http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/101011/national/hillier_wannabes
By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Canada's former top soldier is warning that "field marshal wannabes" are angling to take a bigger role in directing the day-to-day operations of military forces in the field.
Retired general Rick Hillier says a policy paper is circulating around senior levels of the Harper government that suggests the Clerk of the Privy Council and the deputy minister of defence take a greater role to "guide" the military.
The former chief of defence staff writes, in a new postscript for the softcover edition of his memoirs, that there is a growing movement within the federal government to establish a system of micro-management that could extend from the highest reaches of Ottawa all the way down to individual combat units.
The paper was produced within the last year and has been the subject of some discussion, according to Hillier, and would give senior bureaucrats greater powers than those already spelled out in the National Defence Act.
The notion that the military needs greater guidance on how to conduct operations irked Hillier.
"What crap!" Hillier writes in the new edition of A Soldier First, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press.
"The National Defence Act is clear — our sons and daughters need to have direction from the leaders that Canadians have elected, and they need to have that direction passed through the Chief of Defence Staff without interference from bureaucrats who have no preparation or training for this task, and no responsibility for those lives.
"Any governments who permit anything different should have their rear ends booted out of office by moms and dads of those serving sons and daughters."
Defence Minister Peter MacKay was unavailable for an interview, but in statement he suggested the relationship between civilians and the military is productive and not strained.
"Whether it is our mission in Afghanistan, disaster relief in Haiti, support to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic games or any other initiative, the professionalism and dedication of all personnel is paramount to our success," he said.
"I'm proud of the excellent efforts that numerous departments and agencies have put into our mission in Afghanistan. But I'm even more proud to work with the incredible people that make up the defence community."
Military and political science historian Desmond Morton said Hillier's warning about the creeping centralization of authority should be heeded because of the "control freak" reflex of the current government.
The general also took a swipe at parliamentarians for last year's investigation to torture claims in Afghan prisons and what the government knew about it. He accused all parties being uninterested in facts and declared soldiers "would be run over in a heartbeat if those involved thought it would give them a few more votes."
Hillier added excessive government secrecy over documents fuelled the debate.
"Now, I believe that those who have turned our Parliament into an embarrassment are unworthy of those in uniform who serve with such valour," he wrote.
Stories of the battles between the bureaucracy and Hillier, who retired as the country's top military commander in 2008, are legion around Ottawa. In the first edition of his book, published last year, he stunned many in the political community with his frank account of how the Conservative government toyed with the notion of yanking day-to-day control of the war away from the ground commander in Kandahar and placing it with the country's ambassador in Kabul.
He railed against the Ottawa culture in the book and referred to the bureaucrats who cooked up the proposal as "field marshal wannabes," who shouldn't be trusted with authority beyond what Parliament has already granted them.
"I absolutely refused, for more than a year before my retirement, to condone any direct role in the command and control of the CF contingent in Afghanistan by any of the bureaucrats," he writes in the new edition of the book.
"This would have been dangerous to our young men and women, to the mission and to the bureaucrats, who had had no preparation, training or experience in such command and were not qualified for it."
Hillier was not available for an interview.
Morton said the former general's fear about bureaucrats who know nothing about the military is well-founded because unlike previous generations they've not been educated or exposed to the culture.
He blamed that on the Liberals who killed off the National Defence College, an institution with a sizable civilian enrolment, but said Hillier has alienated them further with bellicose rhetoric.
"Folks at foreign affairs or even the mounted police used to be educated in what these fellows in green were doing and why, but that's not the case anymore," Morton said.
"They don't know what use the military is, and Hillier has some justification for wondering about the kind of creeps rose the ranks, but to my knowledge, as chief of defence staff, he did very little about it."
Hillier made a lot of speeches and raised the public profile of the Forces, but Morton said he questions what concrete action was taken to educate federal officials.
*** Go General Hillier! MS ***
Showing posts with label Canada in Afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canada in Afghanistan. Show all posts
Monday, October 11, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
ROBERT SEMRAU NOT GUILTY
*** Good. Semrau was putting the guy out of his misery and while the Afghan soldiers stood by, Semrau did the honourable thing. He is a good Christian and a superb soldier and this verdict is just. MS ***
FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100719/national/semrau_court_martial
GATINEAU, Qc - An unprecedented court martial has found Canadian Forces Capt. Robert Semrau not guilty of murder in a battlefield shooting in Afghanistan.
He was convicted on the lesser military charge of disgraceful conduct.
The five-member court panel, the equivalent of a military jury, spent two and a half days considering the case against the 36-year-old officer.
The dramatic legal-military saga began on Oct. 19, 2008, on a dusty battlefield in the Taliban-infested Helmand province, just west of Kandahar, the province where most of Canada's soldiers are stationed.
