Who can tell what possessed Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan to “embellish” — a too kind a word — his role in the 2006 assault on the Taliban in Afghanistan codenamed Operation Medusa.

After all, he arrived on the political scene already a bona fide stud with no need for the hyping of credentials and, when sworn in as a member of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, was lauded in the media as Canada’s “bad ass” defence minister.

And he fit the bill.

In fact, he appeared to be “bad ass” to the core, and in the best way possible. He had served Canadians on two fronts, both where the call of duty involved putting one’s life on the line.

Before politics, Sajjan worked as a detective in the Vancouver Police Department, investigating violent street gangs and drug traffickers, and was then a regimental commander in the Canadian Armed Forces reserves, a decorated war hero carrying the rank of lieutenant colonel — having served in Bosnia and later three tours in Afghanistan.

During Operation Medusa, the largest Canadian battlefield action since the Korean War, four Canadian soldiers under Sajjan’s command were killed, according to his Wikipedia page but, when the dust finally settled more than 1,500 Taliban fighters caught up in the battle had been given a one-way ticket to paradise.

During one on-the-record speech, however, Sajjan not only talked of being a participant in Operation Medusa, he also claimed to be the “architect” of the operation.

He loved the story so much, in fact, that he told it a second time in another speech overseas, again on the record.

But he wasn’t the “architect.” Far from it.

Once caught in a valour grab loathed universally by all military personnel, Sajjan apologized.

He said on his Facebook page that it was a “mistake.”

But it wasn’t a mistake. It was a lie.

In the House of Commons on Monday, Harjit Sajjan took his seat in the Trudeau benches to face furious and unfriendly fire from the opposition parties, but dodged all calls for his resignation by repeating his apology over and over again as if engaging a loop tape.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who will be replaced May 27 when the Tories cast ranked ballots for a new leader, accused Sajjan of “stolen valour” for taking credit for the real actions of others, and called on Trudeau to fire him for dishonouring himself and the military in which he served.

“What he did was wrong, and now he has lost the confidence of our men and women in uniform,” said Ambrose. “They need to have confidence in their leaders, especially when they’re putting their lives on the line.

“So will the prime minister remove the minister of defence?”

Trudeau, however, would hear nothing of it, saying he still had “full confidence” in Sajjan as defence minister.

But it was only Day One of the Commons’ return after a two-week break, and the guns are just warming up.

When it comes to judgment, however, it all comes down to honour, and whether Harjit Sajjan, the lieutenant colonel, can wake up in the morning and still salute the man he sees in the mirror.

By rights, it should be impossible.

markbonokoski@gmail.com