US Coast Guard now armed on the Great Lakes

WOW, I live about 2 miles from Lake St Clair. I just find this very strange...what could they be preparing for?

For the first time since 1817, U.S. Coast Guard vessels on the Great Lakes are being outfitted with weapons – machine-guns capable of firing 600 bullets a minute.

Until now, coast guard officers have been armed with handguns and rifles, but the vessels themselves haven't been equipped with weapons.

www.cbc.ca...

Probably just a pre-caution, the odds of the gun being used is slim to none...but its better then nothing.

oh, and reason its terrorism.

Dont you know.... all the terrorists come from cottage country.

Sigh....

HA! Arming the Great Lakes? Maybe for drug smugglers. Who knows. Americans love guns. That may be the only reason. What ever.

Oh, by the way, the US, all of a sudden, doesn't recognize Canadas claim to the Arctic. I've been all over the world, and every single map I have ever seen in my life, shows the arctic as being Canada. So, Canada has militarized the Arctic, against who? The Americans! LOL.

Thats awesome. Lets see what happens the next time a sub decides to pop up through the ice. Missile through the mast? Sounds good to me. That frozen wasteland is my country. Period. Has been since before the time we won that war in the 1800's against some upstart country.

I can't believe that ANYONE would question maps now, in this century. Wait a minute, there is a TON of oil and gas under that ice, and with global warming, the northwest passage will melt and make an excellent shipping lane. The Bush government is amazing. He's going to start a war with Canada, because that Is our land, and we WILL fight for it. Thats why the government is moving the big guns north of 60 as we speak.

Taken from www.arcticnet-ulaval.ca...

U.S. sub may have toured Canadian Arctic zone


A U.S. nuclear submarine cruised through the Arctic Ocean last month -- probably passing through Canadian territorial waters -- but the federal government is refusing to say whether it gave permission for the voyage.

However, experts say it is highly unlikely Canada was even notified of the USS Charlotte's northern tour, which included a Nov. 10 stop at the North Pole, because it has no way of tracking what goes on beneath the Arctic ice.

And that could threaten Canada's claim to hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of the North, including the Northwest Passage route across the Arctic, said Michael Byers, who holds the Canada research chair in global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia.

"This is very important -- it's crucial," he said. "Any unauthorized passage could have a serious effect on our claim."

[Ed] The reason the expeditions and patrols were cut, and the lack of funding was due to the Liberal government employed at the time. Look it up, they made some terrible fiscally destructive military decisions during their reign in the last decade or more.


[edit on 17-3-2006 by GeoPetroEngGuy]

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[edit on 17-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Copied from www.ctv.ca...

Canadian military plans summer Arctic mission

Canada may be pulling back from overseas military commitments, but is planning to "flex its muscles" with an exercise on home soil by sending a warship, a squadron of helicopters and 200 troops to the high Arctic this summer.

News of the operation was reported in Saturday's edition of The National Post.

The military says the three-week long exercise has nothing to do with a brewing territorial dispute with Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island between Ellesesmere Island and Greenland.

The operation, code-mamed Narwhal, is the first time the military will have a joint naval, air and land force operating so far north.

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[edit on 17-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

Look guys, my dad is in the Coast Guard, and he happens to be the commanding officer at the Air Station that covers Lake Huron, Ontario, and Erie, including Lake St. Clair. His name's Captain Jeff Ogden, Google him if you don't believe me. I have you all know that the Coast Guard has been fighting for years to get enough money for guns on their boats, and its just now coming through. In pre-9/11 days (that is, DoT days for the USCG), arming Coast Guard boats and helicoptors was not seen as "needed." However, politicians are finally realizing that the Coast Guard can't easily manage the largest unproteted border on our side of the world without the right equipment. Port Security is a major issue. If something, ANYTHING were to happen to ANY of our ports, all of them would shut down (just like all the airports shut down during 9/11, remember?) which would temporarily shut down our economy. In year or two all the Coast Guard's (or most at least) HH-65C's and HH-60's will be armed, so don't be too suprised when that happens either.