Semrau was part of a team of Canadian soldiers assigned to the Afghanistan National Army as mentors.
Following an intense fire fight that pitted Canadian and Afghan forces against the Taliban, an insurgent lay on the verge of death.
He had been strafed by a U.S. helicopter gunship and witnesses have described devastating injuries, including a severed leg, and a gaping hole in his abdomen.
An Afghan army captain, who was on the patrol with Semrau, testified the Taliban fighter was "98 per cent dead'' when he was found.
The trial was told that Semrau fired two rounds from his rifle into the dying man and that he'd told fellow officers after the shooting that he simply wanted to put a wounded and dying enemy fighter out of his misery.
The body was never recovered.
Semrau's lawyer had argued that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, saying the fog of war made it impossible to get an accurate picture of what happened on that day.
But the prosecution had argued there was no doubt Semrau fired the fatal two rounds and that mercy killing was not a defence.
Semrau is a married father of two girls and had a spotless record with the British and Canadian militaries.
The trial travelled to Afghanistan to hear testimony from Afghan nationals.
FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100719/national/semrau_court_martial
GATINEAU, Qc - An unprecedented court martial has found Canadian Forces Capt. Robert Semrau not guilty of murder in a battlefield shooting in Afghanistan.
He was convicted on the lesser military charge of disgraceful conduct.
The five-member court panel, the equivalent of a military jury, spent two and a half days considering the case against the 36-year-old officer.
The dramatic legal-military saga began on Oct. 19, 2008, on a dusty battlefield in the Taliban-infested Helmand province, just west of Kandahar, the province where most of Canada's soldiers are stationed.
Semrau was part of a team of Canadian soldiers assigned to the Afghanistan National Army as mentors.
Following an intense fire fight that pitted Canadian and Afghan forces against the Taliban, an insurgent lay on the verge of death.
He had been strafed by a U.S. helicopter gunship and witnesses have described devastating injuries, including a severed leg, and a gaping hole in his abdomen.
An Afghan army captain, who was on the patrol with Semrau, testified the Taliban fighter was "98 per cent dead'' when he was found.
The trial was told that Semrau fired two rounds from his rifle into the dying man and that he'd told fellow officers after the shooting that he simply wanted to put a wounded and dying enemy fighter out of his misery.
The body was never recovered.
Semrau's lawyer had argued that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, saying the fog of war made it impossible to get an accurate picture of what happened on that day.
But the prosecution had argued there was no doubt Semrau fired the fatal two rounds and that mercy killing was not a defence.
Semrau is a married father of two girls and had a spotless record with the British and Canadian militaries.
The trial travelled to Afghanistan to hear testimony from Afghan nationals.
Friday, December 25, 2009
PRAISE FOR CANADA'S EFFORTS IN AFGHANISTAN
FROM: http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2009/12/mcchrystal-praises-canadas-afghanistan.html
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Dec. 17, 2009 - The demonstrated bravery and resolve of the nearly 3,000 Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan reflects the commitment necessary to achieve success there, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said in the Canadian capital yesterday. Canadian forces' efforts in mentoring Afghan security forces and their work in infrastructure development projects in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province are greatly appreciated, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute in Ottawa.
"The courage and determination of Canadian forces are an inspiration to our coalition," McChrystal said, noting that Canada, with about 2,800 forces in Afghanistan, one of the 44 coalition nations that have devoted considerable resources to the effort. Canada has lost 133 soldiers, three civilian employees and a diplomat supporting operations in Afghanistan.
Though challenging, the mission is Afghanistan "is achievable," McChrystal said. The Afghans, he added, are determined to defeat the Taliban and view coalition forces as partners in that endeavor.
The coalition's core strategy "is to partner with Afghanistan to provide them the time and space to assume their own security, and to shape their own future," McChrystal explained. "We're going to do this by disrupting and degrading the Taliban's capacity, denying them access to the Afghan population and strengthening Afghan security forces."
President Barack Obama directed an extra 30,000 U.S. troops be deployed to Afghanistan in coming months. NATO countries pledged to provide 7,000 additional forces.
"With the decisions made recently by President Obama and other members of the coalition, we have forces moving forward now," McChrystal said. "By this time next year, I believe we'll have indicators across the country – hard reflections, metrics – that will make it clear to us that the insurgency will be defeated."
By the summer of 2011 "we can make that same progress clear to the Afghan people, that the insurgency will not win," McChrystal said.
Canada's contributions in Afghanistan "have in some respects foreshadowed how our capability will be employed in the months ahead with the integration of civilian and military expertise," McChrystal said.
For example, the general said, the primary mission focus is to separate the insurgents from the Afghan people, particularly in the south of the country.
"And, that's where the bulk, of course, of the Canadian forces have been," McChrystal said.
