MATTHEWGOODONLINE

It’s a beautiful day here in the city of Toronto, who wouldn’t get up early to enjoy it?

Man, beaten to the punch on a Saturday morning!

Thanks to all who supported me last week. I’ll keep results short and by the numbers.

42 km
+$4,300 for Right To Play
$700 for the Colo rectal Cancer Society Of Canada
+50 pairs of shoes for Shoes for Malawi
Two sore knees
1 Happy Irish-Canadian Veteran
An infinite number of thank yous to those that made it worth while.

Nobody asked me, but should we be more careful about letting these Generals self-promote themselves to rock star status?

(That statement holds particular allure to me given the owner of this site…)

I speak specifically to ex-general turned Liberal Senator and anti-patriot Romeo Dallaire and his comments stating that if Canada doesn’t speak out to the imprisonment of Omar Khadr, in Guantanamo Bay and bring him home then Canada is no better than terrorists.

HE SAID WHAT!?!

He can’t say that! Canada terrorists?

How can this be? We can’t have Generals going off half-cocked and saying whatever they want! We can’t have them speaking this plainly in the press! The Canadian people can’t handle this straight talking, tell-it like it is opinion.

After all, what would the scumbags think?

Now, this dripping sarcasm is not to suggest that either General is correct.

It’s also not to suggest that our Generals, whose experience is significant should sit entirely mute either.

However, when they do venture into hyperbole, they should be careful that they are not being used as leverage by their political counterparts. When was the last time you saw a soldier type win on the TV show Survivor.

Soldiers do speak plainly. They have experience to share and their warnings and recommendations should always be considered before acting as a nation on foreign affairs that involve forces they’ve been entrusted to lead. However those recommendations should be tempered with prudence.

As there are those that will seek those sound bites of experience and advice and use it as all knowing and infallible proof that there is no other option. See Hillier moving our mission from Kabul back to Kandahar and getting the mission extended to a minimum of 2011.

Look, I respect everything Dallaire went through in Africa. I think for an officer whose hands were tied, he accomplished a tremendous amount of good. He brought awareness to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and helped improve the quality of life for serving personnel from overseas.

That said, we should be careful of allowing ourselves to be romanced by cinema and best-selling novels. Not everything the ex-general says appears to sing from the same script.

This isn’t the first time Romeo Dallaire hasn’t painted himself into a political corner. He was once called out on it by another media darling General too!

Here’s an editorial by Dallaire’s friendly nemesis from the 90’s Lewis Mackenzie, it makes some valid points.

Roméo, Roméo, wherefore art thou partisan?

It’s hard to watch someone whose name is linked to our failure in Rwanda argue that Canada’s response in Darfur is just fine, says retired major-general LEWIS Mackenzie

LEWIS MACKENZIE
May 19, 2005

It’s no secret that Roméo Dallaire and I have some profound differences of opinion regarding the role and capabilities — or lack thereof — of the United Nations when it comes to fulfilling its primary responsibility: to enhance international peace and security. After his experience in Rwanda, I wasn’t prepared to debate our differences in public, lest it exacerbate his fragile state of mind. Now that he has eagerly accepted a partisan appointment as a Liberal senator, however, one can reasonably assume that he will be able to cope with deserved criticism.

In the past few days, we have witnessed the sad spectacle of Senator Dallaire arguing with his own oft-stated previous position regarding the appropriate action to be taken in the Sudanese region of Darfur. It has been widely reported that Mr. Dallaire met independent MP David Kilgour in an attempt to convince him that the government’s plan to dispatch a mere 100 unarmed Canadian observers and advisers to the area would be not only adequate but the best policy for Canada. The senator opined that any attempt to dispatch thousands of white troops from NATO countries (as Mr. Kilgour wisely suggested) would exacerbate the situation in Darfur, because the Khartoum government would not be happy to see such troops cross their borders.

