New Articles and New Information now online ….
We stopped them before, we can stop them again….
Here are some links to new materials added to
the http://coat.ncf.ca/ Coalition to Oppose the
Arms Trade (COAT) website. Please join us in
exposing and opposing "Secure Canada 2008"
(Sept.30–Oct.1) and "CANSEC 2009" – two blatant
manifestations of the international arms trade
that are now scheduled to take place at a City
of Ottawa facility despite a 1989 municipal ban on such events
Cloak and Dagger:

A Spy in COAT, and former U.S. Embassy personnel
Spying on COAT:  Anne Healey is the former
general manager of the Canadian Defence
Industries Association, the organization that
launched the "CANSEC" military trade shows. In
2005 she left that war–industry lobby group and
became executive director of the Association for
Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Canada
which is now the driving force behind one of the
three main arms of "Secure Canada 2008."

Anne and COAT go way back. In the early 1990s,
Anne was recruited by her father to attend COAT
meetings and to relay information back to him
about widespread public opposition to Ottawa’s
arms trade events. Her dad, Ed J.Healey, was a
retired Rear–Admiral. In early 1990, after
having working as the Assistant Deputy Minister
of Defence (Materiel) responsible for buying
military equipment, Ed went through the
revolving door between government and industry
to become the head lobbyist for CFN Consultants.

CFN represents companies trying to sell military
hardware to the government and now fronts for
more than 50 major military industries. Read
more about Anne, her dad, COAT and "Secure
Canada 2008" in the section on
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/AUVSIExpo.htm Unmanned Systems Canada Expo 2008.

Working for the US Embassy: Rick Tachuk, the key
organizer of "Secure Canada 2008" is a former
employee of the US embassy (2000–2001). And, in
2007, when the American Chamber of Commerce in
Canada opened a chapter in the National Capital
Region, Rick Tachuk, was its head man. There was
a celebration of this "initiative at an
inaugural reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador to
Canada, David H. Wilkins." The announcement of
this US Embassy event said that Tachuk brought
"over 20 years direct experience in U.S.– Canada
cross–border trade and investment." His
speciality, not surprisingly, is the
military–industrial complex. Read more
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/US–links.htm here.
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/US–links.htm Who or

What is the Driving Force behind "Secure Canada"?
"Secure Canada 2008," which is sponsored by the
U.S. embassy and the U.S. government’s Commerce
Department, is "CERTIFIED under the U.S.
Department of Commerce Trade Show Certification
Program." This arms exhibition’s other major
sponsors include the Canadian branch of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce. "Secure Canada’s" only
corporate sponsors are three large U.S.
war–related industries:
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-Boeing.htm Boeing,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-GA.htm General
Atomics and
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-SM.htm Sun
Microsystems. "Secure Canada" is also sponsored
by the U.S. National Defense Industry
Association, which –– with more than 47,000
individual members and 1400 corporate members ––
is by far the most powerful U.S. business
association representing the profit–motivated
interests of the U.S.
Military–Industrial–Academic Complex. "Secure
Canada 2008" has
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/SecureCanada.htm three
main arms. One prong is being dominated and
organized by the U.S. Embassy, while the other
two are coordinated by Canadian chapters of two
international military–industry associations
that are based in the U.S., were formed in the
U.S., are led by largely U.S. boards and are
dominated by U.S. industries and U.S. political
interests. And, to top it all off, the key
"on–the–ground" organizer of this whole "Secure
Canada 2008" event is a former employee of the
U.S. embassy. Notice a pattern here? Do you feel more "Secure, Canada"?
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/language.htm What do
they mean by "Defence," "Security" and "Public Safety?
This article examines the central importance of
language in shaping the way we think about the
world and our place in it. In particular, when
it comes to the politics of war, language is as
often used to manipulate public perceptions of
reality as it is to clarify it. One tool in this
struggle to confuse and obfuscate the truth
about war is the military’s use of euphemisms.

"Collateral damage" and "pacification" are
examples of deceptive military terms that have
now become laughable. Nowadays, in their efforts
to mollify public perceptions, the words
"defense," "security" and "public safety" are
frequently bandied about by war profiteers as
well as by other proponents and apologists for
war. Because we are all subject to the barrage
of such linguistic weapons and the doublethink
they engender, even some peace activists have
fallen into the trap of employing the military
elite’s misleading terminology. Doing so suits
the corporate mainstream agenda but undermines
gains made by the antiwar movement. We must be
on guard against such words which have invaded
our culture and are used to sell such things as arms bazaars.

http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/weapons.htm"What IS a Weapon, anyhow?

