[IPSM] Globe and Mail: Forces' terror manual lists natives with Hezbollah

[fiona at resist.ca]

Forces' terror manual lists natives with Hezbollah

BILL CURRY

>From Saturday's Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070330.wterror0331/EmailBNStory/National/home

OTTAWA — Radical natives are listed in the Canadian army's
counterinsurgency manual as a potential military opponent, lumping
aboriginals in with the Tamil Tigers, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad.

The military is putting the finishing touches on the manual, but a draft
version of the document obtained by The Globe and Mail outlines a host of
measures the military might use to fight insurgents at home and abroad.
The measures include ambushes, deception and killing.

The draft manual was produced in September, 2005, and recently released
through an access-to-information request. A final edited version of the
army manual is expected to be complete within months, but a cover letter
states that the draft version was immediately circulated in 2005 to army
units for military training.

Its inclusion of “radical Native American Organizations” as a potential
target of military action surfaces at a time of heightened tensions
between aboriginals and the federal government.

Radical natives are listed in the Canadian army's counterinsurgency manual
as a potential military opponent, lumping aboriginals in with the Tamil
Tigers, Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad.

“The rise of radical Native American organizations, such as the Mohawk
Warrior Society, can be viewed as insurgencies with specific and limited
aims,” the manual states. “Although they do not seek complete control of
the federal government, they do seek particular political concessions in
their relationship with national governments and control (either overt or
covert) of political affairs at a local/reserve (‘First Nation') level,
through the threat of, or use of, violence,” the manual states.

The Mohawk Warrior Society was involved in the 1990 Oka crisis in Quebec,
which spawned a 78-day confrontation with police and the military that
left a police officer dead. The society normally describes more militant
natives from the traditional Mohawk territory, covering parts of Quebec,
Ontario, Vermont and New York State.

Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs who recently predicted “a summer of aboriginal protest” in response
to the perceived lack of action on native poverty in the federal budget,
said he is “absolutely outraged” by the manual.

“It's a complete attack on our political rights,” he said.

“What we're seeing,” Mr. Phillip continued, “is the deliberate
criminalization of the efforts of aboriginal people to march, demonstrate
and rally to draw public attention to the crushing poverty that is the
reality within our communities.”

Native leaders who are not regarded as militant have called for a summer
of protest over a perceived lack of attention from Ottawa on issues such
as native poverty and land claims.

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has responded with warnings of
financial penalties for any native group that uses federal money to plan
such protests.

“Working together to find common solutions is a much more constructive way
of dealing with issues than planning blockades,” he said in a letter to
The Globe and Mail this week.

The manual defines an insurgency as “the actions of a minority group
within a state who are intent on forcing political change by means of a
mixture of subversion, propaganda and military pressure, aiming to
persuade or intimidate the broad mass of people to accept such a change.”

Counterinsurgency, according to the manual, involves “much more” than
simply military action, and can include psychological measures aimed at
defeating an insurgency.

Much of the manual appears to be aimed at Canadian missions in failed or
failing states where various factions are fighting for power. Among the
army's proposed measures are “deception operations” to fool the insurgent
and “physical destruction” of the enemy.

“Attrition will be necessary, but the number of insurgents killed should
be no more than is absolutely necessary to achieve success,” the manual
states.

The Canadian Forces were not able to find someone yesterday who could
comment on the manual. It is therefore unclear whether this is the first
such manual created for the military or whether natives have previously
been listed by the army.

The most recent protest by natives led to arrests and charges yesterday
for three men connected to the blockade of Quebec's Highway 117 on March
12 and 13.

The highway is the Abitibi region's main link to the south, and the
blockade caused major concern for the residents of Val-d'Or and
Rouyn-Noranda.

Among those arrested was Guillaume Carle, the controversial leader of the
recently formed Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada. Mr. Carle
led the protest of about 50 people, many of whom were carrying rifles.

Mr. Carle has claimed in the past to have the support of the Mohawk
Warrior Society, but people claiming to be from that society denied
involvement.