Opposing General Rick Hillier’s propaganda machine

September 20, 2007

It is hard to imagine a more important issue to write letters on so please read this alert and write a letter if you possibly can.

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Many of you will have seen the excellent documentary - called Selling the Mission - by Brian Stuart on CBC yesterday. If you haven’t seen it I strongly urge you to watch it. It is one of the most alarming exposes - and one of the best - I have watched in years.

Once you have watched it - email the CBC and congratulate them for doing it and state your alarm that this is happening in Canada. Their feedback address is: national@cbc.ca

Last spring I write a column decrying the militarization of Canadian culture, taking a shot at the CBC for its role in popularizing the army and its Chief of Staff Rick Hillier. The documentary demonstrates the roots of this attempt at transforming Canadian culture. Stuart calls it the greatest promotion of the Canadian military in Canadian history. Some key revelations from the doc:

• the military has the largest p.r. operation in the government - 500 uniformed and civilian staff with a budget of a staggering $23 million.

• In Kandahar there are twelve military p.r. staff - compared to three people working for CIDA In other words 4 times the staff to create the image of development than there are actually doing development.

• General Rick Hillier is the architect of this campaign to transform the military to the point that he is now “evolving beyond political control”

• the department of foreign affairs is no longer in charge of Canada’s foreign policy. The Military is calling the shots.

• Hillier, despite his folksy image, is a highly sophisticated intellectual military man, who has carefully studied public relations. He spends 40% of his time on p.r. - selling the armed forces and its new war fighting role

• Hillier openly acknowledges what Stuart called his grand plan: “We are changing the culture, we are changing the mind set.”

• Hillier wrote a study 2 years ago stating that the military must “Manage the perception that there is a measurable increase in [Afghan] government capacity.”

Write a short letter expressing alarm at this massive propaganda effort and pointing out that 1) there is no government mandate for such a transformation or the propaganda effort and 2) that it goes against Canadian values regardless of how people feel about the Afghan mission.

FRAMING: On this very specific issue we don’t need to focus on the substance of the Afghan war issue. We need to frame the argument by raising questions and sounding the alarm about the military determining foreign policy and being beyond the control of Parliament.

Our frame: 1) General Rick Hillier is a rogue government official who has accumulated too much power and must be reigned in. 2) In a democracy the military can never be permitted to dominate public policy.

Some key arguments - and remember to refer to the CBC documentary as the source of you concern and evidence behind it:

• Canada’s culture is becoming increasingly militarized even though the government has no mandate to do so from the people of Canada and it is happening with absolutely no Parliamentary oversight or involvement.

• Chief of defence Staff Rick Hillier is quoted as saying : “We are changing the culture, we are changing the mind set.” Who gave a general the mandate to change Canadian culture?

• It is outrageous that the military as 500 public relations staff and a budget of $23 million - by far the largest p.r. budget in the whole of government. This is completely unjustifiable and goes far beyond what is normal and reasonable for the de fence department. This is a propaganda budget, not an information service.

• Canada is a democracy - and it is completely inappropriate for the head of the military to be publicly lobbying for more influence, more money and for a particular role for the military. These are matters for Parliament to decide. Parliament directs the military not the other way round.

• Imagine if the deputy minister of health or the environment gave a news conference and said, as General Hillier has said, “We need more money.” They would be fired immediately for good reason - it is not their job as public servant to make such a statement.

• In Kandahar there are twelve military p.r. staff - compared to three people working for CIDA In other words 4 times the number of staff to create the image of development than there are actually doing development.

• The CBC documentary quotes one analyst saying that under General Hillier the military is now “evolving beyond political control” It is time to place it back under government control.

• Canadians - however they feel about our troops - do not support the militarization of Canadian culture nor the development of a powerful war-fighting military machine. There needs to be a thorough, national debate on the direction of the military and the role of its rogue general.

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