A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War

[Journeyman]

Mr. Lang and Prof. Stein's book is the best outsider's account of how Canada got into Afghanistan, although Mr. Lang was an insider for some of that time. Other officials with knowledge of the inside debates have argued that the authors didn't get everything right. They probably didn't. But no one looking for greater insight should turn to Mr. Hillier's book.

How dismissive. Unlike Simpson, I've found quite a few insights in Hillier's book.

But then, I didn't wade in assuming that the Lang & Stein book was the be all/end all, thus feeling a Pavlovian need to trash anything contradictory.

 

[The Bread Guy]

But then, I didn't wade in assuming that the Lang & Stein book was the be all/end all, thus feeling a Pavlovian need to trash anything contradictory.

How unlike other MSM, right?  :

Just received my copy - starting to read tonight.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Hillier, like Harper, is sort of terra incognita for the Toronto intelligentsia. They grew up in comfortable world in which Toronto had displaced Montreal as the centre of the little, frozen, Canadian universe and the regions hewed wood and drew water, fish and oil as required to serve Toronto.

Trudeau and Chrétien, despite being Québecois, were pur laine Toronto Liberals because they drank the Toronto Liberal kool-aid and did their level best to "Keep Québec in its Place" - that being in Canada and in second place in Canada, too. Now power is shifting away from Toronto and its Québec based lackeys and towards the West. This is hard for the intelligentsia to comprehend.

Harper and Hiller represent a real threat to their little universe; they are outsiders - from the West, from Newfoundland, from the military, from the Blue Tories, - barbarians at the gate and all that.

Take a moment to consider that Graham's, Lang's, McCallum's and Simpson's universe is collapsing right before their eyes. And they fear that Prince Michael cannot save them.

 

[dapaterson]

I would point out that Gen (ret'd) Hillier did overstep his boundaries and at least once should have been subject to a very public termination.  (Being a public advocate for changes to Canadian immigration policy is well outside any left and right of arcs for the CDS and interference with matters that properly belongs in Parliament).

He was not helped by weak central staff in DND/CF who were unwilling to support their commander by pointing out obvious flaws and problems in his sometimes grandiose ideas - the ongoing failure that is the dot COMs was noted and observed by many prior to their implementation - better staff would have forced the plan to be better developed or to have had proper mitigation strategies in place, but ultimately Gen (ret'd) Hillier must wear that failure.

Was he successful in many domains?  Yes.  Was he ego-driven to an extent that is surprising even in the black had community?  Yes.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I would point out that Gen (ret'd) Hillier did overstep his boundaries and at least once should have been subject to a very public termination.  (Being a public advocate for changes to Canadian immigration policy is well outside any left and right of arcs for the CDS and interference with matters that properly belongs in Parliament).

He was not helped by weak central staff in DND/CF who were unwilling to support their commander by pointing out obvious flaws and problems in his sometimes grandiose ideas - the ongoing failure that is the dot COMs was noted and observed by many prior to their implementation - better staff would have forced the plan to be better developed or to have had proper mitigation strategies in place, but ultimately Gen (ret'd) Hillier must wear that failure.

Was he successful in many domains?  Yes.  Was he ego-driven to an extent that is surprising even in the black had community?  Yes.

I agree, partially, on your first point. But, as I have said before, I think Gen (ret’d) Hillier adopted an American model of being CDS and that model was accepted by the prime ministers, ministers and top level bureaucrats – not welcomed, not liked, just accepted, tolerated. That model comes with considerable ‘freedom’ of expression. Serving US admirals and generals routinely periodically address social and economic issues – even very delicate ones like race relations, housing and education. Hillier stretched the limits in Canada but they didn’t seem to break. Opposition parliamentarians coulda or shoulda hauled him in front of a committee but they didn’t – presumably because they, too, drank the Hillier kool-aid.

On your second point: I was long retired so I cannot comment on how ell or poorly Hillier was advised. That being said I continue to believe that the current C2 superstructure is too large and too cumbersome with too many overlaps.

(A former VCDS of my acquaintance actually welcomed one of the steady stream of 10% cuts to HQs that occurred in the 1990s because he wanted to do some housecleaning to make fewer people work smarter and more effectively (but he failed, thanks to inertia one level up).)

I do agree that he was successful in most of the things to which he turned his hand – HQ organization being an exception in my (amateur) opinion. In being so successful he raised expectations within the CF and within the country as a whole. To date the CF and the country have risen to the challenges. Time will tell if both can sustain that.

 

[dapaterson]

I agree, partially, on your first point. But, as I have said before, I think Gen (ret’d) Hillier adopted an American model of being CDS and that model was accepted by the prime ministers, ministers and top level bureaucrats – not welcomed, not liked, just accepted, tolerated. That model comes with considerable ‘freedom’ of expression. Serving US admirals and generals routinely periodically address social and economic issues – even very delicate ones like race relations, housing and education. Hillier stretched the limits in Canada but they didn’t seem to break. Opposition parliamentarians coulda or shoulda hauled him in front of a committee but they didn’t – presumably because they, too, drank the Hillier kool-aid.

I suspect Hillier's kevlar coating was in part due to most politicians not wanting to confront a popular figure.

And one minor correction:  it was Flavor-Aid, not Kool-Aid.

 

[kratz]

For those interested in such things, I have received word  Gen (ret'd) Hillier will be at the Borden CANEX this Friday, 29 January 2010 for a book signing at 10:00am.