Oops! Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

"On my first deployment to Kandahar [Afghanistan] in 2006, I was the architect of Operation Medusa where we removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield ... and I was proudly on the main assault." (April 18, New Delhi)
"What I should have said was that our military successes are the result of the leadership, service and sacrifice of the many dedicated women and men in the Canadian Forces. I regret that I didn't say this then, but I want to do so now." (April 28, Ottawa)
"Every military operation our Forces undertook in Afghanistan, including Operation Medusa, relied on the courage and dedication of many individuals across the Canadian Forces. My comments were in no way intended to diminish the role that my fellow soldiers and my superiors played in Op Medusa."
Canadian Minister of National Defence, Harjit Sajjan

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan inspects a Guard of Honour prior to meeting with his Indian counterpart earlier this month in New Delhi. A speech Sajjan gave in India has stirred anger in military circles from those who thought the former soldier had overstated his role in Afghanistan.  (MONEY SHARMA / AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

The first sentence above relates to how the Honourable Member of Parliament of Canada and Minister of National Defence portrayed himself to an admiring audience in India when he visited  New Delhi on April 18 and spoke before a group of security experts. Minister Sajjan obviously got carried away and let fly statements that he deliberately embroidered to portray himself in a heroic light to impress his audience. That he is Minister of Defence in the Liberal Cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau obviously didn't burnish his credentials sufficiently.

His statement of ownership of the military plans designed to meet Taliban in combat and defeat them in the process went beyond inflated; obviously the boasting of a needful ego to elevate the esteem showered on him by proud Indians in the country of his heritage; a Sikh from India, running for parliament in Canada, and subsequently in brief order being named to the cabinet as Minister of Defence. Minister Sajjan, in fact, had a professional role as a Vancouver policeman. And he was a member of Canada's military reserves, called to duty in Afghanistan as an intelligence officer.

A post in which he distinguished himself, and was well liked and respected by enlisted men and officers alike. All of whom now have an opinion of this man at variance with their original; a situation that he has himself skewed and certainly not in his favour, since many are now calling for his resignation. "Making a statement like that (of being solely responsible as the architect of the battle plans of Operation Medusa in the summer and fall of 2006) is completely contrary to our military ethos", explained the former soldier who had initially characterized Minister Sajjan's remarks in New Delhi as "a bald-faced lie".

It is the retired military officers who have spoken loudly in disappointed condemnation of the govenrment's Minister of Defence, still preferring not to have their names released in public since they remain involved in a number of military projects. Yet Afghanistan veterans who had fought during Op Medusa claim to be completely astonished that this man who had been held in great esteem would now claim to have been the fulcrum that supported and designed that combat mission. Characterizing his statements in India as being "really quite outrageous".

He never had been involved in the command's decision-making process, according to the former officers now criticizing the Minister. He was a major in a liaison capacity with Task Force Kandahar. Then-brigadier-general David Fraser, Canada's task force commander, the International Security and Assistance (ISAF) commander for Regional Command South, along with his planning staff and his battalion commanders in Panjwaii were those who represented the battle architects of Op Medusa. That particular battle was the first and only occasion when Taliban forces faced off in their thousands for a battle against ISAF forces.

Minister Sajjan might be forgiven for his lapse in integrity and truthfulness. Cabinet ministers usually take their signals from the Prime Minister. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is inordinately fond of burnishing himself in whatever way he can, to portray himself as extraordinary and entitled and entirely admirable, a selfie-taking, applause-seeking narcissist out to impress at any cost. No one has yet suggested that Justin Trudeau step away from office in reflection of his unremitting self-promotion, but calls certainly have gone forward for Harjit Sajjan to do so.

After all, if the Minister of Defence chose to soil his reputation in such a tawdry fashion, how can he expect to retain the loyalty of the military his political position places him in the position to represent?