Dear Editor - I have become so frustrated with the Central Student Association at the University of Guelph that it has become difficult for me to express my anger and disappointment with them.

Last week, on one of their websites, The Cannon, they posted an editorial whose headline referred to retired Canadian general and chief of defence staff Rick Hillier -- who received the Lincoln Alexander Outstanding Leader Award at the university yesterday -- as a "warmonger."

The editorial, written by former Communist party candidate Scott Gilbert, provided zero evidence for this outrageous claim but rather tossed around some out-of-context quotes from the retired general.

Its focal point was that under Hillier, the Canadian Forces went from being a peacekeeping force to a voice for torture.

For starters, Canadian soldiers are specifically ordered not to torture prisoners. To say there was a directive from the former chief of defence staff to do so is horribly insulting to our men and women who have given their lives for the security of the region.

Secondly, Gilbert argued that Hillier refused to extend the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the people of Afghanistan.

I believe it is absolutely necessary for people everywhere to have basic human rights, but to impose Canadian law on a foreign land is the most western-centric and hubristic idea I have ever heard.

Finally, I agree we are a nation seeking peace; unfortunately, it is not enough to wish it so.

In order to be peacekeepers, we must first be peacemakers [see this post]. Pacifism is not peacefulness.

To write an editorial using made up facts and out-of-context quotes with the sole purpose of humiliating an honoured Canadian general is wrong.

Gilbert has done this university and his country a great disservice.

As we saw with their actions last year toward a pro-life group on campus, the Central Student Association will not allow any opinions in contrast to their Castroist agenda.

-- Ryan Monkman, Guelph

Editor's note: A notice on The Cannon website says the Scott Gilbert column "has been removed while The Cannon operating committee investigates its appropriateness." The notice continues: "As with other writing that appears on this website, this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Central Student Association and the Guelph Campus Co-op who jointly administer The Cannon."