you and all Canadians that, in my capacity as Commander of CEFCOM, I very clearly understood my responsibilities under international law with respect to the handling of detainees, and I would certainly not knowingly have done anything — ever — to expose our soldiers and commanders in the field, our government, or myself to complicity in war crimes or other wrongdoing as Mr. Colvin suggests. I can also say with complete confidence that personnel under my command were not in the habit, as a matter of either policy or practice, of ignoring important reports from the field, quite the opposite. In light of our potential liability as commanders under international law, one would have to ask why any of us would knowingly and deliberately ignore substantial evidence from the field that could ultimately implicate us in a war crime.
"I applaud Mr. Colvin's courage in coming forward, but there will evidently be more than one side to this story. "
Although Gauthier also no doubt disagrees with Colvin, he shows him some respect and recognises as well the virtues of whistleblowing.
Colvin testimony on torture 'ludicrous': Hillier
CBC News
Canada's former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier slammed a diplomat's testimony that all detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials, saying it's "ludicrous."
Hillier also told the House of Commons committee investigating the issue that is it was "absolutely false" to say he saw Richard Colvin's 2006 reports alleging abuse during his time as Canada's top soldier.
But Hillier said that the reports, which he subsequently reviewed, contain no warnings of the suspected torture.
"He said the reports written in May and June of 2006," said nothing about abuse, nothing about torture or anything else that would have caught my attention or indeed the attention of others."
"There was no reason based on what was in those reports for anybody to bring it to my attention and after having read that, I'm absolutely confident that was indeed the case," Hillier said Wednesday.
The retired general appeared before the committee joined by Maj.-Gen. David Fraser, who led troops on the ground in Kandahar, and Gauthier, who was responsible for overseas deployments in 2006.
Hillier repeated what he said publicly last week, that he never heard suggestions that Canada may have been indirectly complicit in the torture of detainees in Afghanistan.
His testimony comes a week after the testimony of Richard Colvin, a former senior diplomat with Canada's mission in Afghanistan.
Colvin alleged that prisoners were turned over to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service by the Canadian military in 2006-07 despite warnings that they would be tortured.
Colvin said that all detainees were likely tortured.
"How ludicrous a statement is that from any one single individual who really has no knowledge to be able to say something like that, and we didn't see any substantive evidence to indicate it was that way," Hillier said.
Colvin had said he began informing the Canadian Forces and Foreign Affairs officials about the detainee situation in 2006 with verbal and written reports.
Colvin also testified he sent a least one letter directly to Hillier and sent almost all his reports to senior military commanders, both in Afghanistan and Ottawa.
But Hillier said it was "absolutely false" for anyone to suggest that he had known about this or had read the report.
'Nothing could be further from the truth'
Hillier also slammed Colvin's claim that many of the detainees who had been arrested were innocent people, saying "nothing could be further from the truth.
"We detained, under violent actions, people trying to kill our sons and daughters, who had in some cases done that, been successful at it, and were continuing to do it."
Hillier said they may have detained the occasional farmer, but that they were "almost inevitably immediately let go."
The Conservatives have also claimed they never saw any of these reports and have questioned the credibility of Colvin's testimony.
Colvin now works as a senior intelligence official at the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
Gauthier also denied he had heard any allegation of torture in 2006.
"To be clear and precise about this, last week’s evidence states categorically that the very high risk of torture in Afghan prisons was first made known to senior members of the Canadian forces in May of 2006 and repeatedly thereafter," Gauthier said.
"In actual fact, I and others received such warnings in a substantial way for the first time more than a year later than that."
Gauthier also said that Colvin's 2006 reports from May to September never mentioned the risk of torture or suspected torture. He said the word torture does appear in a Dec. 4 report, december but could be "reasonably interpreted to be a warning of torture."
"I can very safely say there is nothing in any of these 2006 reports that caused any of the subject matter experts on my staff nor by extension me to be alerted to either the fact of torture or a very high risk of torture. Nothing," Gauthier said.
He said during his time in Afghanistan, no one, at any time, raised allegations concerning torture in Afghan jails.
Fraser also said he was never told about the alleged torture of prisoners: "If I had, I would have done something about it," he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised the committee will get "all legally-available" documents, but Colvin's lawyer said the Justice Department has clamped down on his client and won't allow him to make public his reports.
With files from The Canadian Press
Showing posts with label Rick Hillier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rick Hillier. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
McKay and Hillier attack Colvin the Whistleblower
This is truly a disgusting spectacle. MacKay and Hillier both are beneath contempt. This is meant to warn anyone who dares question the teflon integrity of the top brass in the CANADIAN FORCES and the CANADIAN GOVERNMENT that they will pay dearly for it. At least Natynczyk has the integrity and guts to come out and admit that several times transfers were stopped due to concerns about torture. There had been earlier concerns of torture and the transfer protocols had been changed which in itself is evidence that the brass new about torture. But Hillier and his buddy MacKay have the motto: Hear no evil, see no evil and shut up everyone.
Globe and Mail
.The Harper government is training its guns on a diplomat whistleblower who says Canada was complicit in the torture of captured Afghan prisoners, trying to undermine Richard Colvin's credibility as pressure builds to hold a public inquiry into the matter.
“There are incredible holes in the story that have to be examined,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay told Parliament Thursday, even as he rejected opposition calls for a probe into Mr. Colvin's serious charges that Canada's soldiers handed over Afghan prisoners with the knowledge they'd likely be tortured by local interrogators.
The long-simmering detainee issue, ignited again by Mr. Colvin's explosive testimony Wednesday, looks set to dominate the agenda into next week when top military commanders will be hauled before MPs to answer the accusations.
.
Retired general Rick Hillier, who led Canada's 2006 military foray into southern Afghanistan, joined the Conservatives in dismissing Mr. Colvin's story. He told a Toronto audience Thursday night that he can't recall ever coming across reports from the diplomat, who was a senior Foreign Affairs staffer in Afghanistan for 17 months.
Mr. Hillier derisively compared the political uproar that surrounded Mr. Colvin's parliamentary testimony to people “howling at the moon” and said nobody ever raised torture concerns with him during the 2006-2007 period in question.
“I don't remember reading a single one of those cables [from Mr. Colvin] ... He doesn't stick out in my mind,” Mr. Hillier said of the diplomat's warnings and criticism.
“He appears to have covered an incredibly broad spectrum, much of which I'm not sure he's qualified to talk about.”
The former soldier rejected suggestions Canada was “complicit in any war crimes” – saying Ottawa had a responsible system in place. He also played down the fact Afghan prisoners got hurt in jails.
“Even in our own prisons [in Canada] somebody can get beaten up. We know that.”
Globe and Mail
.The Harper government is training its guns on a diplomat whistleblower who says Canada was complicit in the torture of captured Afghan prisoners, trying to undermine Richard Colvin's credibility as pressure builds to hold a public inquiry into the matter.
“There are incredible holes in the story that have to be examined,” Defence Minister Peter MacKay told Parliament Thursday, even as he rejected opposition calls for a probe into Mr. Colvin's serious charges that Canada's soldiers handed over Afghan prisoners with the knowledge they'd likely be tortured by local interrogators.
The long-simmering detainee issue, ignited again by Mr. Colvin's explosive testimony Wednesday, looks set to dominate the agenda into next week when top military commanders will be hauled before MPs to answer the accusations.
.
Retired general Rick Hillier, who led Canada's 2006 military foray into southern Afghanistan, joined the Conservatives in dismissing Mr. Colvin's story. He told a Toronto audience Thursday night that he can't recall ever coming across reports from the diplomat, who was a senior Foreign Affairs staffer in Afghanistan for 17 months.
Mr. Hillier derisively compared the political uproar that surrounded Mr. Colvin's parliamentary testimony to people “howling at the moon” and said nobody ever raised torture concerns with him during the 2006-2007 period in question.
“I don't remember reading a single one of those cables [from Mr. Colvin] ... He doesn't stick out in my mind,” Mr. Hillier said of the diplomat's warnings and criticism.
“He appears to have covered an incredibly broad spectrum, much of which I'm not sure he's qualified to talk about.”
The former soldier rejected suggestions Canada was “complicit in any war crimes” – saying Ottawa had a responsible system in place. He also played down the fact Afghan prisoners got hurt in jails.
“Even in our own prisons [in Canada] somebody can get beaten up. We know that.”
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Iranian Press reports on Hillier book!
This is from an Iranian news agency. It is a bit surprising that they should notice Hillier's book and write an article about it. Hillier is probably correct that the NATO mission has not been successful and certainly not supported in the way that the military would like. However, from what is said here it would seem that Hillier is not really sympathetic to the political difficulties involved and is gung ho for a military solution. In my opinion NATO should never have been there in the first place and is just being used as a helpmate for a U.S. agenda. The entire extension of NATO's role was a farce from the beginning simply spreading the burden of US imperium on other countries.
Afghanistan to be graveyard of NATO alliance?
As public support for the Afghan war rapidly falls in NATO countries, the head of the alliance has stepped up efforts to keep member-states united. On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke before a meeting with alliance defense ministers in Bratislava on a new approach against the widening Taliban insurgency. "We all have to achieve more in training and equipping the Afghan security forces," Rasmussen told a security conference before the ministers' meeting in the Slovak capital, which is not expected to announce decisions on troop levels.