This flies directly in the face of Mr. Dallaire’s own pronouncements made over the decade since his return from Rwanda — namely, that a mere 2,500 well-trained NATO troops would have prevented the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans! Now that Prime Minister Paul Martin has offered up a token Canadian military contingent for Sudan, Mr. Dallaire has done an about-face: He has decided that a tough, disciplined and well-led force protecting Darfur’s innocent victims would be a bad idea! Go figure.
Mr. Dallaire has suggested on numerous occasions that the West did not respond to the genocide in Rwanda because of underlying racism. This inflammatory comment is blatantly untrue. Since 1956, the United Nations has conducted more peacekeeping missions in Africa than on all the other continents combined. Further evidence that the UN has paid close attention to Africa is the fact that more UN peacekeepers have been killed in Africa than on any other continent.

Distasteful as it is to admit, the members of the UN, including Canada, turned their backs on Rwanda because there were no perceived national self-interests at stake. The Security Council has been sitting on its hands for years regarding the situation in Darfur because of the national self-interests (oil) of at least two, and perhaps three, of the Security Council’s veto-holding permanent five members (France, China and Russia)…

…To suggest, as Mr. Dallaire has done, that the African Union’s modest and ill-equipped force can successfully operate in an area the size of France and bring deadly force to bear to stop the killing in Darfur — and that a few unarmed Canadian observers and advisers will make them even more effective — is naive in the extreme.

The situation cries out now (as it has for years) for rough, tough, professional soldiers to take on the goons, cowards, rebels and militias who are doing the raping and murder. The two sides in the conflict, the Darfur rebels and the government-supported militias, who share the blame for the chaos, don’t have to be defeated — at this time.

Only then, when the killing of innocents has stopped, can the diplomatic process have a chance and the NGOs return to help rebuild the society. The West could have saved Rwanda. It should move now to save what is left of Darfur’s innocents. It was hard to watch Mr. Dallaire standing behind the Prime Minister during a press scrum waiting for the cue to leap to the microphone — swallowing his pride and endorsing Canada’s pathetic response to the genocide in Darfur as the “best solution.” If he really believes this, I have some waterfront property by the Sydney tar ponds that I’ll sell him.

It should be mentioned that Lewis Mackenzie had his fair share of criticism and press for his role in the former Yugoslavia in the 90s is now used by many major Canadian news outlets as a resident expert.

Who doesn’t enjoy the political debating often left for mess clubs on bases being brought to the real life stage in our nation’s mainstream press?

Is it prudent and wise that we allow the sound stage to our Generals, retired and active?

These are men used to attaining great praise and responsibility - at what point do we differentiate between straight talk versus egotistical bravado?

Even if what they have to say is of merit, can we trust it won’t be used as leverage for partisan politics or biased mainstream media outlets?

Is it a greater folly to have their no-nonsense advice muted?

Am I not guilty of the same then?

Have a great weekend, enjoy it.

Now Playing:
iunes: Living In Paradise - Elvis Costello

The rain is holding off in the great city of Toronto and we are officially in the short strokes until Matthew Good returns to Ontario and Massey Hall.

This time he’s doing the full band thing, you’ve got to be looking forward to that.

Keep your eyes peeled for another meet and greet prior to the show. The one that was held before the acoustic show was a good go, and allowed an opportunity for members of the matthewgood.org community to get to know each other beyond their nerdy handles and gravatars.

Also my thanks to so many who have been donating generously to my running in the Mississauga Marathon and fundraising for Right To Play.

I have some announcements to make in the coming week with respect to motivating others to donate, or rewarding those that already have. It has a lot to do with what I just mentioned above.

However, please do go check out the site that the good folks at Right To Play have set up.

The reason why I chose this charity and continue to raise awareness about it is two fold.

1. I’ve seen child soldiers and they aren’t born that way. You give a child in a failed or failing state the choice or the opportunity to show them something other than violence they’ll take it. Sport and play does that.

2. What Right To Play does to educate young girls on having respect for their bodies is absolutely fantastic. The way in which Right To Play courageously enters these troubled regions, and empowers children through something as simple as play makes you realize that the solution is so much simpler than many make it.

In many of these failed states local warlords get kids at such a young age. They train them and they indoctrinate them at such an early age to hate, and to kill. Many of those child soldiers never had a chance.

