CDS on the CF's future

Don't spread yourself all over the globe.

The Canadian Forces have been stretched too thin in the past to have any significant impact in many overseas missions, General Rick Hillier said.

Canada's top military officer said the military has learned to pick and choose its missions, and to go in big when deployed rather than sprinkling a handful of troops over a larger number of different operations.

Thus the current Afghan mission, involving a sizable commitment of troops, precludes taking on any other mission in another world hot spot, Gen. Hillier said yesterday in an online chat with readers on globeandmail.com.

"Parcelling out small parts of the Canadian Forces in many missions worldwide achieved little, beside making us feel good that we were contributing in many places," he said in response to readers' questions about possible Canadian involvement with an international force [not likely to happen] proposed for the Darfur conflict in Sudan...

Gen. Hillier, who was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff by the former Liberal government, framed his comments in the context of "lessons learned" by the military. He did not directly criticize politicians who ultimately made the decisions to send Canadian military units on dozens of missions in the past decade from the Balkans to the South Pacific.

His remarks come as opposition critics suggest Canada may get bogged down in Afghanistan and will not be able to respond to the Darfur crisis if asked to join a coalition [we're not likely to be asked for any substantial numbers should a UN force ever go]...

"If we only have a hundred troops in a mission where others have thousands, we are not invited to the table where long-term decisions are made," Gen. Hiller said. It's far better "to go bigger, and get real effect on the ground and a seat at the table."

Let's just remember that the CF do not choose their missions; the elected government does after taking (or not) the military's advice. For example, PM Chrétien's 2003 decision to send the CF back to Afstan.

Update: The CDS' online session at the CBC is here.