Meanwhile, Canada's former top general has said that the setbacks in Afghanistan have greatly damaged NATO's credibility. Almost eight years on, a continued lack of focus and resolve in Afghanistan will be NATO's undoing, retired general and former Canadian chief of defense staff Rick Hillier warned in a new book. Hillier wrote in his autobiography, to be published next week, that "Afghanistan has revealed that NATO has reached the stage where it is a corpse, decomposing" and in need of "lifesaving" otherwise "the alliance will be done." He said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vulnerable to "any major setback" in Afghanistan and faces extinction unless it can "snatch victory out of feeble efforts." In the book, "A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War," Hillier says no Western country had predicted an Afghan resurgence following the early success of the US invasion in 2001. When Hillier took command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) years later, "It was crystal clear from the start that there was no strategy for the mission in Afghanistan," he wrote. "NATO had started down a road that destroyed much of its credibility and in the end eroded support for the mission in every nation in the alliance. ....
Afghanistan to be graveyard of NATO alliance?
As public support for the Afghan war rapidly falls in NATO countries, the head of the alliance has stepped up efforts to keep member-states united. On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen spoke before a meeting with alliance defense ministers in Bratislava on a new approach against the widening Taliban insurgency. "We all have to achieve more in training and equipping the Afghan security forces," Rasmussen told a security conference before the ministers' meeting in the Slovak capital, which is not expected to announce decisions on troop levels.
Meanwhile, Canada's former top general has said that the setbacks in Afghanistan have greatly damaged NATO's credibility. Almost eight years on, a continued lack of focus and resolve in Afghanistan will be NATO's undoing, retired general and former Canadian chief of defense staff Rick Hillier warned in a new book. Hillier wrote in his autobiography, to be published next week, that "Afghanistan has revealed that NATO has reached the stage where it is a corpse, decomposing" and in need of "lifesaving" otherwise "the alliance will be done." He said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is vulnerable to "any major setback" in Afghanistan and faces extinction unless it can "snatch victory out of feeble efforts." In the book, "A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War," Hillier says no Western country had predicted an Afghan resurgence following the early success of the US invasion in 2001. When Hillier took command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) years later, "It was crystal clear from the start that there was no strategy for the mission in Afghanistan," he wrote. "NATO had started down a road that destroyed much of its credibility and in the end eroded support for the mission in every nation in the alliance. ....
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hillier, the usual line...
No way to escape Afghan combat post-2011, Hillier says
A prominent theme in retired general's new book is a distaste for politicians, bureaucrats who acted in their own interests
Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
I certainly agree with Hiller that if Canada stays in Afghanistan in a non-combat role that troops will still be involved in combat. In fact that is the reason why Canada should put out period. No doubt whatever govt. is in power will try to argue for a new role. Perhaps even the NDP could be sold on this. My own view is that Canada should not have been in Afghanistan in the first, that the occupation was illegal and the fig leaf now covering ISAF is a travesty just as was the UN resolution that legalised the US and allies occupation of Iraq.
OTTAWA – Pulling Canadian soldiers out of Afghanistan in 2011 will leave a gaping hole in security efforts and won't necessarily ensure the end of combat operations, former chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier says.
As MPs prepare to debate the future of the country's military mission in Afghanistan, Hillier delivered some plain-spoken advice in an interview with the Toronto Star: don't trust the twisted rhetoric and outright lies that will surely be delivered by the Conservative government or the opposition parties.
There will still be a need for security and counter-insurgency operations when Canada's current mandate expires in 2011, he said. If experienced Canadian troops leave Kanadhar, some other nation, likely less familiar with the local terrain and power brokers, will have to do the job.
Hillier also said there's also no need for Canadian troops, except in Kandahar or the northeast, and there's no way Canada can carry out a goodwill mission without encountering frequent violence.
"If you stay in the south and try to do something like training, you will still be in combat. I don't care what (political) staffers say in the media about how they can find a way to do it. You simply will not. You will be in combat," Hillier said during a promotional interview for his new book, A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War.
Living behind blast walls and trying to carry out aid and reconstruction projects are futile, and potentially dangerous in a country where NATO and insurgent forces are battling for the trust of the local population.
"It would be like going to shore at Normandy on the sixth of June (1944) and driving around . . . sightseeing and leaving the enemy the opportunity, flexibility and initiative to attack you when they want," Hillier said.
The advice from the most politically savvy soldier to lead the Canadian Forces in memory won't be welcomed by MPs of any stripe: all are driving for a reduced presence in Afghanistan eight years after it was invaded by the United States.
But Hillier said his intent, both as chief of defence staff and now as a former general, was never to be "politically palatable."
He rarely was. His three-year term will be remembered for dubbing the years of mostly Liberal rule in the 1990s the "Decade of Darkness," branding the Taliban "scumbags and murderers," and for musing about a 10-year fight for the future of Afghanistan when the government had committed Canadian troops to only two years down the line.
"I always tried to speak frankly and clearly and to say whatever I believed was right," Hillier said. "The military knew what it was doing on the ground there and what was needed, and to have people and staffers coming out and saying that we can do this job in two years or five years, or we can train without being in combat . . . it's just baloney."
The most prominent theme in Hillier's autobiography is a distaste for politicians who cast aside responsible, realistic and professional assessments to impose their own torqued political imperatives and for bureaucrats who would rather protect their turf in Ottawa than Canadian soldiers in a war zone.
Those were the defining characteristics of the capital during the Liberal and Conservative minority parliaments from 2005 to 2008. he said.
"It's a terrible, terrible environment in which to work," he said. "Very vitriolic. We've been in that now for five years and it doesn't appear that we're going to break out of it."
What's lost are the courageous long-term commitments necessary to fight a tough war, or rebuild the Canadian military, in favour of short-term government gambles or unfair opposition criticisms that sell well with the electorate.
An analysis he conducted of the daily question-and-answer question period in the House of Commons found about 150 questions in one session of Parliament on military and defence issues. The vast majority focused on the treatment of suspected insurgents by Canadian soldiers, and whether they were abused in local Afghan-run jails – a matter Hillier views as a tempest in an Afghan teapot.
"I'm not sure our parliamentary system right now is delivering really what Canadians would like to have," he said. "That's a big thing to wrestle to the ground, but it was a tough environment in which to work, and many times it was disappointing."
A prominent theme in retired general's new book is a distaste for politicians, bureaucrats who acted in their own interests
Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
I certainly agree with Hiller that if Canada stays in Afghanistan in a non-combat role that troops will still be involved in combat. In fact that is the reason why Canada should put out period. No doubt whatever govt. is in power will try to argue for a new role. Perhaps even the NDP could be sold on this. My own view is that Canada should not have been in Afghanistan in the first, that the occupation was illegal and the fig leaf now covering ISAF is a travesty just as was the UN resolution that legalised the US and allies occupation of Iraq.
OTTAWA – Pulling Canadian soldiers out of Afghanistan in 2011 will leave a gaping hole in security efforts and won't necessarily ensure the end of combat operations, former chief of defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier says.
As MPs prepare to debate the future of the country's military mission in Afghanistan, Hillier delivered some plain-spoken advice in an interview with the Toronto Star: don't trust the twisted rhetoric and outright lies that will surely be delivered by the Conservative government or the opposition parties.
There will still be a need for security and counter-insurgency operations when Canada's current mandate expires in 2011, he said. If experienced Canadian troops leave Kanadhar, some other nation, likely less familiar with the local terrain and power brokers, will have to do the job.
Hillier also said there's also no need for Canadian troops, except in Kandahar or the northeast, and there's no way Canada can carry out a goodwill mission without encountering frequent violence.
"If you stay in the south and try to do something like training, you will still be in combat. I don't care what (political) staffers say in the media about how they can find a way to do it. You simply will not. You will be in combat," Hillier said during a promotional interview for his new book, A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War.
Living behind blast walls and trying to carry out aid and reconstruction projects are futile, and potentially dangerous in a country where NATO and insurgent forces are battling for the trust of the local population.
"It would be like going to shore at Normandy on the sixth of June (1944) and driving around . . . sightseeing and leaving the enemy the opportunity, flexibility and initiative to attack you when they want," Hillier said.
The advice from the most politically savvy soldier to lead the Canadian Forces in memory won't be welcomed by MPs of any stripe: all are driving for a reduced presence in Afghanistan eight years after it was invaded by the United States.
But Hillier said his intent, both as chief of defence staff and now as a former general, was never to be "politically palatable."
He rarely was. His three-year term will be remembered for dubbing the years of mostly Liberal rule in the 1990s the "Decade of Darkness," branding the Taliban "scumbags and murderers," and for musing about a 10-year fight for the future of Afghanistan when the government had committed Canadian troops to only two years down the line.
"I always tried to speak frankly and clearly and to say whatever I believed was right," Hillier said. "The military knew what it was doing on the ground there and what was needed, and to have people and staffers coming out and saying that we can do this job in two years or five years, or we can train without being in combat . . . it's just baloney."
The most prominent theme in Hillier's autobiography is a distaste for politicians who cast aside responsible, realistic and professional assessments to impose their own torqued political imperatives and for bureaucrats who would rather protect their turf in Ottawa than Canadian soldiers in a war zone.
