The 'Misspoke' That Won't Go Away....

"Harj the soldier probably would not have said that. Harj the politician did, thinking that he could get away with it. When you are careless with words as a politician that can haunt you."
"[Medusa had] many architects [although Sajjan] was not one of them."
"Harj probably realized it was wrong to take credit. I would say that he lives in a different world now. Any good soldier would not try to steal another soldier's honour But it is different when you are a politician."
"Harj did a great job on tribal tactics and what the enemy was up to. He was one of a couple of officers who told us we had a bigger problem with the Taliban than we thought we had and helped define that problem."
"Medusa was a huge team effort [involving U.S., Dutch and Afghan forces]."
Retired Lt.-Col. Shane Schreiber, Canadian military

"What I should have said is that our military successes are the result of the leadership, service and sacrifice of the many dedicated women and men in the Canadian Forces."
"Operation Medusa [Afghanistan, 2006] was successful because of leadership of MGen (Ret'd) Fraser and the extraordinary team with whom I had the honour of serving."
"I made a mistake in describing my role. I wish to retract that description and apologize for it. I am truly sorry." 
"I was proud to have served with Canadian, American, and Afghan soldiers who made Operation Medusa successful. I am honoured to serve the women and men of the Canadian Forces today as their Minister."
Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan, Ottawa

Justin Tang/Canadian Press     Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, Friday, April 7, 2017 in Ottawa

 

Aren't we always sorry in retrospect, when what we say or do has repercussions that the alert brain should have anticipated, but the ego shunted aside in favour of burnishing a reputation to even further admiration of someone who attained great political heights in a position which a career and that person's extraordinary contribution prepared them for? It's nice to preen and accept plaudits, not so comfortable to have to explain that fact was inconveniently absent in the ego-driven manipulation of reality.

Now, because Canada's Defence Minister felt an urgent need to impress the participants at the conference he addressed in Delh, India, i of the Observer Research Foundation security think-tank, misrepresenting himself as the architect of a military operation that had in fact, been planned and organized by a number of high-ranking military officers, of which he was not one, the political heat is on. Sharp eyes and ears have uncovered the fact that this bloating of his personal contribution in a conflict was not the first incident of its kind.

And his detractors are finding it expedient to call for his resignation. And they certainly have a point. Harjit Sajjan's background as a member of the Vancouver Police as well as a reservist major in the B.C. Regiment Duke of Connaught's Own, assigned to Task Force Kandahar, did have some involvement, but as an intelligence officer; the part he played in the much larger operation of facing off against the Taliban was relatively incidental and certainly not central to the military operation he claimed to have planned.

Defence Minister Sajjan's plea for understanding and forgiveness aside, in a humbling situation he brought on himself by attempting to impress the intelligence agencies of his country of birth, as a Sikh emigrant who had distinguished himself in the country that absorbed him to the extent that he was appointed a Minister of the Crown, has been his undoing. In his military role he was a well-liked member, the quality of his work appreciated by those in command who never hesitated to cite his skill and knowledge.

But as Minister of Defence, in seeking to aggrandize himself in a manner shunned by the military code of honour, he has effectively delegitimized himself as a man whom the military could look to with confidence. As a former lieutenant-colonel, he served as an armoured liaison officer in Afghanistan, his intelligence assessments viewed as high-value performance. As Canada's Minister of Defence his credibility has suffered a massive blow. Those who serve in the military at every level of the command chain down to the enlisted men and women have little regard for him now.

Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan before a meeting with Indian officials in New Delhi on April 18. In a Facebook post, Sajjan says he made a mistake by describing himself as the architect of Operation Medusa during a speech in India.  (MONEY SHARMA / AFP/Getty Images) 

And nor do his boastful claims that stretched reality out of all proportions -- presenting himself as the mastermind of a complex and multi-national military action -- reflect the public trust. Now, perhaps the worst of all possible scenarios, his foreign counterparts will most certainly view him in a manner jaundiced by his own failing. He becomes, alternately, someone not to be trusted, and someone whose fall from grace was his own misdoing, a pathetic, comical figure anxious to inflate his importance as though a Cabinet appointment lacked in sufficiently elevating him.

It is, therefore, little surprising that calls have been made, and continue to be made, by his political opponents representing Canada's official opposition, calling for his resignation. A CBC regional podcast out of British Columbia had him narrating circumstances whereby the current Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance who was also in Afghanistan, considered Mr. Sajjan to be the central figure in the operation he has claimed centrality for.

Matthew Fisher/ National Post    A May 16, 2008 photo in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, when Brig. Gen. Jon Vance sought out Lt.-Col. Harjit Singh Sajjan

 

"If I could quote him, he said I was the architect of Operation Medusa, one of the biggest operations since the Korean War that Canada has led", Harjit Sajjan, running for election to the House of Commons ventured as a Liberal candidate in 2015. His speech in India also contained a claim that his plan for the conflict "removed 1,500 Taliban fighters off the battlefield", another inflated inaccuracy both soldiers and scholars involved in Medusa, have contested, claiming the correct figure to be 500 Taliban.

Oh dear, Mr. Defence Minister!