They'd take Halifax (then we'd kill Kenny) [U.S. invasion plans for Canada]

The Globe and Mail ^ | 12/31/05 | SHAWN MCCARTHY

[doc30]

They'd take Halifax (then we'd kill Kenny)

By SHAWN MCCARTHY Saturday, December 31, 2005 Posted at 10:00 AM EST From Saturday's Globe and Mail

NEW YORK — We called their President a moron, and they called us the "retarded cousin." Their ambassador warned about the repercussions of aggressive rhetoric, and our Prime Minister aggressively asserted we will not be "dictated to."

In another age -- or in a Marx Brothers movie -- the escalation of insults and diplomatic contretemps could lead to only one thing: "Of course you know," Groucho famously intoned, "this means war."

It was one of a series of such contingency plans produced in the late 1920s. Canada, identified as Crimson, would be invaded to prevent the Britons from using it as a staging ground to attack the United States.

But having successfully captured Canada, the military planners had no intention of giving it up. "Blue [the Americans'] intentions are to hold in perpetuity all CRIMSON and RED territory gained," they wrote in an appendix.

The plan was withdrawn in 1939, declassified in 1974 and had gone largely unnoticed in a grey box at the National Archives until The Post, echoing the call-to-arms one hears from the drum-bangers at Fox News and elsewhere, resuscitated it under the headline, "Raiding the icebox."

The Post writer helpfully noted the presence of a potential fifth column in the Americans' midst, and chortled at the prospect of Celine Dion and Mike Myers being carted off to Guantanamo Bay in orange jumpsuits.

Canadian officials, predictably, refused to take seriously the report of a 75-year-old U.S. invasion plan.

"We found it amusing, and we'll just have to make sure that our plans are up to date as well," laughed Jasmine Panthaky, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington.

"From time to time, this thing does come up. I guess it's one of those curiosities in the relationship, given that we've been in the news a fair bit. . . . This is just a question of something that has resonance at a time when Canada is receiving its 15 minutes of fame."

Clearly, there are some U.S. radar screens you'd rather not be on.

Having once promised to repair a strained relationship, Prime Minister Paul Martin has apparently decided that an election campaign is a good time to chide the Bush administration for its failings. The U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, responded in kind, urging the Prime Minister to cool the rhetoric or face repercussions -- a message to which Mr. Martin responded like a big-league slugger hitting a batting-practice lob over the fence.

The professional stirrers of strife on U.S. cable channels briefly focused on Canada and didn't like want they saw. MSNBC's Tucker Carlson said that all the intelligent Canadians had long since moved to New York and likened the country to a "retarded cousin." On Fox News, where embattled anger is the abiding emotion, talk show host Neil Cavuto said Canadians had "gotten too big for their britches" and may soon be an enemy of the United States.

Which brings us back to that 1930s-era invasion plan.

It starts with a seaborne assault on Halifax to cut Canada off from its British ally. A later version, approved in 1935, allowed for first-strike use of poison gas and strategic bombing of the city, if necessary.

It also posits that the U.S. invading forces take out Niagara Falls, seize Sudbury's strategic nickel mines, capture Winnipeg as the critical east-west rail juncture and attack Vancouver to deprive the British of a West Coast maritime base.

The 94-page document is rather long on geographic information -- important ports, main industries, transportation links -- and on published assessments of Canadian military strength. But it is rather skimpy on tactical details of a theoretical invasion.

Canada had its own plan, written nine years earlier, to counter a U.S. attack by invading the northern United States.

Likely, few Americans have spent time worrying about a Canadian invasion, other than in comedy clubs.

But the existence of War Plan - Red fed the imaginations of those Canadians who worried about the world's longest undefended border.

They believed that the Americans had always had a covetous view of their resource-rich country, and that the United States was always poised to invade if the opportunity arose.

The chief proponent of the invasion theorists is Floyd Rudmin, a U.S.-born, former Queen's University social psychology professor who has since decamped to the University of Tromso in Norway.

In the early 1990s, Prof. Rudmin wrote several articles -- much amplified in the Toronto Star -- on the U.S. expansion of Fort Drum in northern New York, arguing that the Americans were preparing to intervene if Canada experienced serious instability as a result of a Quebec secessionist movement.

Prof. Rudmin was critical of what he dubbed "the blind eye perspective" that Canadians maintained toward what he saw as obvious U.S. hostility toward its northern neighbour.

But as The Post noted, Canadians can probably relax for the foreseeable future, despite the bluster from the pundits. The U.S. military is otherwise occupied at the moment. Or are they just practising?

Battle plans

U.S. Joint Army and Navy

Basic War Plan -- Red

Key strategies

Capture Halifax to block British reinforcements

Seize key Winnipeg rail junction

Cut power by assault on Niagara Falls

March from Michigan to Sudbury nickel mines

Blockade both coasts

Use secret airbases to control airspace over Ontario

Victory

U.S. annexes captured territory

Canadian Defence

Scheme No. 1

Key strategies

Pre-emptive strikes from sea to sea

On word of U.S. invasion plan, Canadian forces would move to capture Spokane, Great Falls, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Albany and parts of Maine.

