Voice of Revolution

Defend New Orleans

Stop the Security and Prosperity Partnership! Tool of U.S. Annexation, Fascism and War!

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) is a tool of U.S. annexation, fascism and war. The aim of the SPP is to create a North America of the Monopolies. It includes developing a single security perimeter, stretching from northern most Canada to southernmost Mexico, and essentially eliminating the east-west borders. It includes integration and use of Canadian and Mexican military and police forces into the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), all for use against the peoples at home and abroad. It includes making biometric identification cards that are valid for all three countries and required by workers in all three.

The SPP builds on the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the numerous attacks on rights of the “terrorism” laws like the USA Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act. It is far more comprehensive and dangerous than NAFTA as an instrument of annexation. Its aim is to ensure the U.S. has a secure base encompassing all of North America — with all of its labor, oil and natural resources — in order to wage its battle for world empire. The SPP is also a means to draw workers in the U.S. into supporting the drive of the imperialists for empire and divide them from the peoples of Canada and Mexico. We say NO! No to SPP and NO to fascism and war! We say U.S. Military and Police Forces Out of Canada! And Stay Out of Mexico!

There have been many actions already against the SPP, against the U.S. border death wall and the massive raids and deportations, against NAFTA and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). While FTAA has now been defeated, the SPP is still going forward. It is vital that the struggle against it be stepped-up and broadened. New Orleans is a city of resistance under attack by the ruling circles. The upcoming SPP Summit in New Orleans, April 20-21, is the time to stand in defense of New Orleans, by joining actions there or holding anti-SPP actions in cities across the Americas!

SPP Stands Against Democracy and Rule of Law

The SPP stands against democracy and rule of law. It was created by executive dictate, with the U.S. bringing together the heads of state of Canada and Mexico and making certain they agreed on the SPP. Since the first SPP Summit in 2005, there have been no laws passed approving it, not even debate on the SPP by the top legislative branches of government in any of the three countries. Instead the executives are simply implementing SPP and striving to avoid anything, like treaties and trade agreements, that requires legislation. With SPP, the U.S. decides, the heads of state of Canada and Mexico agree, then all three announce the decisions. The legislatures and courts play no role, despite the fact that the decisions commonly run contrary to existing law and standards in each country.

The content of the SPP is openly being directed by the top U.S. monopolies, which lead the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC). These include oil and military giants Chevron, GM, Ford, Lockheed Martin, GE, as well as Merck pharmaceutical, WalMart, and others. The NACC, formed in 2006 at the SPP Summit in Cancun, Mexico, is made up of executives from the top monopolies of all three countries. It prepares reports and recommendations. These recommendations are implemented by President George W. Bush and imposed on Canada and Mexico, completely against the peoples of all three countries.

The meetings are held in secret with a huge military and police presence to protect these elected officials from the people. The last summit, August 21-22, 2007, in Quebec, brought out the SPP’s militarist character — with the U.S. Army dictating that a planned public forum by activists, at a public community center located several miles from the summit, could not take place. Instead, the U.S. military decided the community center would serve as its command center — in Canada! The U.S. military also dictated how demonstrators would be contained, using methods from the U.S., including use of checkpoints, roadblocks and “protest pens.”

Integration of Military for “Continental Defense”

More recently the U.S. and Canada signed an agreement for use of the military from both countries, in either country, in the event of a “domestic civil emergency.” The agreement, called the “Civil Assistance Plan,” was signed, not by civilian authorities from government, but by the military generals from U.S. NORTHCOM and Canada Command.

NORTHCOM was specifically established in 2002 to organize military actions against Americans inside the country, something that had been outlawed. NORTHCOM also serves to increase control and interference in Canada and Mexico. Both countries are listed as part of NORTHCOM’s “responsibility.” The U.S. also dictated that Canada establish Canada Command in 2006.

NORTHCOM issued a statement on the “Civil Assistance Plan,” February 14, 2008. In it, U.S. General Gene Renuart, head of NORTHCOM and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) explains the character of the plan as “rapid response” and “rapid decision making.” He says the plan 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.” He said, “Unity of effort during bilateral support for civil support operations such as floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and effects of a terrorist attack,” is of the highest importance. He emphasized, “We need to be able to have forces that are flexible and adaptive to support rapid decision making in a collaborative environment.”

