Hillier And His Bluster. Old Man...Go Away

I am deeply concerned about the recent comments by Maj. Gen. Rick Hillier. I am even more concerned by the response of our government to these words of provocation. Hillier is right to condemn the actions of those individuals who bomb civilian targets because of some grievance they have with the west, both real real or imagined.

But that is the thing. They are attacking civilians. Hillier can use any kind of provocative language he feels it takes to raise his aging testosterone levels, but I strongly suggest that he do it over in Afghanistan or wherever it might be that there are other He-Men who are similarly armed....other He-men who can....and will shoot back.

You see, what the General seems to forget is that it is not him that will suffer the consequences of his bluster. Indeed, while he sits in his armored vehicle, it will be my wife who suffers the wrath of these killers. While he sits in the middle of an armed camp, it will be my wife's children who become the target of these now infuriated suicide bombers.

Up to this point, this is one reason why I have chosen to raise my family in Canada. Canadians have enjoyed being the exception among Western nations. We alone are known as peace-keepers. We alone have been seen as the voice of reason among, what appears to many in this world, as a vast sea of mindless, profit-driven corporate irresponsibility.

Or at least we used to enjoy it.

Now, with the false bravado shown by Hillier, the gutlessness of our government in not telling him to keep his testosterone in his pants, we have moved firmly into the camp of the UK and the USA. As such, 'my' family has now become the target for those people who, misguided though they may be, nonetheless feel that Canada now "has it coming", because of the provocative, goading words of Rick Hillier.

And now that he has placed *my* family in their gun-sights, I am going to place a substantial portion of the blame for any future bombings squarely on him. These attacks will surely take place in Canada now. Bombings which up until now we have been spared because of our good reputation. This reputation was years in the making. It was achieved at the cost of many a Canadian peace-keepers life, only to have it squandered away in a few moments so that Hillier can sound tough in the eyes of his idols in the Pentagon or White House. It makes me want to get sick.....

Gary Williams