Our Own MacArthur?

That's how Michael Byers decribes Canada's top general, Rick Hillier. Hillier seems to see his roll in part as being the trash-talker in chief. He also thinks it's his job to "sell" the war to Canadians. But beyond that, it seems as though Hillier is trying to tell us all what the scope of the mission is:

The Martin government also assumed Canada would contribute to the combat mission for a limited time only. But Hillier changed his tune shortly after Stephen Harper was elected: "From NATO's perspective, they look at this as a 10-year mission, right? Minimum. There's going to be a huge demand for Canada to contribute over the longer period of time."

Hillier promised Martin that the combat mission would not preclude Canadian participation in UN peacekeeping missions elsewhere. He's since broken that promise, ruling out troops for Lebanon and Darfur on the basis that Canada is fully committed in Afghanistan.

Sorry Rick, this is a democracy, the military gets marching orders from its civilian masters, it's not the other way around.