The same statement makes clear that arrangements for such rapid military action are already in place. Canada Command, it says, serves to “focus on domestic operations and to offer a single point of contact for all domestic and continental defense and security partners.” Thus there is an integrated military force and single chain of command, with a single “continental defense,” for use by the U.S. imperialists.

Given the powers now usurped by President George W. Bush to declare a “national emergency” which, at any time, give the president sole authority over the government and military, this agreement can be put quickly into action. The U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament have no say. Indeed, if past practice is an indicator, NORTHCOM could communicate directly with the Canadian military, and the Canadian Prime Minister may not even be informed, let alone have a say. The character of the SPP as a tool of U.S. annexation, war and repression is clear.

Just before the last summit in Quebec, NORTHCOM’s General Renuart claimed, with no evidence of any kind, that al-Qaida is building “cells” in the U.S. and that the military needs to triple its “response teams.” He already has a team of 3,500 troops and Renuart wants two more teams of similar size. Now Canadian special teams will also be available.

NORTHCOM also issued a report in 2007 called “NORAD, USNORTHCOM Plan for ‘Borderless Threats’ with Vision 2020.” As the title implies, the plan does not recognize borders but only U.S. dictate, claiming today’s world is “not a world of borders, but it’s a world of borderless threats, a world of cyber threats, a world of natural disasters on a fairly large scale that can cause substantial damage to our citizens and to their property.” The report also emphasizes that “the commands will partner with civilian agencies, the military Reserve components and the National Guard even more than they have in the past.” (NORAD is the military arrangement that already puts Canadian armed forces under U.S. command.)

Plan Mexico

A longside plans for use of the Canadian military in the U.S. and increased use of the U.S. military in Canada, there are also efforts to integrate the police and military forces of Mexico. These actions are going forward under the banner of fighting drugs, as was done in Colombia. The U.S. military is highly active in Colombia and in recent killings and attacks on the sovereignty of Ecuador and Venezuela.

President Bush is currently proposing $1.4 billion in funding for Mexico’s police and military forces, known as the Merida Initiative. $500 million is to be provided this year and the rest over the following two years. The $500 million alone is ten times more than last year’s $45 million “counter-narcotics” funding to Mexico. About half of the $500 million is for helicopters and high-tech surveillance equipment along Mexico’s southern border — that is the border that represents the southern perimeter of the North America of the Monopolies. The funds are also for “training” of Mexico’s forces. It remains unclear if U.S. military forces directly, or mercenaries like Blackwater will be used for the “training.” According to government officials, the “key is strengthening institutions and capacity in our partner countries so that we can do more things jointly, responding with greater agility, confidence and speed.” Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has already agreed to have the Mexican military and Navy be the main forces involved in these joint efforts. Much like Plan Colombia and Plan Panama, Bush’s Plan Mexico is a means to get U.S. military forces active inside Mexico and bring Mexican forces under U.S. command.

Control of Workers and Resources

The SPP is also designed to control and regulate the workers and natural resources of all three countries for the benefit of the top U.S. monopolies, in particular, and North American monopolies in general. It is a main weapon in robbing Canadian oil and water resources, as well as Mexican oil.

Immigration is being used as a means to impose common identification cards on all, and to regulate who does and does not work and where. And while the government is giving every appearance that is trying to “close” the borders, in fact, as General Renuart indicates, the aim is to essentially eliminate the borders running east to west and create a single North American perimeter along the oceans.

The border fencing now being built mainly serves militarization. It is well known that it will not stop people from coming into the country. A law requiring all U.S. monopolies to meet a minimum wage of $15 an hour wherever they are located would do far more to lessen immigration than the hated death wall! But the wall does provide hi-tech spy-towers, cameras and use of drones — for use against peoples on both sides of the border. It also provides another excuse for the U.S. military to get into Mexico.

The disinformation and hateful laws and government actions in the U.S. against immigrants have as a main aim to whip up antagonisms in the hopes of getting U.S. workers to side with their imperialist masters. It is also another mechanism to integrate U.S. police forces under military command, including state and local police and governments, as well as those of Mexico and Canada. This integration includes development of detention camps for tens of thousands, for use against immigrants now and against all who resist in the coming period.

