Canada's Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, has stirred up a hornet's nest with his blunt but honest and accurate remarks about the military's job and his description of terrorists.
Hillier's warning that soldiers must be prepared to kill is a stark but true reminder of the essence of an armed force -- to kill the enemy of the state. And that is equally true when the enemy is terrorists, which he called scumbags and murderers. He could have used other, equally apt descriptions -- sleazebags, thugs, torturers, criminals, low-lifes. All would be applicable.
As I have stated on many occasions in this forum, the purpose of a military is to fight the nation's wars, whatever form those wars might take and wherever they might occur, either in Canada or overseas. Throughout history, successive governments have rightly engaged in the wars offshore, and this is the case in Canada's war against terrorism. The current government has decided to fight alongside our allies in Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents and al-Qaeda terrorists are alive and well.
Members of the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry -- the same unit that suffered the tragic loss of four soldiers to friendly fire in Afghanistan in April, 2002 -- have deployed as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Kandahar, the centre of Afghan terrorist scum and sleaze.
The term PRT, however, misrepresents the real and deadly danger that these troops almost assuredly will encounter. They will come face to face with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, will become engaged in combat, and will kill some of them. It comes with the territory of being a soldier, especially in the war on terrorism.
Killing is not done indiscriminately in any war or operation, but rather within the many rules of war. Members of Canada's military remain under Canadian law, even when deployed in operations. Canadian soldiers will be operating under rules of engagement approved by Gen. Hillier which specify what level of force can be used under various circumstances. They will also be subject to the Geneva Conventions that again limit the application of force and treatment of the enemy. Terrorists do not operate under any such rules.
Canadian soldiers are well-known for their disciplined approach in applying force to achieve the mission. But make no mistake -- when the situation demands and the rules of engagement allow, force will be applied to kill the terrorists.
The Canadian Forces are equipped with a full range of deadly weapons from pistols to jet fighters to world-class naval destroyers. Taxpayers have shelled out billions of dollars to equip the army with rifles, machine-guns, tanks, artillery, mines, anti-tank weapons, etc -- all with the purpose of killing the enemy, to destroy his war-fighting capability and, in the end, to destroy his will to fight. Canada's military trains to engage in combat, to kill the enemy by shooting them, blowing them to bits with artillery and mines, shooting them out of the sky and destroying their ships.
There are no second-place ribbons for losers in war. War is a nasty, brutal and deadly business in which soldiers kill and soldiers get killed, where soldiers inflict pain and suffer indescribable pain and suffering. Wars are not won by kissing babies and hugging trees. Wars are not won by negotiating with scumbags -- wars are won by killing them.
Terrorism, by definition, is a systematic use of violence and intimidation. The Taliban and al-Qaeda are terrorists who indiscriminately kill innocent people and attempt to destroy the western way of life. The deaths of 56 innocents going about their daily business in London on July 7th is yet another vivid reminder of the war being waged by terrorists. They intimidate, kill and murder. They do not want to see the western world succeed in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and will do everything to prevent the PRTs from succeeding.
It is a national embarrassment that the bumbling bureaucrats at the CBC -- Canada's government-funded national broadcasting company -- have an insidious aversion to using the terms 'terrorists' or 'terrorism', even in the wake of the recent killings in London. This shows a distinct lack of guts on their part to call these murderers by their real name.
Another national embarrassment, Carolyn Parrish, had the audacity to refer to General Hillier as "barbaric" for calling the terrorists "murderers and scumbags". Clearly oblivious to the realities of terrorism and ignorant of what is occurring in Afghanistan, she somehow managed to tie the CDS's remarks to her anti-American rants,in her usual illogical and amateurish way. She is one that needs to be muzzled.
Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen, men and women, rightly deserve recognition for their outstanding peacekeeping successes over the past 60 years. But peacekeeping is a thing of the past, and has been for some time. While the government prefers to talk in terms of peacekeeping, Canadian soldiers have been engaged in near-combat and combat operations for many years, exemplified by the direct engagement in the Medak Pocket in Croatia in September, 1993, during which Canadian troops they were required to kill the 'enemy'.
Gen. Hillier was right when he said that soldiers must be prepared to kill. It was a reminder to Canadians of what its military has done many times in the past and may have to do again on behalf of the country, specifically in Afghanistan. It was a grim reminder, as well, of the unlimited liability that soldiers face -- to be put in harm's way on behalf of all Canadians to fight a war that the government has declared.
He was also right when he referred to terrorists as scumbags and murderers. They are. And when Canadian soldiers encounter them in Kandahar, it will be 'kill or be killed'.
Lt.-Gen. Ray Crabbe, a native of Neepawa and now retired in Winnipeg, served as the deputy chief of defence staff for Canada's military.
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