Those were the defining characteristics of the capital during the Liberal and Conservative minority parliaments from 2005 to 2008. he said.
"It's a terrible, terrible environment in which to work," he said. "Very vitriolic. We've been in that now for five years and it doesn't appear that we're going to break out of it."
What's lost are the courageous long-term commitments necessary to fight a tough war, or rebuild the Canadian military, in favour of short-term government gambles or unfair opposition criticisms that sell well with the electorate.
An analysis he conducted of the daily question-and-answer question period in the House of Commons found about 150 questions in one session of Parliament on military and defence issues. The vast majority focused on the treatment of suspected insurgents by Canadian soldiers, and whether they were abused in local Afghan-run jails – a matter Hillier views as a tempest in an Afghan teapot.
"I'm not sure our parliamentary system right now is delivering really what Canadians would like to have," he said. "That's a big thing to wrestle to the ground, but it was a tough environment in which to work, and many times it was disappointing."
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Hillier passes the torch..
This is from the Star.
This passage from the article sums things up.
The entire spectacle seemed a celebration of the military "renaissance" touted by the Conservative government and military officials, marked by large budget increases, a promise to boost troop numbers and plans to buy some $50 billion in new equipment over the next two decades.
"It is about the continuity of one of our most essential institutions, the ultimate guardians of Canada's sovereignty, security and place in the world," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Natynczyk, an army commander who served as vice-chief to Hillier, oversaw the Canadian Forces' multi-billion-dollar budget.
He has led campaigns in the Balkans and in Africa, and he was deputy commander of international troops in Iraq while seconded to the U.S. Army in 2005. The deployment made Natynczyk the first Canadian to participate in the U.S.-led war, which the Liberal government of the day declined to join.
There we have it. The celebration of our military renaissance and a taxpayer funded 50 billion dollars in new equipment over 20 years. Our role as a junior partner in U.S. imperialist designs is assured for two decades and this is celebrated by placing a hero of the war in Iraq as head of our armed forces. It is not a question of supporting our troops but of our troops suppporting U.S. foreign policy and Canadian taxpayers footing the bill. We should have had the ceremony on the fourth of July!
Hillier passes the torch TheStar.com - Canada - Hillier passes the torch
Retiring top soldier rumbles off in a tank after handing off the job to Walter Natynczyk
July 03, 2008 Allan WoodsOttawa BureaU
OTTAWA–It was a ceremony fit for a king, but engineered to usher out one "warrior" and welcome in his successor.
The official procedure that handed responsibility for the Canadian Forces from outgoing Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier to Gen. Walter Natynczyk took just a few minutes to complete. Governor General Michaëlle Jean accepted the former chief's white ceremonial flag and passed it to his successor, the beaming Winnipeg native Natynczyk. But the entire affair stretched to two hours, with speeches from politicians, a 21-gun salute, planes, guns and cheering crowds.
It peaked with Hillier, who started as an armour officer, stepping aboard an old, squeaky tank and riding off to retirement.
"It was quite incredible," said retired Col. Alain Pellerin, the head of an Ottawa-based military advocacy group. "I've never seen that before in my career in the military."
The entire spectacle seemed a celebration of the military "renaissance" touted by the Conservative government and military officials, marked by large budget increases, a promise to boost troop numbers and plans to buy some $50 billion in new equipment over the next two decades.
"It is about the continuity of one of our most essential institutions, the ultimate guardians of Canada's sovereignty, security and place in the world," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Natynczyk, an army commander who served as vice-chief to Hillier, oversaw the Canadian Forces' multi-billion-dollar budget.
He has led campaigns in the Balkans and in Africa, and he was deputy commander of international troops in Iraq while seconded to the U.S. Army in 2005. The deployment made Natynczyk the first Canadian to participate in the U.S.-led war, which the Liberal government of the day declined to join.
Asked in a recent Maclean's interview if the 2003 invasion was justified, he replied: "In hindsight, the information – as we know now – the intelligence was faulty."
That candour was not in evidence at a meeting with reporters yesterday where Natynczyk was lightly tested about Afghanistan.
Last month, for example, was the deadliest month for coalition soldiers in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion and the death toll even surpassed the one in Iraq.
"The Taliban and their supporters have, without question, grown more effective and more aggressive in recent weeks, as the casualty figures clearly demonstrate," Admiral Michael Mullen, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday in Washington.
He, along with Natynczyk and military officials from other countries, met in Brussels, Belgium, last week "to get a better understanding of the scope of the threat," he said.
But the new chief pushed the message of progress authored by the government and his predecessor.
Canada expected a spring offensive and have prepared for it, he explained of the increasing violence, particularly in Kandahar where Canadian troops are based. It will be some time yet before Canadians know whether his comments are evidence simply of a rosy disposition or proof that the Conservatives have found a top soldier who is willing to be kept in line.
For the time being, Natynczyk will just try to be all things to all of the military services under his command.
"As your chief, I represent all of you," he said. "I am a soldier, I'm a sailor, I'm an airman and I'm a special forces troop."
This passage from the article sums things up.
The entire spectacle seemed a celebration of the military "renaissance" touted by the Conservative government and military officials, marked by large budget increases, a promise to boost troop numbers and plans to buy some $50 billion in new equipment over the next two decades.
"It is about the continuity of one of our most essential institutions, the ultimate guardians of Canada's sovereignty, security and place in the world," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Natynczyk, an army commander who served as vice-chief to Hillier, oversaw the Canadian Forces' multi-billion-dollar budget.
He has led campaigns in the Balkans and in Africa, and he was deputy commander of international troops in Iraq while seconded to the U.S. Army in 2005. The deployment made Natynczyk the first Canadian to participate in the U.S.-led war, which the Liberal government of the day declined to join.
There we have it. The celebration of our military renaissance and a taxpayer funded 50 billion dollars in new equipment over 20 years. Our role as a junior partner in U.S. imperialist designs is assured for two decades and this is celebrated by placing a hero of the war in Iraq as head of our armed forces. It is not a question of supporting our troops but of our troops suppporting U.S. foreign policy and Canadian taxpayers footing the bill. We should have had the ceremony on the fourth of July!
Hillier passes the torch TheStar.com - Canada - Hillier passes the torch
Retiring top soldier rumbles off in a tank after handing off the job to Walter Natynczyk
July 03, 2008 Allan WoodsOttawa BureaU
OTTAWA–It was a ceremony fit for a king, but engineered to usher out one "warrior" and welcome in his successor.
The official procedure that handed responsibility for the Canadian Forces from outgoing Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier to Gen. Walter Natynczyk took just a few minutes to complete. Governor General Michaëlle Jean accepted the former chief's white ceremonial flag and passed it to his successor, the beaming Winnipeg native Natynczyk. But the entire affair stretched to two hours, with speeches from politicians, a 21-gun salute, planes, guns and cheering crowds.
It peaked with Hillier, who started as an armour officer, stepping aboard an old, squeaky tank and riding off to retirement.
"It was quite incredible," said retired Col. Alain Pellerin, the head of an Ottawa-based military advocacy group. "I've never seen that before in my career in the military."
The entire spectacle seemed a celebration of the military "renaissance" touted by the Conservative government and military officials, marked by large budget increases, a promise to boost troop numbers and plans to buy some $50 billion in new equipment over the next two decades.
"It is about the continuity of one of our most essential institutions, the ultimate guardians of Canada's sovereignty, security and place in the world," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.
Natynczyk, an army commander who served as vice-chief to Hillier, oversaw the Canadian Forces' multi-billion-dollar budget.
He has led campaigns in the Balkans and in Africa, and he was deputy commander of international troops in Iraq while seconded to the U.S. Army in 2005. The deployment made Natynczyk the first Canadian to participate in the U.S.-led war, which the Liberal government of the day declined to join.
Asked in a recent Maclean's interview if the 2003 invasion was justified, he replied: "In hindsight, the information – as we know now – the intelligence was faulty."
That candour was not in evidence at a meeting with reporters yesterday where Natynczyk was lightly tested about Afghanistan.
Last month, for example, was the deadliest month for coalition soldiers in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion and the death toll even surpassed the one in Iraq.
"The Taliban and their supporters have, without question, grown more effective and more aggressive in recent weeks, as the casualty figures clearly demonstrate," Admiral Michael Mullen, chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said yesterday in Washington.
He, along with Natynczyk and military officials from other countries, met in Brussels, Belgium, last week "to get a better understanding of the scope of the threat," he said.
But the new chief pushed the message of progress authored by the government and his predecessor.
Canada expected a spring offensive and have prepared for it, he explained of the increasing violence, particularly in Kandahar where Canadian troops are based. It will be some time yet before Canadians know whether his comments are evidence simply of a rosy disposition or proof that the Conservatives have found a top soldier who is willing to be kept in line.
For the time being, Natynczyk will just try to be all things to all of the military services under his command.
"As your chief, I represent all of you," he said. "I am a soldier, I'm a sailor, I'm an airman and I'm a special forces troop."
Monday, April 21, 2008
Canadian pilots flew transports in Iraq as part of training plan.
This is from canada.com via Reuters. So the military helps its U.S. buddies without notifying or getting authority from parliament. The integration and agreements are such that parliament probably couldn't prevent this if it wanted. However, as the article notes Canadians even served in Iraq including Walter
Natanczyk who was awarded for his services to U.S. imperialism by a medal awarded by our governor general and also made vice-chief of defence. He is a front runner to replace Rick Hillier. His stellar service to U.S. imperialism obviously warrants even more rewards.