Ever seen that flick Blood Diamond with Leo DiCaprio. That’s the tip of the ice berg.

Can you imagine having never played? Never imagined? Never dreamed?

I’ve seen it. First hand.

Over there the idea of play is a foreign subject to so many children.

In ‘02 in Afghanistan I saw a group of 10 year olds and thought - in a couple years if I’m back here this kid might kill me or one of my friends.

Really, who could blame them for wanting to?

Help give them a choice, and please give.

Nobody asked me, but I can’t get this retiring Hillier thing off my mind.

About a week or so ago I did a post on former CDS General (retired) Rick Hillier retiring. It was rather sudden and many have been wondering why go to all that work to get the CF extended in Afghanistan and then leave the troubles to a successor.

One can’t help but speculate.

I mean obviously he was waiting for some of the political waters to quell. After all the liberals were looking for an opportunity to take advantage of a floundering conservative government, but they couldn’t must up any leader of their own to challenge.

Than it occurred to me - Jesus - is Ranger Rick considering running for PM? Scott Taylor recounts something unnerving.

From coast to coast, editorialists were hailing Hillier’s achievements and bemoaning his imminent departure. And after his announcement, the general continued his tireless charm offensive against the habitually cynical press corps. Relaxed, confident and oozing self-deprecating Newfoundlander down-home charm, Hillier had the media once again eating out of his hand.

In providing my own analysis for a TV network of what the Big Cod’s departure would mean for the Canadian Forces, I engaged in conversation with several cameramen and technicians. “If Hillier ever decides to run for prime minister, he’s got my vote,” said one of the techies, and this was echoed by a chorus of “Mine too” from the others. When I asked them which political party the general should lead, their answer was immediate: “Who cares?”

Taylor goes on to remind many that while recruitment may be up, and the budget for the military may have been expanded - retention is down and the balancing of some of the major purchases and extension in operations will be challenging to say the least.

Let’s hope common sense prevails should Hillier seek leadership as Prime Minister.

Have a great weekend, where ever you are enjoy it.

Now Playing:
itunes:You and Me - Neil Young

Wow.

It truly is a beautiful day in the city of Toronto. The sun is shining, the Jays are soaring! And controversial Generals are retiring?

In Ottawa, Canada’s outspoken Chief Of Defence of Staff, Rick Hillier, a.k.a. “Ranger Rick”, a.ka. “Big Cod”, will not have his tenure extended beyond July 1 2008.

Nobody asked me, and nobody told me, but considering the past year this is a bit of a surprise.

The native of Newfoundland and Labrador has been in the job since February 2005, appointed by former prime minister Paul Martin. The role doesn’t have a defined length, but the average tenure is three to five years…Hillier had been a strong advocate of Canada’s military intervention in Afghanistan and is said to have been the driving force behind an increased Canadian military presence in Kandahar province.

Last October, it was reported that the Conservatives were seeking to push the outspoken senior military commander out of his job.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper denied the report, praising Hillier as an outstanding soldier and saying there had been no discussion about the possibility of changing the chief of defence staff.

Hillier had also said then his work as defence chief was unfinished.

“I love being a soldier,” Hillier said in October. “I still have things to do here in the immediate future, and I intend to do them.”

Hillier has been known for his blunt talk, making headlines, for example, when he referred to the Taliban as “detestable murderers and scumbags.”

Outspoken for a Canadian General and admired by a great deal of the ranks for just that. He was also perceived as not being easily controlled by politicians on all sides. He was able to lobby for increased spending on the CF after the budget cuts in the 90’s. He restructured the command of the entire Canadian Forces.

He was equally criticized by those who felt he was too influential in the public with respect to Canada’s presence. His stance on transfer of detainees and pushing to have Canadians move into the volatile southern region of Afghanistan has made more than its ripples in the headlines.

Let’s face it, if he was asked to retire someone didn’t like the job he was doing.

If he chose to retire, what didn’t he like that would cause him to change his mind from what he said back in October when asked if he’d step down.

Gen. Hillier says he’s 100 per cent focused on his job, has no plans to leave his post at this time, and that he’s received no word the government is planning to end his term.

