September 20, 2012: One Interesting Thing - War Plan Red & Defence Scheme 1

This is good news, because I've been getting pretty worried about the possibility. And tired. Standing all night on the north shore of Lake Erie, doing my patriotic duty, scanning the south shore of Lake Erie for any suspicious activity. But now, I can stop, because today an official spokesperson of the United States State Department put my mind at ease by saying in a public briefing with reporters that the United States has no secret plan to invade Canada. Suspicions were raised, of course - because there was a private, closed door "signing ceremony" of some kind between the US and Mexico. What could they be talking about except the invasion of Canada? Well, we're safe. They say there's no secret plan to invade Canada. Of course, they also said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And Bill Clinton "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinski." Aside from that, though, the US is a paragon of virtue and honesty, so we're safe. Seriously, of course, this was all just a fun exchange between a reporter and the spokesperson, wondering why the signing wasn't public. Do we have some secret plan to invade Canada or something?" "No. We're not planning to invade Canada." Not now, anyway. There is, of course, a detailed and official and serious plan for the U.S. invasion of Canada. It was drawn up in 1930 and was called innocuously "War Plan Red." Canada was code-named Crimson. It was amended a few times, and in 1934 it was amended to approve first use of poison gas against Canada. In 1935, the US Department of War arranged a Congressional appropriation of $57 million to build three border air bases whose purpose was to be able to stage pre-emptive surprise attacks on Canadian airfields. The plan was a part of a wider-ranging war plan between the US and the British Empire, and it was was only set aside after the outbreak of World War II. Interestingly enough, Canada was prepared for War Plan Red because in 1921, in an amazing demonstration of foresight, Canada had developed "Defence Scheme No. 1." It was approved on April 12, 1921 and planned a Canadian counter-attack. It was basically a delaying action, planned to allow Britain to get some forces over to help us out. The plan was to launch a surprise Canadian invasion of the US after it had been confirmed that the US had attacked. We would seize several northern cities close to the border, and then, when resistance built, we'd retreat back to the border - destroying all the bridges and railways as we left. Please note, though, that all along our goal was to be friends! Our plan was only defensive and would never be put in place unless they attacked first! Of course, we didn't know when it Defence Scheme No. 1 was developed that Britain had already decided that Canada was indefensible!