Gen. Hillier was no loose cannon

Contrary to what the fevered reporting of the Globe and Mail would have you think, there was nothing untoward in the gestation of the agreement on Afghan detainees. The facts:

Liberals OK'd Afghan detainee deal

Ex-PM Martin gave defence minister approval to negotiate transfer agreement

[...]

Former prime minister Paul Martin gave approval almost two years ago to then-defence minister Bill Graham to negotiate a detainee transfer agreement with the Afghanistan government, according to government documents obtained by CanWest News Service.

The revelation, contained in cabinet correspondence and Defence Department briefing notes, comes as the Harper government continues to face criticism over its conduct of the Afghanistan mission and allegations that detainees were abused after being transferred to Afghan authorities.

The documents show that Mr. Martin, who has yet to speak publicly on the controversy, was briefed on the outlines of the agreement more than six months before it was signed.

In a May 27, 2005, letter from Mr. Graham to Mr. Martin, the prime minister was told that Canada planned to negotiate an agreement with the Afghan government that spelled out "explicit undertakings" on how the detainees would be treated.

The same day as the letter, Mr. Graham "authorized the Canadian Forces to seek arrangements with relevant authorities on the transfer of detainees," according to a Defence Department briefing note.

"The prime minister concurred with this approach on 10 June, 2005," states the note.

The documents appear to debunk allegations that Chief of Defence Gen. Rick Hillier acted on his own and without proper government supervision when he signed the controversial detainee deal on behalf of the Canadian government in Kabul on Dec. 18, 2005.

[...]

On July 28, Gen. Hillier sent Mr. Graham a letter asking for his approval "to include language in a proposed Military Technical Agreement with the government of Afghanistan concerning the Canadian Forces plans to negotiate a bilateral agreement on the treatment of detainees."

Mr. Graham signed off on the plan...

But I doubt that the Globe's Editor-in-Chief, Edward Greenspon, will give up his efforts to blacken the Canadian Forces' mission in Afghanistan. And neither will the Toronto Star's Jim Travers:

...Gen. Rick Hillier, the Chief of Defence Staff and the main Afghanistan man for two prime ministers, enjoyed rare autonomy in crafting a detainee agreement now exposed as woefully inadequate.

...the once-powerful department of foreign affairs was excluded...

Update: This rather useful bit of information is buried in the very last paragraph of today's (front page of course) Globe story:

Then-defence-minister Bill Graham has said that he approved Canada's agreement with Afghanistan on the transfer of detainees before it was signed. Gen. Hillier signed the deal with Mr. Wardak, the Afghanistan Defence Minister, in Afghanistan during the 2005-06 election campaign.

A curious positioning of a rather important and relevant fact.