“Truthfully, I look at it this way,” Hillier told reporters after a luncheon in Ottawa on Wednesday.

“I’m the chief of defence staff. We’re into a pretty intense period of operations in our country right now, and for me to be focused on anything but looking after Canada’s sons and daughters and meeting my responsibility to Canada’s moms and dads, would be wrong. So I’m 100 per cent focused on that.”

He pointed out that his position is not subject to a three-year term. Instead, he serves at the pleasure of the prime minister for as long as both parties feel it is appropriate

Hmmmm.

Why is he retiring? Although not ahead of schedule, one has to wonder why such a motivated individual wouldn’t have stayed on longer. Especially after the mission had been extended at least until 2011. Especially after Canadian troops had been promised US support in the southern region of Afghanistan.

Or maybe the reason lies in those details.

Chances are Rick will seek employment in politics (more so even) the day after he retires. Many questions are unanswered, and many of them will remain unanswered.

Does this have anything to do with the flak he received on dealing with detainees?

Was he too involved in Afghanistan and not any of the other facets of the CF’s responsibilities such as sovereignty?

What will he do next?

In the archives you’ll find a post where I once discussed what peoples’ opinions of the General were, and the opinions crossed the spectrum.

It’s probably too early to tell, but this will probably get interesting before it gets boring.

Stay tuned.

Now Playing
itunes: Wyclef Jean - The Carnival

It is the holiday season here in the great city of Toronto. There is no boxing on TV, my hockey team sucks, and baseball’s scandalous Mitchell Report hardly has me salivating for the new season. So without further delay,

Nobody asked me but -

What’s the tab again for those tanks we got from the Germans to work in Afghanistan?

Earlier this week a Canadian Leopard 2A6M was destroyed by either a conventional land mine or an IED in S. Afghanistan. Injuries sustained by operators of the armored track were minimal - if you consider a broken hip minimal. Though I suppose that’s better than what happened to those poor guys in the Nyala back in the summer.

The tank itself was a mobility kill and rendered damaged beyond repair.

While tanks are being used in Afghanistan in a different fashion than the failed Soviets’ tactics decades earlier, their mobility for protection still reduces their overall versatility in the mountainous and semi-urban villages in S. Afghanistan.

So we, or I should say, our Dept. Of National Defence, didn’t exactly purchase 20 of the Leopards from the Germans.

They were loaned to us - for nothing.

No rent. No lease.

Just return them as we got them.

In perfect condition.

After being in a war torn country for an indefinite time period.

That’s a better deal than Mazda offered me.

Hell, that’s a better deal than a library!

Those Germans are great. And yet, despite them having 50% more troops in Afghanistan than us and giving us 20 tanks (that are arguably the best in the world - better than the M1 Abrams), and despite them picking up some of the slack in Kosovo that we left behind when we took on the tour of the month, we still find ways to say that other NATO nations like them should step up a commitment to the region.

Tankers in Canada’s military have been a tank-less job in recent years…sorry I couldn’t resist.

Back in 2004 CDS General Hillier declared our original Leopard I’s as obsolete - and they were.

We were going to be an all wheeled army, fighting from the LAV III, and sticking everything on that chassis from mortars, to ADAT’s turrets, to 105mm barrels to Rick Mercer and Don Cherry.

We put the ol’ leopards to rest along with our tracked m109 155MM self propelled howitzers. With the change in equipment came change in tactics.

As for all the tankers in the army - we’d re-muster them as reconnaissance squadrons.

Wow, to go from mobility and the iron fist of a conventional army to the search and touch role. Sure sounds easy.

Then Sie Germans gave us those SUPER Leopard tanks and General Hillier said, “DEAL”.

Iltisis and LAV III’s and even NAYLA’s were getting taken out by better positioned IED’s, so mobility for armor was a good idea.

Plus our old tanks didn’t have AC and you can imagine how that’d suck in the desert in the summer, under a flack jacket in a hot metal container.

So to keep pace with our “loaners” from Sie Germans, we also purchased 100 tanks from the Dutch. There has been rumor as well of reacquiring some tracked howitzers? Guess from who?