This illustrated article breaks down the concept
of weapons and examines their basic constituent
parts. It also takes apart the tendency to think
of weapons in out–dated terms as being limited
to personal weapons, like small firearms.
Unfortunately, the tools of war have evolved
into complex, multi–billion dollar "major
weapons systems" whose high–tech electronic
parts are often separated by thousands of miles.
As a result, many people do not even realize
that these various components are in fact even
remotely connected to weapons. With such
misunderstandings about what weapons are, it
becomes easier to rationalize and justify the
international arms trade and the promotion of
military trade bazaars like "Secure Canada
2008."  Although this event focuses on
showcasing huge corporations that make a wide
variety of hardware that is part and parcel of
the world’s deadliest and most advanced weapons
systems, its organizers can get away with the
absurd claim that there won’t be any "weapons"
exhibited. City Staff then parrots these bogus
assurances and the public is supposed to believe
the deception that "Secure Canada 2008" is not an arms exhibition.

http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/sc–list.htm"COAT’s
Annotated List of "Secure Canada" Exhibitors

The organizers of "Secure Canada 2008" have
posted a "Partial Exhibitor List" to their web
site. The 55 corporations, government agencies
and lobby groups for the military–industrial
complex that are named as exhibitors probably
represent about one–third of the total list that
will being flogging their products and services
at this year’s event. In an effort to facilitate
research and understanding of these who these
exhibitors are, COAT has produced an annotated
list of the known exhibitors’ websites. Besides
providing links to the exhibitor’s web sites,
COAT’s list includes some basic notes about each
exhibitor. COAT has also created separate web
files detailing some of the major exhibitors.

Particular attention is paid to the various
weapons systems that "Secure Canada 2008"
exhibitors manufacture, control and/or promote.
So far, "weapons files" on 15 "Secure Canada
2008" exhibitors have been created and posted to
the COAT site. Most of these files contain
graphic photos of the weapons systems
manufactured in whole or in part by these "Secure Canada 2008" exhibitors.

http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/MDAPs.htm"Secure

Canada" Exhibitors support for the Top 25 US Major Weapons Programs

Of particular interest in the Pentagon’s 2009
Budget Request Summary Justification is a
65–page section detailing the $184 billion that
it now wants for


"Major Weapons Systems."

The "highest profile"
of these current programs, i.e., the 25 most
expensive "Major Weapons Systems" (between $12
and $300 billion each), are "designated as Major
Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP)."  Among the
42 known corporate exhibitors planning to show
their stuff at "Secure Canada 2008" there are at
least nine companies involved in one or more of
these top 25 US MDAPs:

http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-Boeing.htm Boeing,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-CAE.htm CAE,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-Elbit.htm Elbit
Systems,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-GA.htm General
Atomics,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-GD.htm General
Dynamics Canada,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-GH.htm Green Hill
Systems,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-Macom.htm M/A–COM
Tyco,
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-Meggitt.htm Meggitt,
and http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/X-SM.htm Sun
Microsystems.

Boeing alone is heavily engaged in
16 of the Top 25 major weapons programs. Only
five of these Top 25 programs do not seem to
have the participation of corporations known to
be exhibiting at "Secure Canada 2008." (Because
less than one third of the potential final
number of "Secure Canada 2008" exhibitors have
been disclosed by organizers, the actual number
of these exhibitors engaged in MDAPs is likely much higher.)
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/PEN–article.htm Lansdowne<
Park to Host International Arms Exhibition
This 800–word summary of "Secure Canada 2008"
and the COAT effort to thwart it was written for
the September issue of the Peace and Environment
News (PEN). The PEN is published by the Ottawa
Peace and Environment Resource Centre, which is
just down the road from Lansdowne Park, where
this arms show is scheduled to occur.
Help Stop Ottawa’s Arms Shows!
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/ContactCity.htm Contact
City Councillors, the Mayor and City Staff
Tell them what you think!  Click above to go to
the COAT web page where you can send messages to
the above. Call, email, write or fax!
Lawyers?
We could use the assistance of a lawyer or some
law students to help us stop these arms
exhibitions that are ignoring
http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/CityofOttawa.htm Ottawa Council’s 1989 motion.
Online Petition to Stop the Ottawa Arms Shows
The final details in the software for COAT’s
online petition are almost worked out. When it
is running smoothly and securely, we’ll let you know.
Protest!

If we can’t stop "Secure Canada 2008"
(Sept.30–Oct.1) from coming to Ottawa, we will
rally peacefully to protest it. Join us!
Financial support

Donations to COAT would be much appreciated.
Also, please subscribe to our magazine and order
extra copies and/or back issues:
http://coat.ncf.ca/support_us/support_us.htm

Spread the word!
Please post this message to your friends, to
list serves and websites and make announcements
at events and in print publications, etc., etc., etc.

Create a link to the http://coat.ncf.ca/COAT
website. The URL for this email is:  http://coat.ncf.ca/ARMX/email3.htm

Keep informed
If you aren’t already on the "COAT email list," you can join here:
http://list.openconcept.ca/sympa/subscribe/coat

For more information, on "Secure Canada 2008"
see the http://coat.ncf.ca/ Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade website.