Mr Beast at Beastly Red gave me such a pure laugh this morning, an occurrence so rare lately that I just had to share: "Canada one step closer to North American domination."
Now, you probably read this story yesterday and felt on first reading, as I did, that familiar sense of despair at watching the corruption and collapse of democracy on this continent. The blustering control freaks who, inexplicably, still run the show, in spite of their impeccable record of failure on all fronts, have signed yet once again one of those cute little treaties (ok: administrative agreements) that never get passed in front of any body of the people’s elected representatives, not in the U.S. and not here. In Canada, they don’t even get announced to the people. The Americans at least allow one of their generals to blurt a bit in a press release, and so we learned, too late and through foreign sources (as usual), that
Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.
The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.
Yes, I confess, for a moment there I had the ole DFH (CanDiv) knee-jerk reaction to that report. I mean, we’re just so used to thinking that it’s always going to work their way, that deep integration always means that they get richer and more powerful and we lower our standards and tug our forelocks (and there are reasons we think that). Not Mr Beast, though, and good for Mr Beast. He may have paid a little more attention than I did to the paranoia of far-right wingnuts in the U.S., who are seriously scared of us:
"Co-operative militaries on Home Soil!" notes one website. "The next time your town has a 'national emergency,' don't be surprised if Canadian soldiers respond. And remember - Canadian military aren't bound by posse comitatus."Posse comitatus is a U.S. law that prohibits the use of federal troops from conducting law enforcement duties on domestic soil unless approved by Congress.
That’s us! Peeps: we’re not bound by posse comitatus! Maybe we’re not Blackwater, but we’re posse comitatus-free! Fear us. We come bearing ... single-payer universal health insurance? No wonder all right-thinking red-blooded Charlton Heston and Pat Boone clones are scared of this treaty (excuse me: administrative agreement). Canadian cooties – ew!
But back to Mr Beast (sorry: got a little carried away there), who was my inspiration. Mr Beast, clearly nourished by the milk of human kindness and the spirit of universal brotherhood, thinks of the task before us so much more positively and generously than had at first occurred to me:
If the US Government is in crisis it will be up to us to step in and help our fellow Americans to continue the west's fantastic way of life! We being the closest and arguably the best able to set things right (Remember 1812? We never forget), would without question jump to the defence of our southern brothers.
Of course we would. We will. Once Canadians grasp the true potential of this treaty (sorry: administrative agreement), everyone is gonna sign up. And they’ll love us. They don’t know that yet, but we know. They’ll love us. We’re nice guys. Everyone knows that.
Where do I sign? And when do we march?
Canada’s Condescending Government may deign to let us know sometime next week ... kind of, sort of, not so’s anyone would notice much:
it will be reported on in the Canadian Forces newspaper next week and that publication will be put on the Internet.
[NB: I don’t know WTH this means:
Scanlon said the actual agreement hasn't been released to the public as that requires approval from both nations. That decision has not yet been taken, he added.
But I think I can guarantee you it doesn’t mean full debate in Parliament.]
Never mind. On to Washington. We have a people to liberate. They’ll welcome us with open arms and flowers. They’ll love us. Trust me.
Cross-posted to Dawg's Blawg.
skdadl - This is interesting, certainly in the way it wasn't announced, but it really isn't news. I first heard of this probably a couple of years ago now. In fact I thought that this "agreement" was signed long ago. I'll have to do a little digging to see what I have on it. I wouldn't be surprised to find that this discussion even predates the Harpies.
Ok. A quick check reveals a number of these agreements revolving around the sharing of emergency resources in the event of "natural and technological emergencies or disasters, and for declared or undeclared hostilities including enemy attack".
The first note of discussions I found actually goes back to 1967. The first related agreement was signed in 1986.
There is a similar regional agreement among western states and provinces.
This is a reference to the so called "smart border" agreement signed in 2001.
It is actually the "Smart Border" agreement that I was thinking of when I said this isn't exactly news. Here are the relevant paras from this 2002 document from DND:
"Under this agreement, both countries will work together on contingency plans for defending against, and responding to, possible threats in Canada and the U.S., including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. The objective of the arrangement is to work out the details of a coordinated response in advance of a potential crisis.