In face of U.S. counterattack, Canadian forces would retreat, blowing up bridges and railways, buying time until reinforcements from Britain could arrive.

Victory

Canada keeps Alaska

Perhaps as a public service to their side, The Washington Post yesterday dusted off a 75-year-old U.S. plan to invade Canada, offering it as a contrast to the situation in Iraq, where, it suggested, there was no plan.

First approved in 1930, Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan - Red was drawn up to defend the United States in the event of war with Britain.

[doc30]

Has Canadian-American relations reached a new low? Note - plans are from 1930! However, replace 'Briton' with 'China' or 'Russia' and the plan has some modern merits. Instead of Canada allowing a foreign invasion through a foreign alliance. Canada, with it;s lack of military and security, may be an unwilling accomplice to potential adversaries in the future. This should serve as a warning on what might (big might) be in store for Canada if the security of the U.S. were severely threatened from the north. Protection of Canada would not be a tidy, political affair. It would really be potection of the U.S.

[Brilliant]

Canada, identified as Crimson, would be invaded to prevent the Britons from using it as a staging ground to attack the United States.

They've done that twice, during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

[RoadTest]

Good point.

[frankjr]

From NRO -

"ATTACK PLAN RED, EH? [Jonah Goldberg]

Lots and lots of this sort of email coming in:

Jonah:

War Plan Red has been known for years. Although the plan was declassified in 1974, the 1935 Army war games were fairly open that they were based on war with Great Britain involving an invasion of Canada. Every couple of years, it gets pulled out, usually by a left wing Canadian professor who wants to use it to tar Canadian conservatives as making common cause with the hated Americans. About 8 years ago, it was even argued that the location of Fort Drum in upstate New York was to prepare for an invasion of Canada (instead of being a pork barrel project by Senator D'Amato).

It is no surprise it comes up now. Canada is in the midst of a general election and the liberals are performing badly. This could be 3-5% to the Liberals (or at least away from the Tories).


Posted at 03:14 PM"

http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_12_25_corner-archive.asp#085632

[Vaquero]

Blame Canada

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

We shoulda done this long ago! I love it!

[Donald Meaker]

The US invaded Canada during the Revolution and 1812 wars too.

I think that the prevelence of Canadians in medical clinics in the northern tier states is a cunning plan to gather intelligence on the US.

Then again, it could be a mark of the failure of the Socialist Canadian pseudo-healthcare system.

[1066AD]

Interesting but why should the UK have wanted to invade in (19)20s and 30s ?

[Stonewall Jackson]

In 1940, the United States and Canada came up with plans on what to do if the Nazis should capture the British Isles. The plan involved urging the remnants of the Royal Fleet to head toward Iceland or Bermuda, where joint US-Canadian forces would help establish forward operating bases, as well as securing control of all other British colonies and assets throughout the world.

When Churchill found out about these plans, he was rather ticked, but I can see where having things worked out in advance would have been a great help.

[sgtbono2002]

We dont want Canada, too many liberals, lousy health care, that is overpriced, we sure dont want to have a bunch of french speaking prisoners waving white flags at us all the time.

[hershey]

We'll simply move in with tanks ala Grenada and play Celine Dion tapes full blast until Canada surrenders.

[billorites]

No blood for syrup!

[hershey]

Oops, that'd be Celine Dion CD's. Or do I mean DVD's. Whatever. Canadians would scream for mercy and run up the white flag.

[wmileo]

Judging from the strife between the US and Canada today and the way the Canadians have kissed up to the Chinese of late, this plan needs to be updated. The American Hating Socialists, who run Canada these days, are definitely capable of betraying the United States. The only ingredient they are missing is courage. if another power such as the PRC can supply both the power and courage, Canada would sell us out in a heartbeat.

[Skylab]

During the Civil War, Irish-Americans in the North planned to capture Canada as a retaliation against British support for the Confederacy. I think they were called 'Finnian troops' or something.

[mikrofon]

Aha, we see that only years before, the Canajuns were talking peace while they too were preparing for war...

[r9etb]

Interesting but why should the UK have wanted to invade in (19)20s and 30s ?

Why not? One scenario would be a commie takeover in the House of Commons and an alliance with the Russians of the time.... The Red Scare of the 20s would have been in full swing.

At any rate, it always makes good military sense (and it's good training) to make invasion plans for your neighbors, no matter how unlikely it'd be to have to exercise them.

[kaehurowing]

"They've done that twice, during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812."


Actually three times, if you count the Confederate raid against St. Albans, Vermont which was launched from Canada.

It was alleged the Canadians were in cahoots (Great Britain being an unofficial ally and supporter of the Confederacy). Canada denied this, but refused to take any action against the raiders.

[BenLurkin]

Nobody down here gives a damn about Canada. Certainly not enough to go to war with it.