Join Actions to Oppose the SPP

It is no accident that the upcoming summit will take place in New Orleans, where the government-organized disaster before, during and after Hurricane Katrina brutally attacked the rights of the people and left thousands to die — for all the world to see. Indeed it is with the same impunity and arrogance that the imperialists are presenting New Orleans as their example of “prosperity and security.” In the two years since Katrina, nearly half of the survivors have been blocked from exercising their right to return. All of the New Orleans public school teachers were fired and most public schools were closed or privatized. Charity Hospital, the public hospital, remains closed. Public housing is being demolished, while homelessness has doubled to more than 12,000 people. During and after Katrina, military troops were brought in and remain to this day. They acted with impunity during and after Katrina, depriving civilians of food and water, killing them outright, separating families and forcing them out of the city and more. Prisoners were left to die in flooding jails and many were kept for months without charges. This is the security and prosperity the rulers have in mind.

We consider the holding of the SPP in New Orleans as a challenge to the peoples. The U.S. imperialists are making clear that New Orleans is their model of the “security and prosperity” to be imposed on all. They are also attempting to negate the character of New Orleans as a center for united resistance and present instead an example of their fascist darkness. This makes the actions planned all the more important. Let all together stand up to say, Defend New Orleans! Our security lies in our fight together for the rights of all!

The workers of all three countries are striving for fraternal relations of unity and cooperation. They despise these efforts to pit the peoples against each other, as the May Day actions across the U.S., in Mexico, Canada and worldwide have shown. This drive of the working class for unity and cooperation, with the vibrant struggle to create Another World, is the biggest problem for the monopolies. The monopolies are using immigration and threats of “terrorism” to try and neutralize unity and cooperation and split the workers into warring factions. We say NO! We stand for relations of equality and mutual benefit and reject the chauvinism of U.S. imperialism! Let all together work to strengthen our fraternal relations, people to people, organization to organization.

We Are One Humanity with One Struggle for a New World!

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Resolution Calls for International Days of Action
April 18-21 to Stop the SPP!

The resolution below was passed at an international conference in Mexico City, Mexico.

The next summit of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) will be held in New Orleans April 20-21, 2008. International Days of Action are being organized, with demonstrations in the U.S. and worldwide to Stop the SPP!

SPP is an instrument of U.S. annexation, fascism and war. It is a military, political and economic instrument, organized and dominated by U.S. imperialism, to create a North America of the Monopolies. It will be used against the working class and peoples of North America and all the Americas and the world, as a vital part of the U.S. drive for world empire.

The SPP itself is organized completely at the executive level, by the three heads of state, with the U.S. dictating to Canada and Mexico. The legislative bodies in all three countries have no role. The SPP will be used to bring U.S. military and police into Mexico and is already being used to allow use of U.S. and Canadian troops inside the U.S. and Canada.

It is the arrogance of the imperialists to use New Orleans as their example of “security and prosperity.” The government-organized disaster before, during and after Katrina includes military occupation and killing of civilians, the massive firing of teachers and closing of public schools, public hospitals, demolishing public housing and blocking nearly half of the population, mostly African Americans, from exercising their right to return. It is an example of open and brutal government racism and impunity. New Orleans is a testing ground for U.S. imperialism for its fascist arrangements like SPP.

New Orleans is also a center of resistance. Actions are being organized in the U.S. on April 18-21 to Stop the SPP. The united stand of all the peoples against this instrument of annexation, fascism and war is vital.

The XII Seminar expresses its full support for the International Days of Action to Stop the SPP and participants will support the actions in whatever way possible.

Passed unanimously at the “XII Seminar: The Parties and the New Society,” held in Mexico City, Mexico, March 13-15. The Seminar brings together parties and organizations of the international workers and communist movement. Delegations present included those from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and from Brazil, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, France, Honduras, Korea, Lebanon, Palestine, Panama, Portugal, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, Puerto Rico, and others.