SIE GERMANS! Possibly the Panzer Howitzer, and maybe that is just gossip, but hey it is a modern piece of kit.

But what about the wheels? What about speed for protection?

What about not having an operation or even our equipment dictate policy and defence spending? What about the aircraft we purchased? And what about the armed icebreakers we need to get to the north to knock over Dutch flags on Canadian land?

Wasn’t sovereignty critical? Is it a good idea to buy tanks from the country that is sticking flags on our soil?

Dutch versus Canada - not exactly Frazier and Ali - but a fair fight when you really think about it.

But I digress:

To quote Scott Taylor:

In a famine-to-feast reversal, Canada has gone from the brink of becoming a tankless army to one possessing a widely varied fleet of four different generations of Leopards scattered over three continents.

From our experience in Kandahar, the combination of armoured protection and heavy firepower has proven that main battle tanks still have a place on the modern counter-insurgency battlefield. That being said, it is imperative that Canada develops some form of long-term plan to upgrade and maintain our hastily acquired new tanks.

I’ll be a little more brief:

We got to get some shit together topside - otherwise a tangible and foreseeable end state is nowhere in the near future.

Hey, this little guy should be just old enough to fire a weapon and be pissed off now.

Have A Merry whatever you celebrate, and my hopes and prayers to those serving overseas that you and your families find some joy in your separation this very tough time of year. May you find peace and love from the void.

Now Playing:

Itunes: David Gray - Life in Slow Motion
Book: Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns”

It’s Saturday morning. It is a reasonably attractive day in the lovely city of Toronto.

I kid! It is beautiful here, as always. I mean, it’s outstanding outside. Get outside and take a drive out to wine country if you can.

It’s got to be good to go - because this is the Saturday morning hangover post. From the “Aki Berg” of the authors on this site. Lowering the standard of writing of matthewgood.org and challenging even the most sophisticated sppell checking programs the administrator can provide - one post at a time!

Aki is no Zoolander.

Seriously, check out Roy’s post about Turkey and the US government’s balking on acknowledgment of the Armenian genocide.

Fantastic stuff, take a bow Roy, you gravel tech. Help yourself to a burrito.

Last night I invoked my democratic right to rock out and profess my white trashiness with Van Halen down at the Hanger. I was tempted to sport mullet for the affair considering it was in fact, Van Halen and not Van Hagar, but I showed restraint and simply wore a St. Pat’s cap.

Let’s move out of the trash and into the treasure though.

Matthew Good continues his conquest of the PROUD country of Canada!

(That one’s for you Umdesch.)

This guy works very hard, right? I mean that’s a pretty steady pace - from Vic to PEI in under a month!

He’s already out on the east coast! He’s been hitting every major and minor city (and Buffalo) and it’s only been a month! All the while keeping the site up to date. That is dedication folks.

He’s definitely not a government employee. I’d be beat from that pace - and I run marathons!

This isn’t a tour, this is an epic quest!

He’s been attacked by patios and church goers too.

Bilbo Baggins never got attacked by patios.

There’s still the CASBY’s (Canadian Artists Selected By You) Where Matthew Good is up for a couple awards - and will be performing if memory serves me.

And then he plays a sold out Massey Hall.

Massey Hall folks.

I mean Massey Hall is huge in Toronto. The acts that have come through this historic venue is a who’s who in entertainment and art.

Massey Hall was the site of the legendary Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie concert recorded as Jazz at Massey Hall in May 1953. Accompanying Gillespie and Parker in this acoustically sound hall were Bud Powell, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus.

Many famous figures have stood on the broad stage of this stately hall, including Winston Churchill, Enrico Caruso, Luciano Pavarotti, Sir Edward Elgar, Toscanini, George Gershwin, Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould, the Dalai Lama, Maria Callas, and many more. The hall has also hosted more contemporary entertainers and public figures, including Hawksley Workman, Tori Amos, Our Lady Peace, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Arcade Fire, Gordon Lightfoot, Rush, the Smashing Pumpkins, James Brown, Aerosmith, Eric Clapton and Cream, Moxy, Ryan Adams, Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper, Diana Krall, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, U2, David Gilmour, Barenaked Ladies, The Whitlams, Great Big Sea, Dream Theater, Sigur Rós, Alanis Morissette, comedians Margaret Cho, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Dave Chappelle and many more.