Monday » April 21 » 2008
Canadian pilots flew U.S. transports into Iraq as part of training plan
David Akin
Canwest News Service
Monday, April 21, 2008
CREDIT: Reuters
A C- 17 Globemaster III strategic lift aircraft, being delivered to the Canadian military arrives at Abbotsford, British Columbia August 11, 2007.
OTTAWA - Canadian Forces personnel learned to operate Canada's newest military plane, the giant Boeing C-17, by training on American jets, including flying those planes into Iraq in support of the U.S. war, according to a memo written by Canada's top general and obtained by Canwest News Service.
Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of Canada's defence staff, wrote to Gordon O'Connor, then-minister of national defence, in May 2007 that in the summer and fall of that year, Canadian military aircrew would fly into Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. That decision was taken without informing Parliament.
"Canadians have been very clear from the beginning that they wanted no part of George Bush's war on Iraq," said NDP MP Dawn Black, her party's defence critic, "and they certainly don't want to see Canadians getting involved through a back door."
The flights into Iraq were part of the second phase of training for Canadian crews, a phase referred to by the military as "seasoning."
The Defence Department was not able Monday to say how many personnel were involved or how many missions were flown in Iraq.
Canadian crews also were "seasoned" on U.S. C-17s flying into Afghanistan through Operation Enduring Freedom.
"To ensure flexibility, as well as obtain maximum exposure to the roles and missions of the C-17, deployment approval on Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom has been requested," Hillier wrote. "The overall risk associated with allowing CF aircrew to operate on USAF_C-17 missions to Iraq is low."
It's the latest revelation that Canadian military personnel served with U.S. forces in Iraq without parliamentary approval. In 2004, for example, Lt.-Gen. Walt Natynczyk - the vice-chief of defence staff and one of the leading contenders to replace Hillier when he retires this summer - was deployed to Iraq for one year with U.S. troops and served as the deputy commander of the Multinational Corps there.
"My concern is that this really undermines the democratic process," said Steve Staples, an analyst with the Rideau Institute, a think-tank which often has been critical of Canadian defence policy. "Our military is so integrated with the U.S. that those democratic decisions are undermined, if not rendered meaningless, and I think that's really alarming for most Canadians."
Dan Dugas, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said the Canadians on exchange can end up in Iraq, as they did in this case, when the U.S. unit they have been assigned to is sent by U.S. authorities to Iraq. Under the terms of the Canada-U.S. officer exchange program, the participating officers essentially become part of the other country's military.
Canada took delivery of the first of its four Boeing C-17s in August 2007.
The C-17s are among the biggest planes in the world. They are used by the U.S., British, Australian and other air forces for strategic airlift, the long-haul transport of military equipment and personnel. The C-17s, for example, are used to rapidly deploy Canada's Disaster Response Team (DART). U.S. C-17s delivered Canadian tanks, one at a time, to Afghanistan.
In anticipation of the delivery of the airplanes, Canada sent a first crew, consisting of at least one pilot, co-pilot and a loadmaster to U.S. air force Base McChord in Washington. That crew trained at McChord until July 2007. A second Canadian C-17 aircrew was then sent to U.S. air force Base Altus in Oklahoma. Altus is the where the U.S. air force does most of its training for its C-17 crews. That second crew was then assigned for "seasoning" with a U.S. unit flying into Iraq, according to Hillier's May 2007 memo.
Hillier wrote that all subsequent Canadian C-17 crews would be trained at Altus, but would return to Canada without undergoing additional "seasoning."
Portions of the memo obtained by Canwest News Service were blacked out.
© Canwest News Service 2008
Copyright © 2008
Natanczyk who was awarded for his services to U.S. imperialism by a medal awarded by our governor general and also made vice-chief of defence. He is a front runner to replace Rick Hillier. His stellar service to U.S. imperialism obviously warrants even more rewards.
Monday » April 21 » 2008
Canadian pilots flew U.S. transports into Iraq as part of training plan
David Akin
Canwest News Service
Monday, April 21, 2008
CREDIT: Reuters
A C- 17 Globemaster III strategic lift aircraft, being delivered to the Canadian military arrives at Abbotsford, British Columbia August 11, 2007.
OTTAWA - Canadian Forces personnel learned to operate Canada's newest military plane, the giant Boeing C-17, by training on American jets, including flying those planes into Iraq in support of the U.S. war, according to a memo written by Canada's top general and obtained by Canwest News Service.
Gen. Rick Hillier, the chief of Canada's defence staff, wrote to Gordon O'Connor, then-minister of national defence, in May 2007 that in the summer and fall of that year, Canadian military aircrew would fly into Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. That decision was taken without informing Parliament.
"Canadians have been very clear from the beginning that they wanted no part of George Bush's war on Iraq," said NDP MP Dawn Black, her party's defence critic, "and they certainly don't want to see Canadians getting involved through a back door."
The flights into Iraq were part of the second phase of training for Canadian crews, a phase referred to by the military as "seasoning."
The Defence Department was not able Monday to say how many personnel were involved or how many missions were flown in Iraq.
Canadian crews also were "seasoned" on U.S. C-17s flying into Afghanistan through Operation Enduring Freedom.
"To ensure flexibility, as well as obtain maximum exposure to the roles and missions of the C-17, deployment approval on Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom has been requested," Hillier wrote. "The overall risk associated with allowing CF aircrew to operate on USAF_C-17 missions to Iraq is low."
It's the latest revelation that Canadian military personnel served with U.S. forces in Iraq without parliamentary approval. In 2004, for example, Lt.-Gen. Walt Natynczyk - the vice-chief of defence staff and one of the leading contenders to replace Hillier when he retires this summer - was deployed to Iraq for one year with U.S. troops and served as the deputy commander of the Multinational Corps there.
"My concern is that this really undermines the democratic process," said Steve Staples, an analyst with the Rideau Institute, a think-tank which often has been critical of Canadian defence policy. "Our military is so integrated with the U.S. that those democratic decisions are undermined, if not rendered meaningless, and I think that's really alarming for most Canadians."
Dan Dugas, a spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, said the Canadians on exchange can end up in Iraq, as they did in this case, when the U.S. unit they have been assigned to is sent by U.S. authorities to Iraq. Under the terms of the Canada-U.S. officer exchange program, the participating officers essentially become part of the other country's military.
Canada took delivery of the first of its four Boeing C-17s in August 2007.
The C-17s are among the biggest planes in the world. They are used by the U.S., British, Australian and other air forces for strategic airlift, the long-haul transport of military equipment and personnel. The C-17s, for example, are used to rapidly deploy Canada's Disaster Response Team (DART). U.S. C-17s delivered Canadian tanks, one at a time, to Afghanistan.
In anticipation of the delivery of the airplanes, Canada sent a first crew, consisting of at least one pilot, co-pilot and a loadmaster to U.S. air force Base McChord in Washington. That crew trained at McChord until July 2007. A second Canadian C-17 aircrew was then sent to U.S. air force Base Altus in Oklahoma. Altus is the where the U.S. air force does most of its training for its C-17 crews. That second crew was then assigned for "seasoning" with a U.S. unit flying into Iraq, according to Hillier's May 2007 memo.
Hillier wrote that all subsequent Canadian C-17 crews would be trained at Altus, but would return to Canada without undergoing additional "seasoning."
Portions of the memo obtained by Canwest News Service were blacked out.
© Canwest News Service 2008
Copyright © 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
How Hillier presents his needs to government.
The snippet below is from a paean to Hllier in the Edmonton Sun an Edmonton based garbage wrapper. So this is the way what is needed is decided!
Of course the military-industrial complex must love Hillier overall since he managed to convince the government that we need more military equipment rather than new hospitals, roads, or bridges. Let's see what boards he joins in the future.
"So never mind the traditional procurement process. Instead, Hillier in effect sketched a wish list on the back of a napkin and handed it to the defence minister. My guess is that this took him all of five minutes. Miraculously, it worked.
That ruffled feathers in a serious way, because by then there was big money at stake -- billions. Corporations such as Lockheed-Martin and Boeing were vying for the right to build aircraft for Canada. Lobbyists for one firm would whisper, anonymously, that Hillier was too friendly with lobbyists from the other. The backbiting was intense. In the end the general shut them all up by persuading the new Harper government to buy from both companies."
Of course the military-industrial complex must love Hillier overall since he managed to convince the government that we need more military equipment rather than new hospitals, roads, or bridges. Let's see what boards he joins in the future.
"So never mind the traditional procurement process. Instead, Hillier in effect sketched a wish list on the back of a napkin and handed it to the defence minister. My guess is that this took him all of five minutes. Miraculously, it worked.
That ruffled feathers in a serious way, because by then there was big money at stake -- billions. Corporations such as Lockheed-Martin and Boeing were vying for the right to build aircraft for Canada. Lobbyists for one firm would whisper, anonymously, that Hillier was too friendly with lobbyists from the other. The backbiting was intense. In the end the general shut them all up by persuading the new Harper government to buy from both companies."
Thursday, April 17, 2008
What we are fighting for in Afghanistan!
