He's Gone Too Far

Brigadier General David Fraser

David Fraser is a curious man. The commander of Canada's forces in Afghanistan says some very strange things.

General Fraser has been hyping "the mission" since he arrived in Afghanistan. Fair enough, that's his job. His soldiers need to see a commander resolute in his commitment to their effort. I expect the general probably believes what he's saying.

Unforunately a good deal of what we've heard from General Fraser hasn't been quite right and some of his pronouncements have been downright strange.

When Operation Medusa was nearly over Fraser boasted that he didn't need to send his troops in to attack the insurgents because he had them surrounded and wanted them to stew about it for a while. It turns out he didn't have the Taliban surrounded. They were freely bringing reinforcements in through Fraser's lines and they left the same way. When Fraser finally sent his troops in all they came up with were abandoned Taliban positions. That didn't stop him or his boss from declaring a great victory even as U.S. air force intelligence tracked these same insurgents resurfacing in other provinces to keep fighting.

When a suicide bomber attacked a Canadian patrol, killing one soldier, Fraser launched into a rant, calling the Taliban "cowards" and telling them to come out in the open and fight. Memo to Fraser: a suicide bomber is many things: low, fanatical, full of hate, perfectly evil but definitely not a coward. As for challenging the Taliban to come on out for a street fight against soldiers with artillery, helicopters, strike fighters and armour, well, get real. Their manual says to go after your weaknesses, not your strengths.

It's pretty obvious that Brigadier Fraser's pronouncements are for the benefit of the folks at home to build up their support for "the mission." To a point that's okay even if some of the stuff he says does sound pretty wingy. But there is a point and Fraser just crossed it.

A few days ago Fraser told a reporter from the Toronto Star that it's the Canadian public and not the Taliban that is the greatest threat to peace and prosperity in Afghanistan. Say what? Anything other than complete, unlimited and unqualified support for "the mission" from you and me is apparently more dangerous than Taliban attacks.

As evidence of our success over there, Fraser points to the great increase in the number of Taliban attacks. Apparently these attacks are increasing because we're winning. Gee, that's so obvious, why didn't I think of that? It's all so clear to me now.

If General Fraser wants our support, it's about time he got straight with us. When he tells us he's got these guys corraled, surrounded and ready to annihilate at his leisure and then they wind up walking away, unnoticed, it's his credibility on the line.

To follow up that gaffe by claiming the Canadian people are a greater threat than the Taliban and that increased enemy attacks are a sure sign we're winning, doesn't build up my confidence in General Fraser and his vision. Fraser's song and dance routine gets pretty thin, pretty fast. If he wants to build up Canadian support for "the mission" over the long haul, he'd better start treating us like adults and show a lot more respect for the citizens he's supposed to be serving.