They used to have performances for Royalty there. (No truth to the rumour that King George or Churchill talked during acoustic performances.)

So it’s a good time to get fired up around here.

So fired up that I think we should spill the beans!

What?

Oh yeah, I’m letting the cat outta the bag matthewgood.org.

Now I know that Vancouver is Matt’s town.

I love Van. I saw him play there almost 2 years ago to the day. It was great - and the city provided no shortage of fond memories. Ask - I have stories.

So we’re going to repay that favour in the lovely city of Toronto. We need to do this in style.

We need a place. We need some friends. We need to get fired up for the show.

We are gonna do - a Pre- Matthew Good at Massey Hall get-together.

It’s an idea whose time has come.

If you’re in the area come on down. Even if you couldn’t get to the show because it sold out so fast, come on down.

Because you know who’s gonna come out for it?

We got the Lovely Blogger and Toronto fixture - Raymi the Minx:

And if you wanna talk loyalty and a fan. This is a fanatic. All the way from Los Angeles - writer and editor for LAist - Tony Pierce is flying out to Toronto too!

So that should be a good get together.

We’ll get a place at the the Library Pub.

We’ll go and meet some new people, make friends, hump legs and we’ll talk some Matt Good and then hit the show at Massey - and it’ll be a good chance to meet some people and put faces to the names we see around here.

Because in my opinion what makes this site so good, isn’t just the authors or the great content, but some of the great comments and personalities in the streams too.

Okay, Pitt, it’s been a slow week in the military so you gotta get some filler out - we read ya, so let’s just keep running with this Matthew Good love in.

Can’t do it.

I was going to comment on the broo ha ha that was the potential exit of our current CDS - General Rick Hillier - but it really is much ado about nothing at this point.

He’s gonna stay beyond what is a standard CDS three year tenure.

He’ll remain “at the pleasure of the government”, and because he is so popular with the Canadian public - that will likely be for some time.

He’ll continue to be associated with the progress and determination to remain in Afghanistan.

He is not as widely known for blowing up the command structure of the CF as a whole - resulting in the 4 distinct command elements.

He invoked a physical fitness standard for the Reserve force.

(WHAT PITT? THE RESERVES DIDN’T HAVE A MANDATORY FITNESS REQUIREMENT?!?! Not really no. Not unless under a specific contract. Shocking.)

Soldiers seem to like him. He comes across as blunt and doesn’t mince words - an officer for the boys from the East Coast. He holds a certain Chuck Norris mystique for some. ( For example, “Rick Hillier doesn’t get wet - water gets Rick Hillier”).

He’ll be known for his trips overseas with a circus of Hockey Players and Comedians.

He’ll be known for referring to terrorists as scum bags.

Maybe he’ll be remembered for his handling of detainees by the CF overseas.

He’ll be known for keeping his job when O’Connor didn’t.

Bottom line - he’ll be remembered - like him or hate him.

Agree with him or not.

The fact of the matter is this: You know who he is. And that my loyal (read bored) 3 fans and that guy who likes to hate mail me - is why Ranger Rick is going nowhere soon. Please get comfortable.

Because I doubt you can recall Baril or Henault.

Who?

Exactly.

HEY! I just commented on broo ha ha.

Other than that it’s been a light week. So if you want to discuss your thoughts on the top General of our Forces we can do that.

Do you think he’s been a good CDS? If not, and if he’s sticking around, what has he got to do to win you over?

Has he been to visible? Has he overstepped his boundaries?

Who should be his successor? I mean usually you go Army, Navy, Airforce - but some think the job should go to General Leslie.

They don’t have to give it to an admiral.

Should the CDS be more behind the scenes - more of a facilitator of the bureaucracy between the Forces and the Minister of National Defence, his civilian counterpart?

