The new chief

Lt.-Gen. Walter Natynczyk. Excellent choice!

Natynczyk's selection was predicted by most military watchers, who say he will be as much a booster of the Canadian Forces as his predecessor, but not as outspoken. He is known mostly as a tough guy, a soldier's soldier.

"The further away you are from the sound of the guns," he told a recent Senate defence committee, "the less you understand."

Natynczyk has certainly spent time close to the guns. He has been to Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor and Eritrea with Canadian peacekeepers, but it is his high-profile command role in Iraq that has most controversially defined him.

Natynczyk was on a three-year exchange with the U.S. Army at Fort Hood, Tex., when III Corps was deployed to Iraq in 2004. Paul Martin's Liberal government granted him permission to go along even though Canada had opted to stay out of the invasion. In a reorganization of invading forces that spring, Natynczyk was named deputy-commanding general of the Multi-National Corps. (Iraq).

Update: more on Gen. Natynczyk.