U.S. Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Arrives in Halifax
Tony Seed
This is how the Trudeau Liberals are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation -- with the militarization of Canada's ports and the promotion of "interoperability" with the U.S. war fleet.
From top to bottom, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower , the USS Winston S. Churchill and the HMCS Moncton conduct what the U.S. Navy terms a photo exercise, on the way to Halifax, June 27, 2017.
Throughout the past 150 years, the U.S. military has developed extensive and detailed planning for the invasion and conquest of Canada. A 1924 draft stated: "Blue [U.S.] intentions are to hold in perpetuity all Crimson[Canadian]and Red[British]territories gained. The policy will be to prepare the provinces and territories of Crimson and Red to become states and territories of the Blue Union upon the declaration of peace. The Dominion government will be abolished..."[1]
These plans were codified in War Plan Red which was not a document to be confined to a drawer. In 1934, amendments to the plan were approved by the U.S. Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy authorizing the destruction of Halifax, Montreal and Quebec City by "Immediate air operations on as large a scale as practicable" and authorizing the immediate first-use of poison gas against Canadians in order to "increase our advantages and hasten the successful ending of the war."
The U.S. Army and Navy War Colleges continued working on invasion plans of Canada until at least 1939. For example, for an "Overseas Expeditionary Force to Capture Halifax from Red-Crimson Coalition" (Red Britain, Crimson Canada), was part of War Plan Red. During and after World War II, occupation has continued from within, through annexation and now "integration."
Map of War Plan Red -- click to enlarge.
As recently as 1983, the Pentagon designated Canadian Forces Base Shearwater, which combines an airfield and a naval berth for U.S. nuclear submarines, as a forward deployment base for the "defence" of the U.S. heartland. U.S. military forces carried out innumerable exercises within and outside the harbour of Halifax, including the rehearsal of the illegal mining of the harbour of Nicaragua ("Operation Minex"), which was condemned by the International Court at the Hague. Shearwater is also the base for the Rapid Reaction Force launched under the Harper regime.
The Chilean sailing ship La Esmeralda has also arrived once again in Halifax as part of the "tall ships" spectacle. In 2015, the Guardian, a newspaper published in Britain, reported that during the Pinochet years La Esmeralda was a torture prison:
"A series of human rights reports, including those by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organisation of American States, Amnesty International, the U.S. Senate and the Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, record that in the autumn of 1973 the ship was used to detain and torture victims of the Pinochet regime, who included a British-Chilean priest, Father Michael Woodward.
"They detail how the vessel was berthed in the port of Valparaíso, following Augusto Pinochet's coup d'état. A 1986 U.S. Senate report suggested that as many as 112 people were detained, of whom 40 were women. Rape, the use of electric shocks, mock executions and beatings were reportedly used on the ship. Also on board was Woodward, who, having been tortured onshore, was taken off the vessel for treatment at a naval hospital, but died of his injuries in transit. His remains are allegedly buried in a mass grave under a road.
"Claudio Correa, a former Chilean government official who lives in London, was held on the ship with Woodward. He told the Observer that he was transferred from a military academy to La Esmeralda where specialist teams were employed to torture its occupants over several days. 'They tortured people with no sentiment,' he said. 'They were enjoying it.'
"A Facebook campaign has been set up urging people to protest against the vessel's arrival in London and other European ports. One protester called Carolita explains that its continued use 'reaffirms the Chilean navy's lack of respect for human rights and lack of remorse for actions that have been condemned around the world,' adding that 'it is unjust to expect victims to forgive and forget when the perpetrators do not express regret and remorse.'"[2]
While the Examiner aptly expressed concern about the Chilean torture ship parading as a "tall ship," the arrival of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower , which the media present as a "floating city," is presented as admirable. Lest we forget, a U.S. fleet was stationed off the Chilean coast throughout the 1973 coup d'état under the pretext of an annual exercise code-named UNITAS, in which the Canadian navy also participates.
Notes
1. Richard Preston, The Defence of the Undefended Border: Plans for War in North America, 1867-1939.
2. Time Bousquet, "The Shipping News: Morning File, Wednesday, June 28, 2017," Halifax Examiner , June 28, 2017.
(TML Weekly No. 24, July 1, 2017)