Rick Hillier with his foul mouth claims that our mission in Afghanistan is:
Canadian Forces were going to fight "detestable murderers and scumbags," he said. Their focus wasn't reconstruction or aid. "We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people," he said (Victoria Colonist.)
However, it seems that we are in the business of killing the Taliban scumbags and murderers so as to support an Afghan government that re-introduced the Dept. of Virtue and Vice and now is pushing strict Islamic laws of a Taliban type, a government that condemns people to death for converting from Islam to Christianity etc.etc. From Yahoo News.
Afghan parliament committee drafts Taliban-style moral law Wed Apr 16, 1:25 PM ET
An Afghan legislative committee has drafted a bill seeking to introduce Taliban-style Islamic morality codes banning women from wearing make-up in public and forbidding young boys from wearing female fashions.
The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, needs approval by both chambers of the Islamist-dominated parliament and President Hamid Karzai signature to become a law.
"Women and girls are obliged to not wear make-up, wear suitable dresses and observe hijab (veil) while at work or classrooms," said one article of the draft.
It also aims to ban women dancers performing during concerts and other public events as well as on television.
"The mass media including television and cable networks must avoid broadcasting programmes against Islamic morals," it said without giving details.
In a similar move the parliament, which is dominated by former anti-Soviet Islamist warlords, called earlier this month for a ban on dancing and Indian soap dramas on private television networks.
Men and young boys must avoid wearing bracelets, necklaces, "feminist dresses," and hair-bands, the draft reads.
The proposals also demand an end to dog and bird-fighting, pigeon-flying, billiards and video games, all past times favoured by many Afghans.
It demands separate halls for men and women during wedding parties, while loud music is banned at such gatherings. Afghans hold big and costly get-togethers for weddings, usually in a public hall with music.
If the proposals are passed, violators could be fined 500 Afghanis (10 dollars) to 5,000, according to the draft.
The plans mirror many of the laws introduced by the extremist Taliban regime, which ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 with strict Islamic Sharia law.
Canadian Forces were going to fight "detestable murderers and scumbags," he said. Their focus wasn't reconstruction or aid. "We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people," he said (Victoria Colonist.)
However, it seems that we are in the business of killing the Taliban scumbags and murderers so as to support an Afghan government that re-introduced the Dept. of Virtue and Vice and now is pushing strict Islamic laws of a Taliban type, a government that condemns people to death for converting from Islam to Christianity etc.etc. From Yahoo News.
Afghan parliament committee drafts Taliban-style moral law Wed Apr 16, 1:25 PM ET
An Afghan legislative committee has drafted a bill seeking to introduce Taliban-style Islamic morality codes banning women from wearing make-up in public and forbidding young boys from wearing female fashions.
The draft, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, needs approval by both chambers of the Islamist-dominated parliament and President Hamid Karzai signature to become a law.
"Women and girls are obliged to not wear make-up, wear suitable dresses and observe hijab (veil) while at work or classrooms," said one article of the draft.
It also aims to ban women dancers performing during concerts and other public events as well as on television.
"The mass media including television and cable networks must avoid broadcasting programmes against Islamic morals," it said without giving details.
In a similar move the parliament, which is dominated by former anti-Soviet Islamist warlords, called earlier this month for a ban on dancing and Indian soap dramas on private television networks.
Men and young boys must avoid wearing bracelets, necklaces, "feminist dresses," and hair-bands, the draft reads.
The proposals also demand an end to dog and bird-fighting, pigeon-flying, billiards and video games, all past times favoured by many Afghans.
It demands separate halls for men and women during wedding parties, while loud music is banned at such gatherings. Afghans hold big and costly get-togethers for weddings, usually in a public hall with music.
If the proposals are passed, violators could be fined 500 Afghanis (10 dollars) to 5,000, according to the draft.
The plans mirror many of the laws introduced by the extremist Taliban regime, which ruled the country from 1996 to 2001 with strict Islamic Sharia law.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Logical Choice to Replace Hillier: Walter Natynchuk
Speculation is already rife about who should replace Hillier as a recent CBC article notes:
"There are a handful of generals at the top of the list," Cudmore said, "all from the army."
Among them are Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the head of the army, Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who has spent the past two years helping to run operations in Afghanistan, and Lt-Gen. Walter Natynchuk, currently Hillier's second-in-command.......
Walter Natynchuk aka Walter Natynczyk is a logical successor to Hiller and has all the qualifications for serving as a helpmeet and junior partner for our great Hegemon neighbour to the south. He was trained in the U.S. and even was awarded a medal by Canada for his service in the Iraq war! A war that we are supposed not to have supported! This is from an earlier blog post of mine.The blog contains the full article on Natynchuk.
"Canadian L. General Awarded Medal for Service in Iraq Occupation
Lieutenant General Walter Natynczyk is now our vice Chief of Defence Staff. Trained by the US worked for the US in a war we opposed and he went there while a Canadian govt. opposed to the Iraq war was in power. Subsequently he was rewarded with a medal for his valiant service for US imperialism. The first quote is from espritdecorps Notice that in Iraq Natynczyk was a deputy commanding general of the multi-national forces not exactly a minor role.
"There are a handful of generals at the top of the list," Cudmore said, "all from the army."
Among them are Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, the head of the army, Lt.-Gen. Michel Gauthier, who has spent the past two years helping to run operations in Afghanistan, and Lt-Gen. Walter Natynchuk, currently Hillier's second-in-command.......
Walter Natynchuk aka Walter Natynczyk is a logical successor to Hiller and has all the qualifications for serving as a helpmeet and junior partner for our great Hegemon neighbour to the south. He was trained in the U.S. and even was awarded a medal by Canada for his service in the Iraq war! A war that we are supposed not to have supported! This is from an earlier blog post of mine.The blog contains the full article on Natynchuk.
"Canadian L. General Awarded Medal for Service in Iraq Occupation
Lieutenant General Walter Natynczyk is now our vice Chief of Defence Staff. Trained by the US worked for the US in a war we opposed and he went there while a Canadian govt. opposed to the Iraq war was in power. Subsequently he was rewarded with a medal for his valiant service for US imperialism. The first quote is from espritdecorps Notice that in Iraq Natynczyk was a deputy commanding general of the multi-national forces not exactly a minor role.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Bernier suggests need for new Kandahar governor
This is from the CBC.
Why Bernier would come out in public and say this is beyond me. He is either completely clueless or supremely arrogant. He could easily have made his criticisms in private and kept his mouth shut in public. Perhaps he just doesn't care and is playing to the crowd at home. Most people here probably think his criticism in public is fine because it is probably correct and do not worry about the political effect in Afghanistan of foreign occupiers lecturing Afghans on corruption.
Bernier should check with Rick Hillier before he starts badmouthing the governor of Kandahar. Here is what Hillier had to say about him:
"Governor Asadullah has been doing some phenomenal work in Kandahar province ... Obviously we have worked with him because he is the governor there, and we have seen some incredible changes in the province and if there's an issue of any kind of impropriety whatsoever, that's an issue for the Afghanistan government."
Bernier suggests need for new Kandahar governor
Last Updated: Monday, April 14, 2008 | 7:34 AM ET Comments10Recommend5CBC News
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says it may be necessary for the Afghan president to replace Kandahar's governor to provide the province with more effective and less corrupt government.
"I think [President Hamid Karzai] can work with us to be sure that the governor will be more powerful, the governor will do what he has to do to help us, and there's the question to maybe have a new governor," Bernier, who is wrapping up a thee-day visit to Afghanistan, told reporters when asked what Karzai needs to do about political corruption in the south.
Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar, was among Afghan officials alleged to have participated in torture of detainees. But Khalid has denied the reports.
"They're a sovereign state, they're going to have to decide, it's a decision that the president will have to take in the near future, about the future of the government we're having here," Bernier said.
"Is it the right person at the right place at the right time? President Karzai will have to answer these questions as soon as possible."
Bernier spent his time in Kabul and Kandahar meeting with military and diplomatic leaders.
So far, there has been no response from the offices of Karzai and Khalid on Bernier's remarks.
Why Bernier would come out in public and say this is beyond me. He is either completely clueless or supremely arrogant. He could easily have made his criticisms in private and kept his mouth shut in public. Perhaps he just doesn't care and is playing to the crowd at home. Most people here probably think his criticism in public is fine because it is probably correct and do not worry about the political effect in Afghanistan of foreign occupiers lecturing Afghans on corruption.
Bernier should check with Rick Hillier before he starts badmouthing the governor of Kandahar. Here is what Hillier had to say about him:
"Governor Asadullah has been doing some phenomenal work in Kandahar province ... Obviously we have worked with him because he is the governor there, and we have seen some incredible changes in the province and if there's an issue of any kind of impropriety whatsoever, that's an issue for the Afghanistan government."
Bernier suggests need for new Kandahar governor
Last Updated: Monday, April 14, 2008 | 7:34 AM ET Comments10Recommend5CBC News
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier says it may be necessary for the Afghan president to replace Kandahar's governor to provide the province with more effective and less corrupt government.
"I think [President Hamid Karzai] can work with us to be sure that the governor will be more powerful, the governor will do what he has to do to help us, and there's the question to maybe have a new governor," Bernier, who is wrapping up a thee-day visit to Afghanistan, told reporters when asked what Karzai needs to do about political corruption in the south.
