Carolyn Parrish Trashes General Hillier

Carolyn Parrish MP, the erstwhile and hopeful Grit who was kicked out of caucus for stomping on a George Bush doll on national television, has the knack of garnering publicity by making outrageous anti-American statements that titillate the main stream media and delight the "George Bush is the font of all evil" latte drinking death cultist set.

She is now expanding her limited rhetorical repetoire by attacking General Rick Hiller, the new Chief of the Defence Staff, for making outspoken comments to the media pertaining to the role of the Canadian Forces in the fight against Islamist terrorists. From Jane Taber in today's Globe & Mail, we learn the following.

She called him "dangerous" and a "testosterone-filled general," and added that "somebody should put a clamp on his mouth."

Ms. Parrish, a self-described "peacenik," said she was particularly offended by Gen. Hillier's aggressive comments this month that the job of Canadian soldiers is "to be able to kill people."

He had been speaking to reporters about the Canadian troop deployment to Kandahar, where the troops will target terrorist "murderers and scumbags."

"They talk about me being outspoken," she said. "I'm speaking on my own behalf. This man is purporting to speak on behalf of the government, and I think he's dangerous.

"I'm totally offended by him. . . . We are also not a country that is going to easily throw away 100 years of peacekeeping reputation and noble reputation in the world by a testosterone-filled general, and I think somebody should put a clamp on his mouth."

She has complained to Defence Minister Bill Graham about the general's comments.

Sigh. Canada has not been in the peacekeeping business for a hundred years. Prime Minister Lester Pearson invented the concept (for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize) during the Suez Crisis of 1956. We were rather good at the UN peacekeeping role then because we excelled at the warmaking role up to that point (Vimy Ridge, Juno Beach in Normandy, the liberation of Holland, the Battle of the Atlantic, Korea.) We had about 150 thousand highly trained and well equipped personnel in the Forces in 1957.

Our subsequent capacity to carry out her dearly beloved peacekeeping role steadily eroded as the Liberals degraded our military through repetitive and severe budget and personnel cuts so that now we have fewer than 50 thousand troops in the regular navy, army and airforce combined. The equipment they possess is obsolete and rusting out at an accelerating rate. Our training system is significantly diminished, our rather minor deployments are undertaken by overstressing the troops we do have, to great cost in family relationships and the health of the military personnel repeadely deployed. We have lost our airlift capacity. We are down to two fighter squadrons. Our frigates sit idle without crews. And so on and so on.

Canada has dropped from number one position in UN peacekkeping to 33rd at last check. The average African country does more. So Carolyn Parrish is plain wrong in her portrayal of the Canadian Forces. Our reputation is no longer relevant as our capacity to wage war in any meaningful role is no longer extant. As Monte Python would say, "This parrot is diseased. It is no longer among the living."

Keep in mind that the Liberal "peacekeeping" myth may be politcally useful, but is no longer tactically significant. We no longer live in a world where "peacekeeping troops" are needed. UN and other (e.g., NATO) troops are increasingly called upon to undertake a more dangerous and difficult "peacemaking" role. That is part odf what our troops will be doing in Kandahar. For that you need soldiers who are fully trained, prepared and armed for combat. It is that to which General Hillier referred when he said,

"We are not the public service of Canada, we are not just another department [of government]. We are the Canadian Forces, and our job is to be able to kill people."

General Hiller has the actual real life experience of soldiering that the self-confessed peacenick Carolyn Parrish lacks. Unlike her, he has actually served (and commanded) NATO troops deployed to Afghanistan. He has had to bury men who served under him; men who were killed by the "destestable murderers and scumbags" of which he spoke. He knows our enemy.

As for Parrish's sexist testosterone comment she would do well to keep in mind, as she sups her chilled soups in the refined ambience of the parliamentary dining room, that testosterone is considered a good thing in those who are called to serve their country in a war zone, as it helps to keep our guys alive and accomplish the mission. Combat is not the place for the effete.

I wish her well in returning to the Liberal caucus, where she fits in so well. She, and many of them, think General Hillier is dangerous. So he is, to the sworn enemies of Canada and our allies.