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Ottawa mulled pulling Afghan control from military: Hillier

Last Updated: Friday, October 23, 2009 | 7:02 AM ET

The Canadian Press
Canada's former top general, Rick Hillier, salutes atop a Leopard tank in 2008. Hillier retired on Canada Day 2008, after three turbulent years as chief of the defence staff.Canada's former top general, Rick Hillier, salutes atop a Leopard tank in 2008. Hillier retired on Canada Day 2008, after three turbulent years as chief of the defence staff. (Canadian Press)

The Harper government considered taking day-to-day control of the mission in Kandahar away from the military and giving it to Canada's ambassador in Kabul.

The startling revelation comes from former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier, whose new memoir is making waves in Ottawa for its scathing criticism of the bureaucracy and NATO.

In A Soldier First: Bullets, Bureaucrats and the Politics of War, Hillier makes a brief reference to having his control over the military usurped by his political masters, but expanded on the issue in an interview Thursday with The Canadian Press.

He said he first heard about the proposal from one of his ground commanders in Afghanistan in late 2007 and immediately opposed it, dismissing the plan as an "idiotic suggestion."

The proposal, which was one of a handful of options being considered as the government struggled to redefine the mission, would have seen the army asking the ambassador for permission to conduct combat missions.

Hillier also writes that he "doesn't recall" seeing memos from a Canadian diplomat who warned in early 2006 about the possible torture of prisoners in Afghan jails.

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