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Hold Government Accountable for Crimes

Minnesota Bridge Collapse & the Security and Prosperity Partnership

The 2007 bridge collapse in Minnesota on Interstate 35 (I-35) was a brutal crime of the government. The disaster, like that after Katrina, was government-organized. Since 1990 federal and state officials knew the bridge was dangerous and needed repair. At the time of the collapse, it had a deficiency rating of 50 percent, considered the threshold for replacement. Clearly, 50 percent should be the threshold for closure! No one in the country could fail to see the direct relationship between the now $600 billion spent on war and destruction, while a basic duty of government, the safety of the highways, is left to chance — all with the claim that there is no money.

The death and destruction imposed on Minnesota is fully the responsibility of the federal government. So are repairs of all bridges nationwide in similar conditions. Yet President George W. Bush, far from ensuring no future death bridges and immediately paying reparations to all the families involved and state and local governments for the crime of failing to maintain the interstate highways, simply promises to “help.”

Katrina survivors, still waiting two years later for the government to take responsibility and guarantee their right to return and rebuild, let it be known that such government promises mean nothing, not for people in Minnesota, not for those in New Orleans. They also urged the people of Minnesota to do as they have done — charge the government for its crimes and demand reparations and punishment, while organizing and relying on themselves to defend rights.

The particular collapse on the I-35 bridge at rush hour can also be tied to the push by the U.S. for greatly increased trade between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, all for the benefit of the monopolies. I-35 is one of the main highways of what is known as the NAFTA Superhighway, stretching from Laredo Texas, through Kansas City, Missouri and on up through Minnesota into Canada. One result is a big increase in truck traffic and the corresponding wear and tear on highways.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) back in 1998 warned that increased truck traffic would be a safety concern with bridges in states along the I-35 corridor. These include, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Data for 2002 shows a steady increase in truck traffic. An estimated 280.7 million tons of freight moved through Minnesota, with 86 percent carried by truck. The level is steadily increasing, while maintaining the highways and providing for the safety of truck drivers and all motorists continues to decline.

The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, has harmed the peoples of all three countries — forcing huge migration of workers, pushing wages down, damaging the environment and putting natural resources, including oil, water and gas from Canada and Mexico into the hands of the U.S. monopolies. It has meant the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans and the death wall at the border, and now death and injury at the death bridge in Minnesota. The peoples are refusing to accept these crimes and organizing to hold the government accountable and to replace it if it refuses to do its duty.

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U.S. NORTHCOM Establishes Civil Assistance Plan

U.S. Acts to Increase Use of U.S. Military in Canada and Further Control Canadian Armed Forces

On February 14, the U.S. Northern Command (US NORTHCOM) signed a military agreement with Canadian military forces, allowing greater use of the U.S. military inside Canada and increasing U.S. control of Canadian armed forces. The agreement, known as a Civil Assistance Plan, will enable the U.S. to use its troops in Canada in the event of any “domestic civil emergency.” Canadian troops can also be used in the U.S. While NORTHCOM’s statement does not say so directly, the U.S. is the one that commands, whether in the U.S. or Canada. This was recently illustrated at the broad protests in Quebec against the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). Demonstrators from the U.S., Canada and Mexico opposed the SPP last August, demanding an end to U.S. annexation and militarization of all three countries. To counter this “civil unrest,” the U.S. set up a military command center and dictated how the demonstrators would be contained, including use of “protest pens,” roadblocks, checkpoints and more. This latest agreement is serving to legitimize these practices, which are contrary and harmful to the sovereignty of the peoples of all three countries.

The agreement allows combined operations of the armed forces of the United States and Canada in the event of “domestic civil disturbances.” According to NORTHCOM’s commander, Air Force General Gene Renuart, the Civil Assistance Plan 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.” He added, “Unity 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.” Note the emphases on “rapid decision making” by the military once given the go-ahead to act by the president.

NORTHCOM was specifically established in 2002 to organize military actions against Americans inside the country, and to increase control and interference in Canada and Mexico, also listed as part of its “responsibility.” The U.S. also dictated that Canada establish Canada Command in 2006. Canada Command, according to the statement issued by NORTHCOM February 14, serves to “focus on domestic operations and to offer a single point of contact for all domestic and continental defense and security partners.” In this manner Canada Command directly recognizes the on-going U.S efforts to establish a single security perimeter for all of North America, with a single “continental defense.”

