Out of Left Field - A Response to General Hillier (en francais)

It's been said by many others this weekend, but I believe it can never be said enough.

From this Globe and Mail article on Saturday:

However, Gen. Hillier's vow to hunt down terrorists did ruffle some feathers. Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, said Canada should retain a more level-headed approach to events such as last week's terrorist attacks in London.

"I'm feeling it's time for people to be as calm as possible. . . . I would love Canada to play a thoughtful, moderating position in this," she said, denouncing Gen. Hillier's comments as "very aggressive."

Gee Maude, maybe we should take away his rifle and send him to bed without any supper. Last time I checked it's usually considered good doctrine to train your soldiers to be "very agressive". You tend to have a better chance of bringing a greater number home alive when you train them as soldiers, not some left-leaning think tank's idea of 'Canadian values projected abroad'.

Not to be outdone by Maude:

But Stephen Staples, a military analyst at the Ottawa-based, left-leaning Polaris Institute, said he found Gen. Hillier's comments "rather alarming."

"Are we seeing an Americanization of the Canadian Forces?" Mr. Staples asked.

This statement is just so profoundly stupid, I'll leave it at that.

Kudo's to General Hillier for breaking decades of Canadian Military lockjaw and telling it like it is. A breath of fresh air that hopefully is building to a wind of change.