Chossudovsky: The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada

2008-03-18

Richard Moore

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8323


The Deployment of US Troops inside Canada


By Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, March 13, 2008

On February 14th, Canada and the US signed an agreement which allows for the 
deployment of US troops inside Canada.

There was no official announcement nor was there a formal decision at the 
governmental level.

In fact the agreement was barely mentioned by the Canadian media.

The agreement, which raises farreaching issues of national sovereignty, was not 
between the two governments. It was signed by military commanding officers.

U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) released a statement confirming that the 
agreement had been signed between US NORTHCOM and Canada Command, namely between
the military commands of each country. Canada Command was established in 
February 2006.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense 
Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Canadian Air Force Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, 
commander of Canada Command, have signed a Civil Assistance Plan that allows the
military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during 
a civil emergency.

³This document is a unique, bilateral military plan to align our respective 
national military plans to respond quickly to the other nation's requests for 
military support of civil authorities,² Renuart said. ³Unity of effort during 
bilateral support for civil support operations such as floods, forest fires, 
hurricanes, earthquakes and effects of a terrorist attack, in order to save 
lives, prevent human suffering and mitigate damage to property, is of the 
highest importance, and we need to be able to have forces that are flexible and 
adaptive to support rapid decision-making in a collaborative environment.²

³The signing of this plan is an important symbol of the already strong working 
relationship between Canada Command and U.S. Northern Command,² Dumais said. 
³Our commands were created by our respective governments to respond to the 
defense and security challenges of the twenty-first century, and we both realize
that these and other challenges are best met through cooperation between 
friends.²

The plan recognizes the role of each nation's lead federal agency for emergency 
preparedness, which in the United States is the Department of Homeland Security 
and in Canada is Public Safety Canada. The plan facilitates the 
military-to-military support of civil authorities once government authorities 
have agreed on an appropriate response.

U.S. Northern Command was established on Oct. 1, 2002, to anticipate and conduct
homeland defense and civil support operations within the assigned area of 
responsibility to defend, protect, and secure the United States and its 
interests.

Similarly, Canada Command was established on Feb. 1, 2006, to focus on domestic 
operations and to offer a single point of contact for all domestic and 
continental defense and security partners.

The two domestic commands established strong bilateral ties well before the 
signing of the Civil Assistance Plan. The two commanders and their staffs meet 
regularly, collaborate on contingency planning and participate in related annual
exercises.

(NORTHCOM website: http://www.northcom.mil/News/2008/021408.html

The Decision to Allow the Deployment of US Troops inside Canada was taken in 
April 2002

While a formal agreement was reached in February 2008, the decision to allow the
deployment of US troops in Canada was announced in April 2002 by (former) 
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Territorial control over Canada is part of Washington's geopolitical and 
military agenda as formulated in April 2002 by Donald Rumsfeld.  "Binational 
integration" of military command structures was also contemplated alongside a 
major revamping in the areas of immigration, law enforcement and intelligence.

The matter has been known for more than five years. It has been deliberately 
obfuscated. There  has been no public debate. It has not received news coverage 
nor has it been the object of discussion in the Canadian House of Commons or the
US Congress.

In an article published in 2004 entitled Is the Annexation of Canada Part of 
Bush's Military Agenda?, I provided a detailed analysis of the process of 
integration of military command structures. I also examined the broader issue of
sovereignty. The Toronto Star accepted to publish an abridged version of my 
November 2004 text as an oped. The article explained that Ottawa had been:

"quietly negotiating [since April 2002] a far-reaching military cooperation 
agreement, which allows the US Military to cross the border and deploy troops 
anywhere in Canada, in our provinces, as well station American warships in 
Canadian territorial waters. This redesign of Canada's defense system is being 
discussed behind closed doors, not in Canada, but at the Peterson Air Force base
in Colorado, at the headquarters of US Northern Command (NORTHCOM)."

Despite repeated assurances by the Toronto Star OpEd Editor, the article never 
appeared in print. Below is a summary of my more detailed November 2004 text as 
well as links to the original articles:

"The creation of NORTHCOM announced in April 2002, constitutes a blatant 
violation of both Canadian and Mexican territorial sovereignty. Defense 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced unilaterally that US Northern Command would 
have jurisdiction over the entire North American region. Canada and Mexico were 
presented with a fait accompli. US Northern Command's jurisdiction as outlined 
by the US DoD includes, in addition to the continental US, all of Canada, 
Mexico, as well as portions of the Caribbean, contiguous waters in the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans up to 500 miles off the Mexican, US and Canadian coastlines 
as well as the Canadian Arctic.

NorthCom's stated mandate is to "provide a necessary focus for [continental] 
aerospace, land and sea defenses, and critical support for [the] nation¹s civil 
authorities in times of national need."

(Canada-US Relations - Defense Partnership ­ July 2003, Canadian American 
Strategic Review (CASR),

http://www.sfu.ca/casr/ft-lagasse1.htm

Rumsfeld is said to have boasted that "the NORTHCOM ­ with all of North America 
as its geographic command ­ 'is part of the greatest transformation of the 
Unified Command Plan [UCP] since its inception in 1947.'" (Ibid)

Following Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's refusal to join NORTHCOM, a high-level 
so-called "consultative" Binational Planning Group (BPG), operating out of the 
Peterson Air Force base, was set up in late 2002, with a mandate to "prepare 
contingency plans to respond to [land and sea] threats and attacks, and other 
major emergencies in Canada or the United States".