The agreement was signed, not by civilian authorities commanding the military, but by the military generals. It was signed at U.S. Army North headquarters, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, by Renuart, commander of both NORTHCOM and NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and by Canadian Air Force Lieutenant General Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command. Dumais affirmed the working relations between the two militaries, saying, “The signing of this plan is an important symbol of the already strong working relationship between Canada Command and U.S. Northern Command.” He continued, “Our commands were created by our respective governments to respond to the defense and security challenges of the twenty-first century.” He said, “We both realize that these and other challenges are best met through cooperation between friends.”

NORTHCOM and Canada Command are mechanisms for the military to take action and to do so on the basis of executive decisions by President George W. Bush or as he dictates to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Or, as has occurred with NORAD in the past, the U.S. military may bypass governmental officials altogether and simply order the Canadian military to act. The agreement facilitates such action, indeed justifies it in the name of “rapid decision making” for “continental defense.” Consistent with the use of executive authority, this latest agreement was signed without Congressional or Parliamentary legislative authorization in either the U.S. or Canada. It is also highly likely that at the upcoming SPP Summit in New Orleans, April 21-22, further agreements for joint military actions will be worked out. These may well include joint actions against demonstrators opposing the SPP.

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Integrating Civilian Forces Under Military Command

USNORTHCOM & FEMA
Training Exercise in Texas

As part of USNORTHCOM’s efforts to develop a single integrated force under military command, it regularly conducts joint exercises that include police agencies at the federal, state and local level and various civilian forces from all levels of government and first responders, like firefighters and hospital workers. It is also regularly deployed for “command and control” functions at any event designated a National Security Special Event, such as the Democratic and Republican Party conventions, the presidential inauguration and state of the union addresses, the G-8 summit, and the upcoming Security and Prosperity Partnership meeting. It is also used at Superbowls to “deter and defeat any possible threats against persons attending,” the game.

As a recent example, in June, 2007, the Texas Hurricane Exercise was conducted in Austin. It included the testing of federal and state plans for evacuating Galveston and Houston in the event of a hurricane, as well as the military’s testing of its “civil support,” in such an emergency. According to USNORTHCOM’s Colonel Lavern “Bullet” Young who participated in both parts, the Texas exercise was the first time all federal and state partners, including the military, were in one location at one time working off a common timeline. He emphasized that the exercise “Allowed us to do some tremendous relationship building.” A main role of the exercises is to get all the various civilian forces at all levels used to accepting and submitting to the role of the military. As Yong put it, “Relationships between the Department of Defense (DOD), FEMA and the states have improved since 9/11. FEMA is leaning forward now more than ever to provide that presence with the states before a disaster. And when FEMA is called, DOD will not be far behind.”

USNORTHCOM’s joint exercises have also included Canadian armed forces and civilians. One exercise involved a potential flu pandemic, anther had several “incidents of mass destruction” occurring at the same time in more than one location.

The exercise known as TOPOFF2 for Top Officials 2, in 2003 involved USNORTHCOM, the Department of Homeland Defense (DHS) and the State Department in what USNORTHCOM described as “the most comprehensive terrorism response exercise ever undertaken in the U.S.” That same year USNORTHCOM presented the “first Homeland Defense Symposium,” in partnership with the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Rocky Mountain Chapter National Defense Industrial Association.” (USNORTHCOM is based in Colorado Springs.) The purpose was to promote USNORTHCOM and its mission. The symposium now occurs annually, as do the TOPOFF exercises.

In 2004, USNORTHCOM and DHS involved more than 50 federal, state and local organizations in an exercise headed by the military known as Exercise Unified Defense. It was organized simultaneously in Alaska, Colorado, Texas, Virginia and D.C. IN 2005 another TOPOFF, this one number 5, took place nationwide.

In May of 2006, USNORTHCOM organized Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 involving federal, provincial, state and local agencies from Canada and the U.S. According to USNORTHCOM, “The exercise required participants to respond to simulated terrorist activities and manage the consequences of a range of simulated man-made and natural disasters.” Exercises of this type are organized regularly, including another one in the nation’s capitol that involves NORAD jets flying low across the city day and night over several days.