Should his focus be troops or foreign policy? What’s the balance of those priorities when you’re the top ranked soldier?

These are critical questions because they will have an impact on what happens overseas in the next few years.

Or maybe you just want to stay on the Matt Good tour love in. That’s fine by me!

I’m looking forward to Oct 26th - I can’t wait to hear and see what the rest of the country has been getting a chance at hearing live!

If you want to talk hockey and Mats Sundin - I’ll definitely go there. He’s no Aki Berg - but I’ll go there.

Oh and Evander Holyfield - 44 - fights in Moscow today. Can you speak?

Have a great weekend regardless! Enjoy it!

Now Playing:
itunes: Matthew Good - In A Coma
Book: Essays Moral and Political - David Hume
I like polygamy
PS2: NHL 08
DVD: The Last King Of Scotland

I remember saying that to Matt on the phone about a year ago.

Think about it. Under what conditions is the premise, that is the title of this post, moot?

Read it again. Out loud if necessary. Because it is a nigh undeniable truth.

We will win every fire fight.

So what? (more…)

The issue of Canadian forces rendering detainees to Afghan authorities known for their use of torture heated up again today as The Globe & Mail continued to delve into the complicity of high ranking Canadian officials with regards to their knowledge of such practices or unwillingness to ensure that detainees being transferred were being treated properly.

According to the Globe…

“The Department of Foreign Affairs was pushed to the sidelines when Canada struck its detainee-transfer deal in Afghanistan, two senior government sources have told The Globe and Mail.

“We were not consulted,” said one, adding that Foreign Affairs was shunted aside by the Department of National Defence and Canada’s top soldier, Rick Hillier, when he signed the accord in 2005. The deal has become mired in controversy because it includes no follow-up role for Canada on the fate of detainees in Afghanistan’s notoriously brutal prison system.

Another senior foreign-service officer gave a longer explanation: “Hillier went to Kabul thinking of them [the detainees] as ‘scumbags’ and made the deal. Hillier wanted to sign it; he insisted on signing it,” he said. “Defence took the file and messed it up.”

The comment played off a remark General Hillier, Chief of the Defence Staff, made in July, 2005, when he set off a national debate by referring to the Taliban as “detestable murderers and scumbags.”

It should, for purposes of objectivity, be stated at this point that at the time the government of Paul Martin was in power, not that of Stephen Harper.

The article continues…

“Some of the backlash from Foreign Affair officials is a response to a harsh condemnation of them by a defence official last week, who said they were too busy eating canapés to rally to embattled Defence Minster Gordon O’Connor under fire for the detainee-transfer agreement.

“The bureaucrats at Foreign Affairs resisted getting stuck with this issue,” a defence source said. “They don’t want this hornet’s nest. They are happy going to their cocktail parties and eating little shrimps.”

One angry diplomat said the Defence Department seemed to have forgotten Glyn Berry, the diplomat killed in a Taliban suicide attack soon after Canadian Forces moved into Kandahar.

Now the interdepartmental spitting match has spread to include the matter of whether Gen. Hillier included, or should have included, Foreign Affairs in his original deal-making.

The Foreign Affairs source said the department did have concerns about the Hillier deal, particularly with respect to the level of monitoring of detainees that Canada would be allowed.

“Check the comparative assurances that the Dutch, for example, had compared to what we had. They had a higher level of oversight,” he said.

The Dutch agreement, negotiated within weeks of the Canadian deal, allows for both Dutch diplomats and Dutch military officers to make unlimited follow-up visits of transferred prisoners to ensure they aren’t tortured or abused or made to disappear; all of which occur in Afghan prisons.

The Defence officials who helped draft the Canadian agreement included then-judge-advocate-general Jerry Pitzul, a major-general, and a colonel on his staff, both of whom had experience in the laws of war and international humanitarian law, said a source involved with the discussions. Although the agreement did not include the right of Canadians to directly monitor detainees transferred to Afghan control, the military argued that it was not practical for the Canadian Forces to monitor detainees on the ground, because they did not have the capacity to carry out the task.”

Today the Prime Minister defended Hillier in the House of Commons stating…

“The information I have would indicate that General Hillier is correct and The Globe and Mail is wrong,” he said.