The BPG's mandate goes far beyond the jurisdiction of a consultative military 
body making "recommendations" to government. In practice, it is neither 
accountable to the US Congress nor to the Canadian House of Commons.

The BPG has a staff of fifty US and Canadian "military planners", who have been 
working diligently for the last two years in laying the groundwork for the 
integration of Canada-US military command structures. The BPG works in close 
coordination with the Canada-U.S. Military Cooperation Committee at the 
Pentagon, a so-called " panel responsible for detailed joint military planning".

Broadly speaking, its activities consist of two main building blocks: the 
Combined Defense Plan (CDP) and The Civil Assistance Plan (CAP).

The Militarisation of Civilian Institutions

As part of its Civil Assistance Plan (CAP), the BPG is involved in supporting 
the ongoing militarisation of civilian law enforcement and judicial functions in
both the US and Canada. The BPG has established "military contingency plans" 
which would be activated "on both sides of the Canada-US border" in the case of 
a terror attack or "threat". Under the BPG's Civil Assistance Plan (CAP), these 
so-called "threat scenarios" would involve:

"coordinated response to national requests for military assistance [from civil 
authorities] in the event of a threat, attack, or civil emergency in the US or 
Canada."

In December 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks, the Canadian government 
reached an agreement with the Head of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, entitled the 
"Canada-US Smart Border Declaration." Shrouded in secrecy, this agreement 
essentially hands over to the Homeland Security Department, confidential 
information on Canadian citizens and residents. It also provides US authorities 
with access to the tax records of Canadians.

What these developments suggest is that the process of "binational integration" 
is not only occurring in the military command structures but also in the areas 
of immigration, police and intelligence. The question is what will be left over 
within Canada's jurisdiction as a sovereign nation, once this ongoing process of
binational integration, including the sharing and/or merger of data banks, is 
completed?

Canada and NORTHCOM

Canada is slated to become a member of NORTHCOM at the end of the BPG's two 
years mandate.

No doubt, the issue will be presented in Parliament as being "in the national 
interest". It "will create jobs for Canadians" and "will make Canada more 
secure".

Meanwhile, the important debate on Canada's participation in the US Ballistic 
Missile Shield, when viewed out of the broader context,  may serve to divert 
public attention away from the more fundamental issue of North American military
integration which implies Canada's acceptance not only of the Ballistic Missile 
Shield, but of the entire US war agenda, including significant hikes in defense 
spending which will be allocated to a North American defense program controlled 
by the Pentagon.

And ultimately what is at stake is that beneath the rhetoric, Canada will cease 
to function as a Nation:

€  Its borders will be controlled by US officials and confidential information 
on Canadians will be shared with Homeland Security.

€  US troops and Special Forces will be able to enter Canada as a result of a 
binational arrangement.

Canadian citizens can be arrested by US officials, acting on behalf of their 
Canadian counterparts and vice versa.

But there is something perhaps even more fundamental in defining and 
understanding where Canada and Canadians stand as a Nation.

The World is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The
US has launched a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity. It 
has formulated the contours of an imperial project of World domination. Canada 
is contiguous to "the center of the empire". Territorial control over Canada is 
part of the US geopolitical and military agenda.

The Liberals as well as the opposition Conservative party have endorsed embraced
the US war agenda. By endorsing a Canada-US "integration" in the spheres of 
defense, homeland security, police and intelligence, Canada not only becomes a 
full fledged member of George W. Bush's "Coalition of the Willing", it will 
directly participate, through integrated military command structures, in the US 
war agenda in Central Asia and the Middle East, including the massacre of 
civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, the torture of POWs, the establishment of 
concentration camps, etc.

Under an integrated North American Command, a North American national security 
doctrine would be formulated. Canada would be obliged to embrace Washington's 
pre-emptive military doctrine, including the use of nuclear warheads as a means 
of self defense, which was ratified by the US Senate in December 2003. (See 
Michel Chossudovsky, The US Nuclear Option and the "War on Terrorism" 
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO405A.html May 2004)

Moreover, binational integration in the areas of Homeland security, immigration,
policing of the US-Canada border, not to mention the anti-terrorist legislation,
would imply pari passu acceptance of the US sponsored police State, its racist 
policies, its "ethnic profiling" directed against Muslims, the arbitrary arrest 
of anti-war activists.


Links to Articles

Is the Annexation of Canada Part of Bush's Military Agenda?

- by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - 2007-07-18 (first published in November 2004)

Canada and America: Missile Defense and the Vows of Military Integration

- by Michel Chossudovsky - 2005-02-23 (accepted for publication as an OpEd by 
the Toronto Star)

Continental Integration of Military Command Structures: A Threat to Canada's 
Sovereignty

- by Michel Chossudovsky - 2006-05-12
Canada's Sovereignty in Jeopardy: the Militarization of North America
by Michel Chossudovsky - 2007-08-17

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© Copyright Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2008

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