More recently, on March 21, 2008, NORTHCOM organized its third hurricane preparation conference. This also brings together various military and civilian forces, including military generasl from states on the East and Gulf coasts, representatives from the National Guard Bureau, Coast Guard, Navy, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, North American Aerospace Defense Command, U.S. Army North, Air Force North and Canada Command. According to NORTHCOM, the goal of the two-day conference, "was to facilitate discussion and strengthen relationships among the attendees." Again, NORTHCOM is creating mechanisms for military command and control, including Canadian forces, in civil emergencies.

In addition USNORTHCOM has established a “Homeland Security/Defense Education Consortium, (HSDEC)” This is done together with the University of Colorado, the University of Denver and the Naval Post graduate School. HSDEC is a “network of teaching and research institutions” focused on “supporting the homeland security and defense missions,” of USNORHCOM. About 50 educational institutions are currently at its disposal

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USNORTHCOM & NORAD Vision 2020 Plan for Annexation

Integrating Military & Civilian Forces for Use
Against the Peoples

In July 2007, the Pentagon’s U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) issued a plan called “Vision 2020.” It addresses the U.S. push for integrating military and civilian forces of Canada and Mexico under U.S. command, as well as integrating “federal, provincial, state, local and tribal police agencies” under the single “command and control” of USNORTHCOM. Both NORAD and USNORTHCOM are now under a single commander, U.S. Air Force General Gene Renuart.

USNORTHCOM was established in 2002 as the “unified combatant command,” for the U.S, Canada and Mexico (North America). It represents the first time the Pentagon has established a command center for military operations inside the U.S. and a single command for both Canada and Mexico. Indeed, its banner claims ownership and control of all three countries, saying, “Defending Our Homelands.”
NORAD is the longstanding military arrangement enabling the U.S. to put the Canadian military on alert and to use it for U.S. aims. While it is more limited to air and sea defense, it has been an instrument, as Vision 2020 states, to work “in close collaboration with homeland defense, security and law enforcement partners, prevent air attacks against North America,” and “provide aerospace and maritime warning for North America.” While claiming it “safeguards the sovereignty” of both countries, given the U.S. has “command and control,” NORAD has been and remains an instrument to undermine and attack Canadian sovereignty.

Vision 2020 explains that both NORTHCOM and NORAD “operate within a common security environment and share common values.” It emphasizes that “We must constantly challenge ‘the way it is’ in favor of ‘the way it ought to be.’” It also stresses “Unity of effort and unity of results are part of all we do.” It says, “Our charter is clear: we must actively seek and aggressively advocate solutions that best serve collective interests of national and continental defense and security.” Just as the U.S. proclaims U.S.-style democracy the only answer worldwide, Vision 2020 says “We intend to serve as a universal model for collaboration, integrating aerospace and maritime warning, aerospace control and multi-domain homeland defense.”

Vision 2020 openly presents USNORTHCOM as the guardian of U.S. interests alone, although its “area of responsibility” includes all three countries. It says, USNORTHCOM “anticipates and conducts Homeland Defense and Civil Support operations within the assigned area of responsibility to defend, protect and secure the U.S. and its interests.” Showing U.S. plans for a single North American border perimeter, General Renuart said, in releasing Vision 2020, the world “is not a world of borders, but it’s a world of borderless threats, a world of cyber threats, a world of natural disasters on a fairly large scale that can cause substantial damage to our citizens and their property.”

It is USNORTHCOM that sent military forces to New Orleans as part of the government-organized disaster following Katrina. They were well known for being ordered to leave people on the rooftops to die, to fire on civilians, to forcibly remove and separate families, all while protecting the private property of the monopolies. Canadians and Quebecois are now experiencing the U.S. military interference in plans for teach-ins and demonstrations at the August Security and Prosperity Partnership meeting, in Quebec, of President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Harper and Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon. The military dictated that a protest meeting already planned could not take place and that the public community center where it was to be held would instead serve as the command center, with the U.S. military dictating. Plans for actions are going forward despite this U.S. interference and attack on the rights of the peoples.

Integrating Military and Civilian Forces

Vision 2020 is specifically directed toward U.S. efforts to consolidate U.S. “command and control” over Canadian forces, to lessen the divisions that exist within the U.S. military, and to bring civil forces under military control. The military role in Canada to block demonstrations and force provincial and local police forces in Canada and Quebec to do the same is one example of this effort.