“It’s my understanding that such an agreement had to be discussed and approved by the ministers of the day in the Liberal Cabinet.”

NDP Defense critic Dawn Black commented during today’s question period…

“It’s impossible to get to the bottom of really who’s responsible. The issue is not how it was signed any more, or when it was signed, under whose authority. The issue is human rights, the allegations of torture and abuse, the fact that we should not be transferring now detainees over to Afghan authorities until we can ascertain for sure that they’re not in danger of being tortured and abused. That’s the issue.”

Her statement would be the most pragmatic point raised in the House today without question. But it should also be noted that…

“During Commons debate, the Liberals accused Mr. Harper of misleading the House of Commons over the alleged torture of Afghan detainees.

Mr. Harper told the House on Tuesday that Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day disclosed information last week regarding Corrections Canada reports alleging detainee torture, citing Commons transcript as proof.

But a review of the transcript of Mr. Day’s comments shows no mention of the corrections officers reporting allegations of torture.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion noted that the first time anyone heard about the reports was on Monday, when Mr. Day was pressed by journalists.

The issue of whether Canadian officials reported torture claims is key to the federal government’s defence in a lawsuit by human rights groups, which seeks to halt the transfer of captured insurgents to Afghan authorities.

Calls for Mr. Harper to sack Mr. O’Connor met brisk resistance from the Harper Government, although Mr. O’Connor again spent most of Question Period silent as other government members parried Opposition blows.

“The Minister of Defence is undertaking very important action on behalf of the Canadian military, rebuilding our Canadian military after years of neglect and denigration by the party opposite,” Mr. Harper said.

“The Minister of National Defence and all ministers of this government are strong defenders of the Canadian military, unlike the party opposite, and we’re proud of it.”

But Mr. Dion said the Government was doing anything but supporting the troops through its recent actions.

“It’s when you maintain an incompetent minister, it’s when you see seniors officials contradicting themselves in the media, and there’s chaos on the government side, that’s when you’re not supporting your troops,” Mr. Dion said.”

Spin Doctoring

So where is Hillier while all of this is transpiring? He’s in Afghanistan with The Stanley Cup and 19 former NHL players who plan to play a couple of ball hockey games with the troops.

Questioned about the debate transpiring back home, Hillier did what those in his position and profession always do within the context of a society in which the military considers itself above repraoch, he attempted to make it an issue about not supporting Canadian troops, some of whom, he claimed, are ‘pissed off’ that what is transpiring in Canada to do with this scandal is detracting from the ‘positive aspects’ of their mission. Of course, Hillier’s representation of the situation is the only representation available to the public regarding their feelings.

Attempts to defuse this situation have been both swift and monumental. Today Hillier met with the governor of Kandahar who expressed his ‘frustration’ with how the information reaching Canadians about the abuses were not ‘the straight facts’. The governor’s statement thus calls into question the validity of the interviews conducted by the Globe & Mail’s Graeme Smith with some thirty detainees that conveyed to him stories of torture at the hands of Afghan authorities.

So who’s lying here? The Globe? Smith? The detainees? Or a member of an ineffectual government that knows it needs NATO to remain in the country for not only their own protection, but the protection of agreements that they have made with the West regarding Afghanistan’s future that, in no small part, helped them into power?

The Straight Goods

General Rick Hillier can, for all intents and purposes, jump off a bridge as far as I am concerned. Because the last time I checked, he worked for me and the other 30 some odd million Canadians that inhabit this nation – not the other way around.

What has taken place is of monumental importance and Canadians should be discussing it, and without their ability to do so being condemned as ‘not supporting the troops’. The members of our armed forces are in Afghanistan because of policy, and it’s the policy behind their deployment that is the issue, no matter which government initiated it or supports it.

That is democracy. The military leadership, like those appointed by the Prime Minister to key roles within his cabinet, are not above public scrutiny. For if they are, then this isn’t a democracy, we might as well stop pretending that that’s the case, and we shouldn’t be using the promotion of it in foreign locales as a justification for our military presence.