Asadullah Khalid, the governor of Kandahar, was among Afghan officials alleged to have participated in torture of detainees. But Khalid has denied the reports.
"They're a sovereign state, they're going to have to decide, it's a decision that the president will have to take in the near future, about the future of the government we're having here," Bernier said.
"Is it the right person at the right place at the right time? President Karzai will have to answer these questions as soon as possible."
Bernier spent his time in Kabul and Kandahar meeting with military and diplomatic leaders.
So far, there has been no response from the offices of Karzai and Khalid on Bernier's remarks.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Marketing the Afghan Mission
This is from CTV. Who pays for all this? No one asks. A great photo opportunity to sell the mission. General Hillier will soon be as valuable a marketing tool as Tim Horton's. Select celebrities can sell the war, "support the troops".Great photo-ops for politicians as well. The exercise is supposed to boost morale. You mean troop morale needs boosting? The game is not really hockey but salesmanship.
Ex-NHLers square off with troops in Kandahar
Updated Thu. Mar. 20 2008 6:54 AM ET
The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The sticks are down and the elbows are up at Kandahar Airfield.
Hundreds of spectators are on hand for a morale-building ball-hockey tilt between NHL players and Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Troops are also taking the opportunity to have their picture taken with the Stanley Cup, which made the trip with the NHLers.
The old-timers team includes former Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Gartner, two-time Cup winner Mark Napier and notorious enforcer Bob Probert.
Suiting up for the soldiers is Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, and Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
Tonight, troops will take in a concert featuring Canadian country-rockers Blue Rodeo, Montreal's Jonas Tomalty, Newfoundland's Lori Anna Reid and singer-songwriter Gregg Lawless.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ex-NHLers square off with troops in Kandahar
Updated Thu. Mar. 20 2008 6:54 AM ET
The Associated Press
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The sticks are down and the elbows are up at Kandahar Airfield.
Hundreds of spectators are on hand for a morale-building ball-hockey tilt between NHL players and Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Troops are also taking the opportunity to have their picture taken with the Stanley Cup, which made the trip with the NHLers.
The old-timers team includes former Toronto Maple Leaf Mike Gartner, two-time Cup winner Mark Napier and notorious enforcer Bob Probert.
Suiting up for the soldiers is Gen. Rick Hillier, Canada's chief of defence staff, and Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan.
Tonight, troops will take in a concert featuring Canadian country-rockers Blue Rodeo, Montreal's Jonas Tomalty, Newfoundland's Lori Anna Reid and singer-songwriter Gregg Lawless.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hillier: Taliban will see Canada as weak if debate drags on.
The Conservatives have sucked the Liberals into supporting a motion that achieves most of what the Conservatives wished and will commit Canadian troops to a mission that as the military rightly point out inevitably involves conflict. The motion as noted will not restrict military freedom of action in spite of what the Liberals may claim. The Taliban probably are not too worried about the Canadians but we have quieted any fears that the U.S. might have that we will not continue to support their policies with the blood of Canadian troops and the funds of Canadian taxpayers.
Most of the debate about Afghanistan concerns details about our role and length of stay etc. but the relationship of our mission to U.S. policy is hardly ever mentioned nor is the illegality and immorality of our joining in Operation Enduring Freedom from the get-go is never mentioned. We just get the mantra that the UN sanctions the NATO mission of which we are part. This seems to be a mantra that puts critical faculties to sleep.
Taliban will see Canada as 'weak' if Afghan debate drags on: Hillier
Last Updated: Friday, February 22, 2008 11:58 AM ET
CBC News
Canada's top soldier urged Parliament to come to a quick decision on the country's role in Afghanistan, warning that lengthy debate may put soldiers increasingly at risk as the Taliban take advantage of the uncertainty.
"We are, in the eyes of the Taliban, in a window of extreme vulnerability, and the longer we go without that clarity, with the issue in doubt, the more the Taliban will target us as a perceived weak link," Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier said Friday.
Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Defence Associations, a military advocacy group, Hillier referred to recent attacks in Afghanistan.
A spate of suicide bombings hit southern Afghanistan earlier this week, including one attack that targeted a Canadian convoy, slightly wounding three soldiers.
Hillier wouldn't definitively say the suicide bombings were linked to political debate in Canada.
But he warned that if the Taliban sense weakness, they may try to take advantage of it and attack Canadian soldiers to prevent a cohesive mission.
Can't protect soldiers without clear mission objective
The longer the Canadian Forces go without clarity about the mission, the more difficult it will be to protect the soldiers, he told reporters after the speech.
While debate is necessary, Hillier said, there has to be a decision at the end of it.
Ottawa is in the midst of deciding what form Canada's military presence should take past its current end-date of February 2009.
Speaking before the same group on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper revealed the government's latest motion on Afghanistan — a revised one largely based on amendments put forward by Stéphane Dion's opposition Liberals.
The new motion calls for the mission to be renewed past 2009 but with a focus on reconstruction and training of Afghan troops, and for all Canadian troops to leave Afghanistan by December 2011.
Previously, the Conservative government had put forward a motion that left the mission open to renewal in 2011 and would have seen the military continue in a combat role.
The latest motion still makes Canada's continued presence in the volatile Kandahar region contingent on whether NATO allies provide 1,000 extra troops and Ottawa secures additional equipment.
Motion won't restrict military operations
Canadian soldiers have been keeping a close eye on the Afghan mission debate, Hillier said, and all they ask is that the government give them a clear mandate.
"They do ask … that they get that clarity of purpose as soon as we can give it to them."
Troops also need flexibility on the ground to not only defend themselves but to ensure security by going out and finding insurgents, he said.
He noted that over the past few months Canadian soldiers have hunted down six senior Taliban leaders who orchestrated attacks against coalition forces.
Hillier said he doesn't have any concerns that the current government motion will restrict his or his soldiers' flexibility on the ground.
The prime minister said Thursday that both the Liberals and Conservatives agree that operational decisions should be left up to the commanders overseeing the mission in
Most of the debate about Afghanistan concerns details about our role and length of stay etc. but the relationship of our mission to U.S. policy is hardly ever mentioned nor is the illegality and immorality of our joining in Operation Enduring Freedom from the get-go is never mentioned. We just get the mantra that the UN sanctions the NATO mission of which we are part. This seems to be a mantra that puts critical faculties to sleep.
Taliban will see Canada as 'weak' if Afghan debate drags on: Hillier
Last Updated: Friday, February 22, 2008 11:58 AM ET
CBC News
Canada's top soldier urged Parliament to come to a quick decision on the country's role in Afghanistan, warning that lengthy debate may put soldiers increasingly at risk as the Taliban take advantage of the uncertainty.
"We are, in the eyes of the Taliban, in a window of extreme vulnerability, and the longer we go without that clarity, with the issue in doubt, the more the Taliban will target us as a perceived weak link," Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier said Friday.
Speaking at a meeting of the Conference of Defence Associations, a military advocacy group, Hillier referred to recent attacks in Afghanistan.
A spate of suicide bombings hit southern Afghanistan earlier this week, including one attack that targeted a Canadian convoy, slightly wounding three soldiers.
Hillier wouldn't definitively say the suicide bombings were linked to political debate in Canada.
But he warned that if the Taliban sense weakness, they may try to take advantage of it and attack Canadian soldiers to prevent a cohesive mission.
Can't protect soldiers without clear mission objective
The longer the Canadian Forces go without clarity about the mission, the more difficult it will be to protect the soldiers, he told reporters after the speech.
While debate is necessary, Hillier said, there has to be a decision at the end of it.
Ottawa is in the midst of deciding what form Canada's military presence should take past its current end-date of February 2009.
Speaking before the same group on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper revealed the government's latest motion on Afghanistan — a revised one largely based on amendments put forward by Stéphane Dion's opposition Liberals.
The new motion calls for the mission to be renewed past 2009 but with a focus on reconstruction and training of Afghan troops, and for all Canadian troops to leave Afghanistan by December 2011.
Previously, the Conservative government had put forward a motion that left the mission open to renewal in 2011 and would have seen the military continue in a combat role.
The latest motion still makes Canada's continued presence in the volatile Kandahar region contingent on whether NATO allies provide 1,000 extra troops and Ottawa secures additional equipment.
Motion won't restrict military operations
Canadian soldiers have been keeping a close eye on the Afghan mission debate, Hillier said, and all they ask is that the government give them a clear mandate.
"They do ask … that they get that clarity of purpose as soon as we can give it to them."
Troops also need flexibility on the ground to not only defend themselves but to ensure security by going out and finding insurgents, he said.
He noted that over the past few months Canadian soldiers have hunted down six senior Taliban leaders who orchestrated attacks against coalition forces.
Hillier said he doesn't have any concerns that the current government motion will restrict his or his soldiers' flexibility on the ground.
The prime minister said Thursday that both the Liberals and Conservatives agree that operational decisions should be left up to the commanders overseeing the mission in
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Defence chief gets a pay hike but will he get to stay in job?
Rick Hillier should hire a handler and check with him or her before he opens his mouth. He seems to have no political savvy. Why he would say it might take ten years or so to train the Afghan forces is beyond me. The Afghan ambassador had the right answer to how long it would take. He didn't know and no one did.
As long as Hillier was useful to Harper's cause his yapping was quite acceptable but now he seems to have gone astray. This is from the Star.
