[Vision2020] America's Secret Plan to Invade Canada

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 15, 2006) Damn Interesting and the Glasnost Archive -

http://www.glasnost.de/hist/usa/1935invasion.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------

America's Secret Plan to Invade Canada

Posted by Greg Bjerg on April 14th, 2006 at 9:38 pm 

At a length of 5,522 miles (8,891 kilometers), Canada and the United States
share the longest non-militarized border in the world. Today we think of the
two nations as the friendliest of neighbors, but at one time both nations
had somewhat detailed plans for attacking one another. just in case. 

The U.S. plan was titled "Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan - Red," and it
included plans for the invasion of Canada by the United States as part of a
larger worldwide military action. War Plan Red was actually designed for a
war against England and it's Commonwealth. The scenario imagined a conflict
between England (code name Red) and the United States (Blue) fighting over
vital international trade and commercial interests.

The plan was devised by the Pentagon U.S. military in 1934. In the event of
such a military conflict, American planners assumed that England would use
Canada (Crimson)- a part of the British Commonwealth- as a staging area for
attacks on the United States. The Army had even researched which beaches the
British might use for amphibious landings. 

The American military wasn't going to ignore a possible Anglo-Canadian
threat, so a strategy for a preemptive takeover was devised. The
ninety-four-page document outlined plans for stopping British reinforcements
by taking the port of Halifax, then seizing the hydroelectric power plants
at Niagara Falls while the Navy blockaded Canada's Atlantic and Pacific
ports. The Navy would also take control of the Great Lakes. Special notice
was made about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and how they were not a
force to be taken lightly in a military action.

Next the U.S. Army was to attack in force on three fronts - advancing from
North Dakota towards Winnipeg, moving from Vermont to capture Montreal and
Quebec, and moving from the upper Midwest to take over the nickel mines of
Ontario. The plan also called for a convoy to travel up Route 99 to
Vancouver, and for the British colonies in the Caribbean to be taken. The
goal of the U.S. was not only to defeat Canada, but to claim it as a prize,
as described in the document:

"BLUE intentions are to hold in perpetuity all CRIMSON and RED territory
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."
All of the plans were discovered at the National Archives when they were
declassified in 1974. The original War Plan Red was one of many "color
plans" developed as academic exercises in a War Department with too little
to do in the 1920s and 30s. The plans were an outgrowth of the creation of
the new U.S. Army War College and the U.S. Army War Plans Division. With the
development of a planning capacity the Pentagon figured they should get some
practice.

As for the Canadians, they had their own plan outlining the invasion of the
United States. Developed in 1921, it was called "Defense Scheme Number One,"
and it called for Canadian soldiers to march on Albany, Minneapolis, Seattle
and Great Falls, Montana. They were well aware that they lacked the military
strength to defeat the U.S., so the thrust of the plan was to buy time for
the British to arrive and help their commonwealth ally.

The department in Canada responsible for war planning had an annual budget
of just $1,200. During the clandestine information-gathering for Defense
Scheme Number One, staff members of the department actually entered the
United States to take photographs and to procure free maps at gas stations.

Even though these war plans were just wildly imaginative speculation, there
have been real invasions of Canada by Americans in the past. During the
Revolutionary War, General Benedict Arnold led a failed attack on Canada,
and during the War of 1812 U.S. troops attacked Canadians several times, but
were driven back. In 1839, Americans and Canadians met in a deadly
confrontation over a border dispute. it cost the life of one American cow
and a Canadian pig.

In 1866, about eight hundred Irish-Americans in a group called the Fenian
Brotherhood tried to make a statement for Irish independence by invading
Canada to agitate the English. After crossing the Niagara River into Ontario
they defeated a small group of Canadian militia. But when the British
approached with a large force of troops, the Fenians mostly retreated back
to the United States, where they were arrested. Some were captured by the
Canadians and were eventually hanged.

Today some Canadians are still sensitive to talk of an American takeover.
The two countries have at least four unresolved border disputes. In 2003 the
Canadian Army set up an Internet chat room where citizens could discuss
military issues. The Ottawa Citizen reported:

"One of the hottest topics on the site discusses whether the U.S. will
invade Canada to seize its natural resources. Many individuals stated that
if the such an attack did come, Canada could rely on a scorched-earth policy
similar to what Russia did when invaded by Nazi Germany."
Regardless, within years of the development of War Plan Red, Canada and the
United States were allies in World War 2. Eventually both nations developed
a common defense strategy for North America and both were charter signers in
NATO. For Americans, Canada has secured it's place in the "Axis of
Congeniality," and today the U.S./Canadian border has the largest number of
legal crossings of any border in the world.

So you might wonder, is there an up-to-date 21st Century War Plan Red hidden
away some obscure Defense Department office? When asked if such a plan
existed today, a spokesman for the Pentagon said, "We don't acknowledge
which countries we have contingency plans for. We don't acknowledge any of
our contingency plans." 

That's certainly not a denial. So, better not try any funny business,
Canada. We might just have a plan.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving
safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in
sideways, chocolate in one hand, a drink in the other, body thoroughly used
up, totally worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO. What a ride!'"