Raiding the Icebox: Behind Its Warm Front, the United States Made Cold Calculations to Subdue Canada

The Washington Post ^ | December 30, 2005 | Peter Carlson

[quidnunc]

Invading Canada won't be like invading Iraq: When we invade Canada, nobody will be able to grumble that we didn't have a plan.

The United States government does have a plan to invade Canada. It's a 94-page document called "Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan — Red," with the word SECRET stamped on the cover. It's a bold plan, a bodacious plan, a step-by-step plan to invade, seize and annex our neighbor to the north. It goes like this:

First, we send a joint Army-Navy overseas force to capture the port city of Halifax, cutting the Canadians off from their British allies.

Then we seize Canadian power plants near Niagara Falls, so they freeze in the dark.

-snip-

[Recon Dad]

The plan should now be revised to reflect the present situation. We go directly after their bullet and then.....

[MARKUSPRIME]

If the EU wanted to invade the US they would use canada because we know how much canada worships the socialist schlong.

[blau993]

I did read the whole article in the Post this morning. The Canadian plan to invade the US was drafted at a time when Canada was still pretty much a British colony. It assumed the Canadian invasion would be part of a larger conflict between Britain and the US. It was also something that would be described more accurately as a raid or reconaissance in force than an invasion.

[thackney]

What do we need Canada for?

Alberta Oil Sands and Natural Gas

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I would think that we still have plans worked out to invade any country on earth, just in case.

If we don't I would be very disappointed.

Today's ally may be tomorrow's adversary.

[BRITinUSA]

...and we could just go to their gun registry to neutralize their armed population.

Actually their armed population would most likely be on our side. :-)

[humblegunner]

Alberta Oil Sands and Natural Gas

They have a lot of timber, too..

OK, I guess they are worth annexing. Let's move forward.

[keithtoo]

If we avoid a naval conflict at the mall, we'll be alright. They can putter around all they want - to no avail. We can be sure that there will be no gun stores at that mall, so we can just march right in past the Orange Julius and the Chick-fil-A and claim it for the US.

[keithtoo]

Good point. We have a built in fifth column.

[COEXERJ145]

I thought RED was England, and CRIMSON was Canada.

War Plan Red was was with the British Empire with different parts being different shades of Red. Canada was Crimson, Scarlet was Australia, Garnet was New Zealand, Ruby was India, etc.

[posterchild]

Careful though, they could refuel the the Bourbon St tavern and get more armaments at Spencer Gifts - I say we hit these places first by watering down the whiskey and hiding all the batteries.

[COEXERJ145]

War Plan Red was part of the old Joint Army-Navy war plans that the U.S. prepared and practiced from the late 1890's until just after World War II. We had contingency plans for every possibility.

Just a sample.

War Plan Green was for war with Mexico or Mexican Domestic Intervention.

War Plan Orange was for war with the Japanese Empire.

War Plan Red/Orange was for a war with the Japanese-British Alliance.

War Plan Gold was for war with France

War Plan Silver was for war with Italy.

War Plan Yellow or War Plan Violet was for war with China or China Domestic Intervention.

War Plan Gray was for war in the Caribbean.

War Plan Indigo was for Iceland Intervention.

War Plan Emerald was for Ireland Intervention in conjunction with War Plan Red.

War Plan Gray was for Azores Intervention.

War Plan Tan was for Cuba Intervention.

War Plan Black was for War with Germany

War Plan White was known as the "U.S. Domestic Contingency".

[processing please hold]

Canadians were so kind and generous to Americans on 9-11. Opening their homes for us when travelers were stranded because the air space was shut down. What has happened there that they see us as the enemy?

[PAR35]

Here's the plan from German sources:

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

[Rakkasan1]

didn't they sign Kyoto? they're already halfway doomed.

[Richard Kimball]

we know how much canada worships the socialist schlong.

They are pretty fond of him.

[The_Reader_David]

No, actually after the manner of the reasoning in The Mouse That Roared, a Canadian invasion of the United States could be just what Canada needs: we'd set them back on their feet with foreign aid, rebuild their economy, . . .

[RockinRight]

War Plan Gold was for war with France

The details of this plan revealed purchase contracts for BB guns, underwear, and really scary faces.

[dljordan]

"War Plan Green was for war with Mexico or Mexican Domestic Intervention."

I think we should dust that one off.

[raybbr]

Out in Winnipeg -- the Manitoba capital, whose rail yards were slated to be seized in the plan -- Brad Salyn, the city's director of communications, said he didn't think Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz knew anything about War Plan Red: "You know he would have no clue about what you're talking about, eh?" "I'm sure Winnipeggers will stand up tall in defense of our country," Mayor Katz said later. "We have many, many weapons."

What kind of weapons?

"We have peashooters, slingshots and snowballs," he said, laughing.

Well, we have spitballs. (Zel Miller)