Tricky-Dick and the Taliban share a lot in common
It doesn’t matter who is governing, or even if his immediate Boss, Peter Mackay, as Defense Minister, supports him as no other, General Rick Hillier, our Defense Chief, appears to not miss an opportunity to undermine, or grandstand, or steal the limelight from his political masters whom he so obviously, and so unrepentantly, disdains.
No one has been a bigger supporter of the General than Mackay – and he looks foolish for doing so and now reveals what little control he exercises over his own Defense portfolio. Even if he wears the T-shirt, Mackay cannot get the General to shut up. Mackay has been relegated to a “yes man”, and shows no force of will at all.
It is Mackay as Hillier’s little salesman.
Rick Hillier’s recent comments at the Conference of Defense Associations where he stated that democratic debate back home represented a “window of extreme vulnerability” (in other words, debate leads to Taliban attacks), with his utterly incorrect suggestion that a recent suicide bombing was related to, or motivated by, domestic debate, was pure politics. Hillier’s behavior is what Don Cherry would call a “show boat”, or a “hot dog”.
The separation of church and state, and the division of powers between the civilian and the military, where civilians rule, are not principles embraced by the Taliban or, for that matter, Rick Hillier — at least when it comes to the latter.
For the Taliban, who are guided by a religious theocracy and tribal impulses, secular, civilian rule is the Devil. For Hillier, the Devil seems to be some form of Jack Layton and democratic public discourse. Moreover, Hillier has gone back in his rhetoric to the old canard of conflating the mission and policy with “support for the troops” — which is unpardonable; that kind of rhetoric leads to the political polarization of our military.
But Hillier does not care.
Despite the fact that a party with 30 percent of the vote can form a majority, and that most of the Tory votes are rural and most people live in cities, and that most military members do not come from cities or larger urban centers, there are natural fault lines with regard to culture, outlook, and politics. What Hillier is doing is selfish and ultimately counter-productive, and divisive.
When Hillier says that debate emboldens the enemy, and that Parliament must vote “overwhelmingly to support the troops”, he is playing politics with the military – the very thing he condemns in “civvies”.
No General should ever tell Parliament how to vote. It is a basic rule of our culture and it is one of the reasons why we fought and died in WW2. For Hillier, however, it is about military convenience and military expediency.
Democracy and public discourse is something to be barely tolerated for Rick Hillier who, time and again, has shown his disregard for Ottawa when it disagreed with him or has shown equivocation.
A democracy isn’t something that only counts when it agrees with you.
For some military types, a compliant dictatorship is preferable to a dissenting democracy. Another General, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned of such people.
And they have the nerve to call Layton “Taliban Jack.”
February 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am
First of all, I love your shows. I used to listen to them all the time when I drove around the province of NB as a sales rep. Now that I work in an office 9-5, I am unable to listen to your shows. Additionally, my employer does not allow us to stream on the internet. This is especially frustrating when know that you are going to be discussing a great topic or have a guest that I really want to hear. I am able to catch your repeats on the weekend, but that doesn’t guarantee that I’ll get to hear the show I sorely missed.
Have you or your employer ever considered making your shows (sans commercials) available for download as Podcasts? It would be great if I could download your shows and listen to them when I got home, or onto my iPod so I could listen to them wherever I went. This option is available with a growing number of news and radio outlets across the world, and I think it would be great if Rogers got in on it as well.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I’m torn on this one Andrew. YOu make a great point about the fallout from Hillier’s statement.
In my opinion he’s just doing his job. That is to protect our soldiers. If debate at home is causing the effect Hillier claims then he is duty-bound to do or say something about it. I believe him when he says the enemy is closely watching our political climate and the climate of our allies to determine wether they are making headway in the insurgency. All debate about the war should be done behind closed doors with the inclusinn of a war-cabinet or advisory council.
THe man is just doing his job. Considering the low number of Canadian casulties he is doing a good job at that.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
hillier’s rants may be just the oppertunity mackay needs to stay out of trouble with the puplic, by letting hillier make propoganda like statments it sdeflects the anti war supporters away from mackay and onto hillier.
as for full parlimentary support,I can only compare it to new nylons ,
just when you need them to look good they RUN.
peter peter pumpkin head
had a girl but then she fled
jumped into harpers bed
now he wishes he was red
February 27th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
peter its elizabeth , come home. if rick’s not going to play nice ,
then come home ,the dog is waiting at the neighbors.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
hi! Andrew,
great blog! I listen to your show as often as I can and as usual you are direct and most often correct in your assumptions. first of all, peter mackay is not credible. he has too often lied or neglected to tell everything unless forced too by the obvious truths being unveiled. far too often this government’s policies and direction is based on how many votes it will get them.
Hillier is sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong. He should do as his soldiers must,( do what your told and keep your mouths shut). yes, he is trying to get what he can for his troops. yes, the troops love him. Let’s face facts, troops are trained to fight and if we pull back in Afghanistan that opportunity is diminished.
I must say that I used tobe in favor of this action by our forces and think they are amongst the best in the world. they are to be supported and applauded by all Canadians. the fact is that it’s time for other nato countries to take over and let the Canadians rotate to a less volatile area.
We have done our part and more. doing this would lessen the chances of Hillier getting more eguipment and other toys for his men and women in uniform.he has his own motives for saying what he has and they are selfish indeed. don’t forget that he was partly responsible for us being there in the first place.
beyond all this rhetoric, there is the way harper and company have politicised this whole Afghanistan affair. think for a minute how the offensive actions by our troops has lessened since the Vandoos went over. I suppose they may be not saying as much as previously(because of security).
I think that they have backed off because they don’t want too many casualties to the Quebec based troops ,especially with an election pending. I feel sorry for the RCR’s who will be going over next. see how they ratchet up the offence when they arrive. we know what this PM thinks of the maritimes and maritimers. I hope I’m wrong but in my heart I think this is happening. it is sad that it’s come to this sad point.
These people have their own selfish agendas and will do or say anything to achieve it.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:21 am
All I heard General Hillier say is that the Military wants a clear mandate from the Government sooner than later as proloned debate makes troops in theatre more vulnerable due to insurgents specifically targeting Canadian troops in order to try and influence the side of the debate which could potentially benefit the Taliban cause.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hillier and MacKay are typical of conservative right wing nuts. The propoganda of fear together with populist nationalism will drive Canada into deeper commitments to USA imperialist military actions. Canada is heading for a real test. Do we really want to be linked to the most agressive militant christian fundamentalist empire in the history of mankind?