Defence chief gets a pay hike but will he get to stay in job?
Oct 27, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–Gen. Rick Hillier received a pay increase just ahead of this week's clash with the Prime Minister's Office over the length of time Canadian troops should remain fighting in Afghanistan.
A government order published last week boosted the chief of defence staff's salary to between $199,700 and $234,900. When named head of the Canadian Forces in 2005, Hillier's pay scale was set at between $185,000 and $217,000.
The raise was approved Oct. 16, the same day the government's throne speech proposed a two-year extension of Canada's Afghan mission to 2011 to help train that country's military. This week, Hillier appeared to run afoul of the government when he said that completing training for the Afghan army would take "10 years or so."
Yesterday, Hillier clarified for CBC-TV that he was referring only to training the most senior Afghan military and that there was "no difference of opinion whatsoever" between the government's 2011 deadline and his.
Hillier's future as Canada's top soldier has been in question since reports surfaced claiming the government was preparing to end his appointment after two years.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper did reiterate his confidence in Hillier but a rebuke by a PMO official, saying Parliament would decide the mission's future – raised new questions about the chief's job security.
"Clearly, there's a real division between ... Gen. Hillier and ... this government. They don't like someone deviating from the script, so it's going to be very interesting to see how this unfolds," said NDP defence critic Dawn Black.
As long as Hillier was useful to Harper's cause his yapping was quite acceptable but now he seems to have gone astray. This is from the Star.
Defence chief gets a pay hike but will he get to stay in job?
Oct 27, 2007 04:30 AM
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–Gen. Rick Hillier received a pay increase just ahead of this week's clash with the Prime Minister's Office over the length of time Canadian troops should remain fighting in Afghanistan.
A government order published last week boosted the chief of defence staff's salary to between $199,700 and $234,900. When named head of the Canadian Forces in 2005, Hillier's pay scale was set at between $185,000 and $217,000.
The raise was approved Oct. 16, the same day the government's throne speech proposed a two-year extension of Canada's Afghan mission to 2011 to help train that country's military. This week, Hillier appeared to run afoul of the government when he said that completing training for the Afghan army would take "10 years or so."
Yesterday, Hillier clarified for CBC-TV that he was referring only to training the most senior Afghan military and that there was "no difference of opinion whatsoever" between the government's 2011 deadline and his.
Hillier's future as Canada's top soldier has been in question since reports surfaced claiming the government was preparing to end his appointment after two years.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper did reiterate his confidence in Hillier but a rebuke by a PMO official, saying Parliament would decide the mission's future – raised new questions about the chief's job security.
"Clearly, there's a real division between ... Gen. Hillier and ... this government. They don't like someone deviating from the script, so it's going to be very interesting to see how this unfolds," said NDP defence critic Dawn Black.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Trouble with Hillier
Our relations with the US are obviously a big part of our commitment in Afghanistan. Most reports about the mission hardly even mention this. Instead of helping out in Iraq we agreed to take a leading role in Afghanistan. Hillier obviously pushed this in spite of resistance by Martin. Now it has become a mess but Harper certainly supports his role as a partner in US attempts to become world hegemon.
Trouble with Hillier
Defence chief may stand between Harper and majority government – and PM can do nothing about it
Oct. 11, 2007
Is Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier staying or going?
CTV News Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife recently said an undisclosed source had told him that Hillier was not long for his job. Hillier, Fife said early in October, would be gone by February '08.
Fife implied that Hillier was getting his walking papers because he had undermined his political bosses and had failed to change public opinion on the war in Afghanistan.
But in a press conference on the Hill on Oct. 3, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the reports were wrong and he gave Hillier a ringing endorsement as "an outstanding soldier."
"I just approved a pretty good rating for the Chief of the Defence Staff," Harper said.
The next day, Fife was back with his Hillier story. Then on CTV's Question Period, Craig Oliver could not stop talking about the Hillier story.
Eugene Lang's and Janice Gross Stein's book, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar, sheds some light on what exactly is happening.
Lang, a former chief of staff for two Liberal defence ministers, and Stein, director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto and one of Canada's top academics, paint quite a portrait of Rick Hillier. Hillier, they say, is the main man responsible for the present mess in Afghanistan.
Stein and Lang say in the first weeks of Hillier's 2005 appointment as the new chief of defence staff, he "had secured from Martin's government the largest funding increase in a generation."
"Hillier had also persuaded the Martin government to set Canada on the path to a war in Afghanistan which no one, least of all Paul Martin, wanted or expected," Lang and Stein also say.
Hillier had been in office for only one month when he developed a plan for what he thought should be the nation's top defence priority — Afghanistan. He wanted a deployment that would get Canada deeper and deeper into the most troubled parts of the country, Lang and Stein say.
Martin did not want to fight in Afghanistan. That was Chrétien's war and Martin wanted no part of it. Martin wanted Canada in Darfur and Haiti. Hillier and the Defence Department thought that was a dumb idea and a waste of resources.
Martin was a strong proponent of the "responsibility to protect" doctrine of the United Nations. Martin also believed in peacekeeping and felt that Hillier's combat tactics in Afghanistan would make Canada lose the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans.
The Department of Defence and Hillier fought Martin on Darfur and the "responsibility to protect" all the way. Defence and Hillier wanted combat troops in Afghanistan.
Hillier told Martin that when Martin said no to the ballistic missile defence scheme, he had ticked off the Americans, already unhappy about Chrétien saying no to a Canadian military operation in Iraq. Hillier said the Pentagon and the Americans would like his plans for Afghanistan.
It seems that Lang and Stein are saying that Canadian history will designate Hillier as the father of the Afghanistan mission. Hillier made a one-man push for an Afghanistan mission, Lang and Stein say. Hillier's charm and charisma gave him the tools to make Martin cave in to the U.S. military and give up on Darfur and Haiti.
Hillier outfoxed Martin on Afghanistan. Hillier didn't have to outfox Harper. Harper was pro-Pentagon and pro-Bush. Stephen Harper agreed with Hillier.
Now, says Lang, Hillier has turned Afghanistan into a bitter war with no end in sight. The heavy Canadian casualties in Afghanistan will continue because of Hillier, Lang and Stein say.
Rick Hillier as the father of the Afghanistan war is a pretty important thesis. It's plausible. It also makes the war in Afghanistan an even trickier problem for Harper than it already appeared.
The war in Afghanistan is the only thing standing in the way of a majority government for Harper. Quebec wants no part of the Afghanistan war, nor do Ontario, nor Canada's big cities. The Hillier story is not really helping Harper with Afghanistan.
It is fair to say that Hillier has wielded too much power in the Harper government. Hillier does not know how to respect his political bosses and Hillier undermined former defence minister Gordon O'Connor. This same O'Connor was recently praised by J.L. Granatstein, the historian, as the defence minister who revived the Canadian armed forces. This lavish praise for O'Connor was a Granatstein rebuke for Hillier.
It's interesting to note that when Martin said Canada wouldn't support the U.S. ballistic missile defence system, Hillier came up with his Afghanistan plan to make the Pentagon happy. Martin wasn't worried about the Pentagon, but Hillier was. If Harper is the most pro-American prime minister Canada has had in years, Hillier is the most pro-Pentagon chief of defence staff Canada has ever had.
Harper has to be careful with Hillier, who is loved by the troops in Afghanistan and the media. A wrong move by Harper could pull the whole Afghanistan mission down.
This Hillier story is the most remarkable story to come down the pike for Harper in years.
Hillier refuses to talk to the media about the Fife story. Hillier is not granting any interviews. The father of the Afghanistan war is unusually quiet.
Hillier is too popular to be touched by Harper — the soldiers and the public like Hillier far more than they like Harper. That could explain the new quirky relationship between Hillier and the Prime Minister. Letting Hillier go on the brink of an election campaign would be real folly. Hillier's popularity could stop Harper from getting a majority government.
Trouble with Hillier
Defence chief may stand between Harper and majority government – and PM can do nothing about it
Oct. 11, 2007
Is Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier staying or going?
CTV News Ottawa bureau chief Robert Fife recently said an undisclosed source had told him that Hillier was not long for his job. Hillier, Fife said early in October, would be gone by February '08.
Fife implied that Hillier was getting his walking papers because he had undermined his political bosses and had failed to change public opinion on the war in Afghanistan.
But in a press conference on the Hill on Oct. 3, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the reports were wrong and he gave Hillier a ringing endorsement as "an outstanding soldier."
"I just approved a pretty good rating for the Chief of the Defence Staff," Harper said.
The next day, Fife was back with his Hillier story. Then on CTV's Question Period, Craig Oliver could not stop talking about the Hillier story.
Eugene Lang's and Janice Gross Stein's book, The Unexpected War: Canada in Kandahar, sheds some light on what exactly is happening.
Lang, a former chief of staff for two Liberal defence ministers, and Stein, director of the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto and one of Canada's top academics, paint quite a portrait of Rick Hillier. Hillier, they say, is the main man responsible for the present mess in Afghanistan.
Stein and Lang say in the first weeks of Hillier's 2005 appointment as the new chief of defence staff, he "had secured from Martin's government the largest funding increase in a generation."
"Hillier had also persuaded the Martin government to set Canada on the path to a war in Afghanistan which no one, least of all Paul Martin, wanted or expected," Lang and Stein also say.