In the event of a crisis, operational cooperation between the Canadian and U.S. military forces will continue to occur only under conditions approved by both governments, on a case-by-case basis. Should the forces of either country ever be required to help respond to an emergency situation across the border, these forces would come under the operational control of the home country."
I don't like this any better now that I did then.
Newsflash. Bush hasn't been bound by 'posse cometatus' - or much else - for some time now, as a flock of enabling legislation has eviscerated whatever restraints there were on Lord Bush.
I not only don't think you're overreacting, but may not be alarmed enough.
On to Washington indeed!
Why, it's been absolutly ages since the last time we burned down the White House!
This deal is analgous to IBETS, the Integrated Border Enforcement Teams.
mahigan, that is one of the funny things about the SPP: more than once I have thought that it is a simply a codification of stuff that more suave and subtle Liberal politicians and diplomats were doing all the time anyway. We're enraged now because they -- and I don't mean just Harper and gang; I'd include a lot of Liberals as well -- are openly thumbing their noses at us, arranging the meetings and the agreements without ever informing us of the substance until after the dirty deeds are done.
Maybe all that has changed is the open crudity of North American so-called elites. The new guys aren't smart enough to be smooth with the public, and besides, they don't care. Their idea of sophistication is MBA language, which they may or may not have noticed impresses no one except other MBAs, but beyond that, they don't care. Their message to citizens is like it or lump it; we're going full steam ahead. They are brutes, plain and simple.
opit, I will keep trying to visit you, although I'm not getting through right now. I promise you: I'm alarmed; many of us are alarmed. I am agog at what the U.S. Congress are allowing Cheney/Bush to get away with, even after some congresscritturs uncovered so much of it over the past year. And I'm simply disgusted to watch our own wannabes in Ottawa rehearsing the same tired old routines at a time when it seems so obvious that those are coming to a major crash landing in the U.S.
Alison ... heh. Y'know, I was thinking about the burning of the White House earlier today ... Might have put that in, but then I thought CIA / NSA / FBI / CSIS / RCMP / choose your pick ... We're aliens, Alison, after all -- I mean, everybody knows that by now. The spooks don't need no FISA court to start tracking us, eh?
Be afraid. Be very afraid. We have seen the enemy, and they is us.
skdadl - I should probably clarify a bit. I don't necessarily have a problem with mutual assistance pacts per se. This kind of international agreement may be useful, desirable or even necessary.
But, if we're going to have this kind of arrangement, it should be a transparent, publicly negotiated treaty clearly spelling out the parameters and ratified by all parties. It should not be a deal that looks like it was cut in some hotel room by a bunch of backroom political hacks.
Inviting a foreign military presence is never something that should be taken lightly. Are we really comforted by the fact that US troops in Canada would be under the nominal control of General "Cowboy" Rick Hillier rather than General Jack D. Ripper? There is a real question in my mind whether US troops would accept the orders of of Canadian officers in all situations or whether Canadian forces might have their own problems with, say, violating the posse comitatus act even if that act is generally ignored by the Bush regime.
These are not trivial questions and are deserving of serious public consideration not some backroom deal.
The original agreement was signed in 1986, reaffirmed in 1996, replaced by the Smart Borders Agreement in 2001 and updated again now. By my calculations, this has been done by three separate governments representing 2 political parties none of whom seem to have felt that public discussion and legislative approval were worth bothering with. I wonder how many times the members of those governments blathered on about "open and transparent government".
Hey skdadl!
Congratulations on winning a Canadian F-Word Blogging Award in the category of 'Why the F*#$ didn't I Say That'.
Cheers
I'm just remembering that one of the first organized rescues into New Orleans was a civilian urban response unit that FLEW IN FROM VANCOUVER and still beat the national guard unit based 2 hours up the freakin highway by 2 whole days.
A mutual assisstance deal negotiated openly would be a good thing, helping save lives. This thing, we don't even know what the hell it is. For all we know, we didn't even sign the damn thing, the americans are just saying we did. How f'ed up is that.
Well, Yeti, there was a Canadian Lt-Gen present and signing, but in some ways that seems even more f'ed up. Our militaries are concluding these agreements for us?!? I thought also of that unit that flew down to NOLA from Vancouver. Better than Blackwater, eh? We're nice guys!
PSA, thanks very much, and thanks for your enthusiasm too. You know that all the grils love you and CC.
Canada..one step closer to becoming the 51st state.