'Hillier'iously Ridiculous

I was just watching an interview with Gen. Rick Hillier on The National, and a clip from an interview he did three years ago was played. In it he said "we are here at the invitation of the Afghan people" and (paraphrasing) "every Afghan person we talk to in the streets says they are happy we are here and they want us to stay for a long time."
Hillier, with the publication of his new book, has certainly changed his tune on the mission recently. But it seems he is still strongly in favour of the mission. That's fine. I don't discredit him for believing in the mission. But the two above quotes from his previous interview strike me as intensely ridiculous.
I'm sure many Afghan people are happy troops came in to the country to free them from the rule of the Taliban. But, as I remember it, we didn't go there because the Afghans sent us a nice card in the mail 'inviting' us to come over and blow stuff up in their country.
And certainly many Afghan people do personally thank the troops roaming the streets of their cities and towns. I might too if I were one of them. But let's not forget that there are those who have lost loved ones when NATO offenses have resulted in civilian deaths. I'm willing to say that they likely aren't thankful thousands of troops have come in to fight throughout their country. And then there are those who have killed Allied troops through suicide bombings and whatnot.
I'm not saying the war is good or bad. I am saying, though, that let's not be duped by statements by our top military officials.
And let's just hope all the rest of our men and women over there make it home safe.