Hillier had been in office for only one month when he developed a plan for what he thought should be the nation's top defence priority — Afghanistan. He wanted a deployment that would get Canada deeper and deeper into the most troubled parts of the country, Lang and Stein say.
Martin did not want to fight in Afghanistan. That was Chrétien's war and Martin wanted no part of it. Martin wanted Canada in Darfur and Haiti. Hillier and the Defence Department thought that was a dumb idea and a waste of resources.
Martin was a strong proponent of the "responsibility to protect" doctrine of the United Nations. Martin also believed in peacekeeping and felt that Hillier's combat tactics in Afghanistan would make Canada lose the hearts and minds of ordinary Afghans.
The Department of Defence and Hillier fought Martin on Darfur and the "responsibility to protect" all the way. Defence and Hillier wanted combat troops in Afghanistan.
Hillier told Martin that when Martin said no to the ballistic missile defence scheme, he had ticked off the Americans, already unhappy about Chrétien saying no to a Canadian military operation in Iraq. Hillier said the Pentagon and the Americans would like his plans for Afghanistan.
It seems that Lang and Stein are saying that Canadian history will designate Hillier as the father of the Afghanistan mission. Hillier made a one-man push for an Afghanistan mission, Lang and Stein say. Hillier's charm and charisma gave him the tools to make Martin cave in to the U.S. military and give up on Darfur and Haiti.
Hillier outfoxed Martin on Afghanistan. Hillier didn't have to outfox Harper. Harper was pro-Pentagon and pro-Bush. Stephen Harper agreed with Hillier.
Now, says Lang, Hillier has turned Afghanistan into a bitter war with no end in sight. The heavy Canadian casualties in Afghanistan will continue because of Hillier, Lang and Stein say.
Rick Hillier as the father of the Afghanistan war is a pretty important thesis. It's plausible. It also makes the war in Afghanistan an even trickier problem for Harper than it already appeared.
The war in Afghanistan is the only thing standing in the way of a majority government for Harper. Quebec wants no part of the Afghanistan war, nor do Ontario, nor Canada's big cities. The Hillier story is not really helping Harper with Afghanistan.
It is fair to say that Hillier has wielded too much power in the Harper government. Hillier does not know how to respect his political bosses and Hillier undermined former defence minister Gordon O'Connor. This same O'Connor was recently praised by J.L. Granatstein, the historian, as the defence minister who revived the Canadian armed forces. This lavish praise for O'Connor was a Granatstein rebuke for Hillier.
It's interesting to note that when Martin said Canada wouldn't support the U.S. ballistic missile defence system, Hillier came up with his Afghanistan plan to make the Pentagon happy. Martin wasn't worried about the Pentagon, but Hillier was. If Harper is the most pro-American prime minister Canada has had in years, Hillier is the most pro-Pentagon chief of defence staff Canada has ever had.
Harper has to be careful with Hillier, who is loved by the troops in Afghanistan and the media. A wrong move by Harper could pull the whole Afghanistan mission down.
This Hillier story is the most remarkable story to come down the pike for Harper in years.
Hillier refuses to talk to the media about the Fife story. Hillier is not granting any interviews. The father of the Afghanistan war is unusually quiet.
Hillier is too popular to be touched by Harper — the soldiers and the public like Hillier far more than they like Harper. That could explain the new quirky relationship between Hillier and the Prime Minister. Letting Hillier go on the brink of an election campaign would be real folly. Hillier's popularity could stop Harper from getting a majority government.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
National security as a lame excuse!
This is a common strategy. The rights of el Maati, Nureddin, and Al Malki the subjects of the Iacobucci inquiry are similarly denied on the basis of national security. They will never hear the evidence against them and they will not be able to clear their name even though there is an inquiry in their name!
Rick Hillier is just using security as a cop-out. Attaran shows this to be the case by citing US practice. Amazing that in this case Canada is worse than the US. Harper being an admirer of the US should correct Hillier and tell him to imitate the US example!
Afghan detainee information ban infringes rights, says Ottawa professor
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 | 1:37 PM ET
CBC News
The man whose access to information requests first brought the Afghan detainee abuse scandal to light has harshly criticized Canada's top soldier over reports he's muzzling information, saying the alleged ban infringes on the rights of Canadians.
University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran said staff at the department that manages the requests have told him he won't receive the type of information he was granted last year.
"I've been told … that I would just get a whole bunch of blank paper, it would be heavily censored," he said Monday during an interview on CBC Radio's As It Happens.
University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran.
(CBC)
The Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier has ordered no documents related to detainees captured in Afghanistan be made public under the Access to Information Act. Hillier, the country's top soldier, said such disclosure could endanger Canadian military operations in Afghanistan, according to the report.
Detainee abuse became a national scandal earlier this year after documents revealed the military was not monitoring detainees who had been transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody. It was later alleged that some of those detainees were being mistreated.
Continue Article
The allegations first came to light after Attaran received the documents through an access to information request.
Attaran says the situation has changed in the past several months.
"We've seen the Department of National Defence and other departments like Foreign Affairs completely clamp down on what documents they're prepared to give to the Canadian public under the Access to Information Act," he said.
Attaran said Hillier and his advisers have ordered no information on Afghan detainees be released, even though decisions on what information is made public is supposed to be made by a civil servant working in each department.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
"The rights of Canadians to access information should be decided by civil servants applying the law," said Attaran. "It's inappropriate for a general and his staff to begin deciding what Canadians may see. That is a foot on the slippery slope of military officers running Canada."
Attaran questioned Hillier's argument that releasing information such as the number of detainees being held would risk soldiers' safety and undermine the mission.
"The number of detainees held by a country is not secret in other nations. The U.S. not only will tell you how many detainees in Guantanamo Bay, they'll give you their names, they'll give you their birthdates," he said.
"Other countries are not so lumbered with secrecy as Canada has become."
Since the beginning of May, the U.S. military has issued 25 media releases detailing the capture of at least 100 Afghan prisoners.
The information is posted on a U.S. army website, with details of the captures, including where they occurred, the number and type of weapons seized, and information about the prisoners, such as rank, and sometimes even names.
Attaran said the alleged information ban in Canada is so extensive that the detainee abuse scandal wouldn't have come to light if it had been in place when he made his earlier request.
"I think the objective is to prevent further scandal," he said.
"That's a law under which any Canadian can insist on receiving certain types of information. It’s a legal right of Canadians and unfortunately that legal right is evaporating at a shocking speed."
Rick Hillier is just using security as a cop-out. Attaran shows this to be the case by citing US practice. Amazing that in this case Canada is worse than the US. Harper being an admirer of the US should correct Hillier and tell him to imitate the US example!
Afghan detainee information ban infringes rights, says Ottawa professor
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 | 1:37 PM ET
CBC News
The man whose access to information requests first brought the Afghan detainee abuse scandal to light has harshly criticized Canada's top soldier over reports he's muzzling information, saying the alleged ban infringes on the rights of Canadians.
University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran said staff at the department that manages the requests have told him he won't receive the type of information he was granted last year.
"I've been told … that I would just get a whole bunch of blank paper, it would be heavily censored," he said Monday during an interview on CBC Radio's As It Happens.
University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran.
(CBC)
The Globe and Mail reported on Monday that Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier has ordered no documents related to detainees captured in Afghanistan be made public under the Access to Information Act. Hillier, the country's top soldier, said such disclosure could endanger Canadian military operations in Afghanistan, according to the report.
Detainee abuse became a national scandal earlier this year after documents revealed the military was not monitoring detainees who had been transferred from Canadian to Afghan custody. It was later alleged that some of those detainees were being mistreated.
Continue Article
The allegations first came to light after Attaran received the documents through an access to information request.
Attaran says the situation has changed in the past several months.
"We've seen the Department of National Defence and other departments like Foreign Affairs completely clamp down on what documents they're prepared to give to the Canadian public under the Access to Information Act," he said.
Attaran said Hillier and his advisers have ordered no information on Afghan detainees be released, even though decisions on what information is made public is supposed to be made by a civil servant working in each department.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier.
(Tom Hanson/Canadian Press)
"The rights of Canadians to access information should be decided by civil servants applying the law," said Attaran. "It's inappropriate for a general and his staff to begin deciding what Canadians may see. That is a foot on the slippery slope of military officers running Canada."
Attaran questioned Hillier's argument that releasing information such as the number of detainees being held would risk soldiers' safety and undermine the mission.
"The number of detainees held by a country is not secret in other nations. The U.S. not only will tell you how many detainees in Guantanamo Bay, they'll give you their names, they'll give you their birthdates," he said.
"Other countries are not so lumbered with secrecy as Canada has become."
Since the beginning of May, the U.S. military has issued 25 media releases detailing the capture of at least 100 Afghan prisoners.
The information is posted on a U.S. army website, with details of the captures, including where they occurred, the number and type of weapons seized, and information about the prisoners, such as rank, and sometimes even names.
Attaran said the alleged information ban in Canada is so extensive that the detainee abuse scandal wouldn't have come to light if it had been in place when he made his earlier request.
"I think the objective is to prevent further scandal," he said.
"That's a law under which any Canadian can insist on receiving certain types of information. It’s a legal right of Canadians and unfortunately that legal right is evaporating at a shocking speed."
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