Vision 2020 elaborates on the need for USNORTHCOM’s “unique” relations with all forces: “Whether operating in a supported or supporting role, the forces employed for homeland defense or civil support must be able to work with every government, Service, and agency that provides members to serve in homeland and continental defense operations. The unique and wholly necessary relationships we develop and employ with our many established and ad hoc partners will produce trust, enhanced capabilities, mutual advocacy and the culture of collaboration requisite to achieve our missions.” Already, more than 45 different agencies are at USNORTHCOM, sharing information and intelligence and working together daily as a single force.

Thus it can be seen that USNORTHCOM is being used as a means to overcome the many divisions and competing military interests among the different services — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines — and overcome the long-standing distrust and rejection of use of the military by civilian forces. To do so, Vision 2020 says, “Our operations will always be “Joint,” will usually involve interagency partners and when appropriate will be “Combined,” [meaning under military command]. We will maintain special focus on the capabilities of our nations’ reserve components — to include the National Guard — and national, provincial, state, local and tribal organizations.” Further, to secure the acceptance among the population of a military presence inside the country, and of spying for that military, Vision 2020 will “reinforce the U.S. government’s efforts to instill a ‘culture of preparedness’ among our citizenry, and encourage our neighbors Canada and Mexico to do the same.” It says messages will be “crafted for public consumption” that will be “positive, honest, reassuring and pro-active — to reinforce public confidence in our Commands’ abilities.”

Vision 2020 concludes by saying “We will continue to lead military efforts to integrate, coordinate and synchronize with partners from all sectors, sources and levels as we advocate the training, equipment and resources necessary to accomplish our collective missions…We will regularly encourage innovative approaches and philosophies for an effective combined defense.”

Given this “vision,” it should come as no surprise that President Bush has been systematically putting in place arrangements for the executive to call forth the military and USNORTHCOM in particular. This includes their use in the event of an “emergency,” declared by him. These emergencies include a “threat” — not the actual existence, but threat, of — “pandemic flu,” “terrorism,” “civil violence and unrest” or natural disasters like hurricanes, fires and floods where the executive decides the civilian forces are “overwhelmed.” Congress has joined Bush by now making it acceptable to use the military for law enforcement inside the country, again, in an “emergency.”

As well, consistent with content here of maintaining “special focus on the capabilities of our nations’ reserve components — to include the National Guard” Bush has also made it possible for the president to federalize the National Guard of all 50 states and to do so without the consent of the Governor, the civilian authority. Various exercises conducted by USNORTHCOM also emphasize that the military commands, and the civilian forces, both police agencies and others like FEMA, follow.

Vision 2020 is not a vision but a nightmare military arrangement for annexation and repression of the peoples. It is being militantly opposed as a dangerous tool of the imperialists.

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For Your Information

USNORTHCOM and NORAD

According to its webpage, U.S. Northern Command, USNORTHCOM, “was established Oct. 1, 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities. USNORTHCOM defends America’s homeland — protecting our people, national power, and freedom of action.” Its specific mission is to “Conduct operations to deter, prevent, and defeat threats and aggression aimed at the United States, its territories and interests.” Under the direction of the president it “provides defense support of civil authorities.” Its area of operation includes “air, land and sea approaches and encompasses the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico and the surrounding water out to approximately 500 nautical miles. It also includes the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida.” It is based at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) was established May 12, 1958. According to its webpage, it is charged with “the monitoring of man-made objects in space, and the detection, validation, and warning of attack against North America whether by aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles, through mutual support arrangements with other commands. Aerospace control includes ensuring air sovereignty and air defense of the airspace of Canada and the United States.” NORAD also now has “a maritime warning mission, which entails a shared awareness and understanding of the activities conducted in U.S. and Canadian maritime approaches, maritime areas and inland waterways.” Its slogan is “Deter, Detect Defend.” It claims that the sword pointing skyward in its emblem, is not only “the shortest approach of the potential aggressor,” but that “with the advent of the asymmetric terrorist threat, it may also be said that the ‘sharp edges of the sword are prepared to meet any aggressor in our domestic airspace.’”

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