Some Canadian forces serve as mentors to Afghan security forces, McChrystal said, while others employ different skills in development efforts performed by provincial reconstruction teams, which work on development initiatives that provide jobs and education that advance prospects of long-term economic growth for the people of Afghanistan, McChrystal said.
"Canada has made a particular investment in education, with the expansion and repair of 50 schools in Kandahar," McChrystal said. The Canadians also oversee programs, he added, that train teachers and increase female Afghan enrollment and literacy. Canadian engineers also are helping to renovate the 50-year-old Dahla Dam, the largest dam in Kandahar province, and the second-largest in Afghanistan. The dam is about 21 miles north of Kandahar City. When the project is completed, it's expected to double the amount of irrigated land in the region.
Afghanistan has plenty of water, McChrystal said, but it lacks the ability to transport the water where it is needed for agriculture. With proper water management, Afghanistan can become "an absolute net exporter of food," he said.
The general emphasized commitment as the key component to achieving success in Afghanistan.
"Increased capability translates to credibility in the minds of Afghans," McChrystal said. "They want to know that our intentions are to help them." Delivering on promised projects will provide that credibility, he added.
Meanwhile, the commitment displayed by coalition nations has been key, McChrystal said. "And that resolve will be critical in the months ahead," he told the group.
*** What do you expect from the best trained army in the world? A sharp snap of a salute is hereby in order. _\ MS ***
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Dec. 17, 2009 - The demonstrated bravery and resolve of the nearly 3,000 Canadian forces serving in Afghanistan reflects the commitment necessary to achieve success there, the commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan said in the Canadian capital yesterday. Canadian forces' efforts in mentoring Afghan security forces and their work in infrastructure development projects in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province are greatly appreciated, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal said at the Conference of Defence Associations Institute in Ottawa.
"The courage and determination of Canadian forces are an inspiration to our coalition," McChrystal said, noting that Canada, with about 2,800 forces in Afghanistan, one of the 44 coalition nations that have devoted considerable resources to the effort. Canada has lost 133 soldiers, three civilian employees and a diplomat supporting operations in Afghanistan.
Though challenging, the mission is Afghanistan "is achievable," McChrystal said. The Afghans, he added, are determined to defeat the Taliban and view coalition forces as partners in that endeavor.
The coalition's core strategy "is to partner with Afghanistan to provide them the time and space to assume their own security, and to shape their own future," McChrystal explained. "We're going to do this by disrupting and degrading the Taliban's capacity, denying them access to the Afghan population and strengthening Afghan security forces."
President Barack Obama directed an extra 30,000 U.S. troops be deployed to Afghanistan in coming months. NATO countries pledged to provide 7,000 additional forces.
"With the decisions made recently by President Obama and other members of the coalition, we have forces moving forward now," McChrystal said. "By this time next year, I believe we'll have indicators across the country – hard reflections, metrics – that will make it clear to us that the insurgency will be defeated."
By the summer of 2011 "we can make that same progress clear to the Afghan people, that the insurgency will not win," McChrystal said.
Canada's contributions in Afghanistan "have in some respects foreshadowed how our capability will be employed in the months ahead with the integration of civilian and military expertise," McChrystal said.
For example, the general said, the primary mission focus is to separate the insurgents from the Afghan people, particularly in the south of the country.
"And, that's where the bulk, of course, of the Canadian forces have been," McChrystal said.
Some Canadian forces serve as mentors to Afghan security forces, McChrystal said, while others employ different skills in development efforts performed by provincial reconstruction teams, which work on development initiatives that provide jobs and education that advance prospects of long-term economic growth for the people of Afghanistan, McChrystal said.
"Canada has made a particular investment in education, with the expansion and repair of 50 schools in Kandahar," McChrystal said. The Canadians also oversee programs, he added, that train teachers and increase female Afghan enrollment and literacy. Canadian engineers also are helping to renovate the 50-year-old Dahla Dam, the largest dam in Kandahar province, and the second-largest in Afghanistan. The dam is about 21 miles north of Kandahar City. When the project is completed, it's expected to double the amount of irrigated land in the region.
Afghanistan has plenty of water, McChrystal said, but it lacks the ability to transport the water where it is needed for agriculture. With proper water management, Afghanistan can become "an absolute net exporter of food," he said.
The general emphasized commitment as the key component to achieving success in Afghanistan.
"Increased capability translates to credibility in the minds of Afghans," McChrystal said. "They want to know that our intentions are to help them." Delivering on promised projects will provide that credibility, he added.
Meanwhile, the commitment displayed by coalition nations has been key, McChrystal said. "And that resolve will be critical in the months ahead," he told the group.
*** What do you expect from the best trained army in the world? A sharp snap of a salute is hereby in order. _\ MS ***
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