From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #303 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, March 7 2007 Volume 10 : Number 303 In this issue: RCMP: SOURCES OF CRIME GUNS Fw: Learning From History Global small arms issue hits local target Re: It offends my conscience ... . Montague hearing coming fast! Kashmiris RE: Global small arms issue hits local target Re: Montague hearing coming fast! Fw: Military Chiefs give US six months to win Iraq War, Guardian, February 28, 2007 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 11:10:55 -0600 (CST) From: News@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: RCMP: SOURCES OF CRIME GUNS RCMP MISSING SOME IMPORTANT RECORDS ON THE SOURCES OF CRIME GUNS http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/2007_new/146.htm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 08:43:31 -0800 From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Fw: Learning From History This was written about the Viet Nam War. It is necessary for military = colleges not just to study war, but to LEARN from it so as not to repeat = mistakes. TB A warning unheeded..... It's heartbreaking to think how differently the twentieth century = might have ended had the powers that be in the U.S. read and, more = importantly, paid attention to this book. Bernard Fall describes = brilliantly the strategy and tactics used by Vo Nguyen Giap and the Viet = Minh against the French.=20 These tactics changed very little from one war to the next yet we, = forewarned (assuming we had read this book), walked right into it. This is a classic example of the old axiom that he who fails to learn = from history is doomed to repeat it. What I found particularly disturbing about `Street Without Joy ` is = Giap's description of the evolution of his enemies' tactics; an initial = offensive, slowing and turning into a defensive war with a growing = amount of public sentiment against involvement.=20 Does this sound familiar? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 11:44:14 -0500 (EST) From: Akimoya Subject: Global small arms issue hits local target http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/2007/03/05/3698388-sun.html Global small arms issue hits local target By ETHAN RIBALKIN, 24 HOURS Small arms have become the instrument of choice for the killers of our time with more than 500,000 of these weapons in circulation today, according to an award- winning UN documentary about the illegal arms trade. The film, Armed to the Teeth, presented in Vancouver last month at the Harbour Centre by the Canadian Red Cross and Amnesty International Canada, introduced Vancouverites to what the documentary considers the real "weapons of mass destruction." Starting with a locked and loaded world tour, the film quickly introduced many staggering statistics from around the globe, starting with Albania. After Albania's economy fell following a predicted economic boom with the introduction of democracy and an open market economy, locals vented their anger, attacking the military with stolen small arms. "Our children should play, but not with bullets," a mother said in the film. In Albania, a country with more than 500,000 concrete bunkers, the police are now supported by the UN in the process of removing weapons. Albania is just one example, the film states, of many other UN operations worldwide to stop the illegal trade of small arms. According to the film, in the past 10 years more than two million children have been killed by small arms, five million disabled and 12 million left homeless, while half the trade in small arms is expected to be illegal. One of the challenges with combating this problem, the film argues, is that the five members of the UN Security Panel are also the biggest producers of small arms - France, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and the United States. The film estimates there are 250 million small arms in the U.S., which is an average of one per person, in a country where 13 students are killed by guns a day. The film notes that about 70 people had been killed by small arms, one for every minute, during the time it took to watch the documentary. "Small arms are like uninvited guests that won't leave," the film's narrator states. "They replace law and order with chaos." NEXT UP... - - The Red Cross presents Legislating Protections, part of the Global Migration and Human Trafficking speaker series. - - Vancouver Public Library 350 West Georgia St. March 13, 7 p.m. Free ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 12:24:34 -0500 From: "mred" Subject: Re: It offends my conscience ... . - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Edward Hudson" To: "Firearms Digest" Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 10:59 AM Subject: It offends my conscience ... . "It offends my conscience that I'm here pleading for, in a sense, the integrity of the rule of law." "I'm not leaving this Earth without doing everything that I can do to leave something, our forests, clean air, clean water on this earth for future generations." Betty Krawczyk This is one tough bird. Perhaps firearms owners will be so tough. Sincerely, Eduardo Eco-granny gets 10 months for contempt Well~!!!! we have ONE~! Bruce Montague~!! ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 10:41:04 -0600 From: "Bruce Montague" Subject: Montague hearing coming fast! Dear supporters: Following is an ad that a fellow supporter wrote for us, to help advertise the upcoming constitutional challenge that will be heard next week. I thought it was a good "ad" so I thought I'd share it with you. Yours in Liberty, Bruce. - --------------------------------------------- Government Employees Play Dirty! Has government become so arrogant that it doesn't care what is right? On Monday March 12 at 2pm a group of well-paid government employees (prosecutors, clerks, lawyers, and police), with ample time and unlimited amounts of your tax dollars to spend, will attempt to convince a Superior Court judge that a peaceful Canadian with no criminal record and no associations with organized crime, should be thrown into prison for 10 years because he disagrees with a bad law. Government employees are playing dirty to deny Canadians their day in court! In an attempt to prevent this peaceful Canadian from funding his day in court, a provincial government employee (Attorney General) has spent your tax money to take away the peaceful Canadian's home! Two levels of government have attacked this peaceful Canadian, and you could be next! On Monday, March 12 at 2pm your future in Canada will be decided. At stake are several issues affecting you and the kind of Canada you live in: 1 Freedom of Mobility: You will need to ask permission to move, and then tracked more closely than convicted criminals! 2 Right to Privacy: You will be registered and tracked, and forced to answer many questions that breach privacy legislation. Tens of thousands of government workers and contractors will have instant access to your personal information. 3 Right to be free from Unreasonable Search and Seizure: you could be forced to submit to a warrantless search of your home whenever the police want. 4 Right to Self Protection: This undeniable right is ignored by most in Canada. Our constitution confirms this right with the words "that the subjects [...] may have arms for their defence". 5 Right to Equality: First nations people don't have to abide by many of these laws, nor do many government employees. 6 Right to own Property: During the course of their campaign to make Canadians their indentured slaves, these "public servants" have confiscated legally acquired private property. 7 Right to Counsel Upon Arrest: Yes, that's correct! You are forced by law to assist police both verbally and physically in their unwarranted searches. A handful of government workers are trying to take away your rights. ~ Show Your Support for the Defence of Your Constitutional Rights! ~ Attend the Superior Court Session: Superior Court of Ontario, 216 Water Street, Kenora, ON Starting Monday, March 12 at 2pm For more information about the Montague case visit www.brucemontague.ca ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2007 07:53:57 -0600 (CST) From: Karl Zimmer Subject: Kashmiris [This guy is in India right now. He was born and briefly grew up in the Kashmir region (his parents were refugees to Canada). He's now a business consultant. I couldn't help but notice the parallels. How do you help those who don't want to help themselves? Europe spent centuries excising its demons and mumbo jumbo to produce some form of rationality. Whereas this region and Afghanistan is still caught in tribal and medieval thinking and we are hoping they will, miraculously, fall into western-style democratic governance (which, itself, is dying on the vine as we speak)? Sometimes doing nothing is the answer to a longstanding problem that only the problem makers can solve if they are so inclined.] Another major news of the day is the recent bombing on the train that runs between India and Pakistan. 66 people died. Trying to figure out whom to blame is tough. Everyone is a victim, and everyone is a criminal. Kashmiris don’t want to stay in either India or Pakistan. People of both India and Pakistan don’t give a hoot about Kashmiris—they only care about the land, mostly desert, for mystical reasons. Kashmiris are among the poorest and least educated in India. They are a burden on whichever country they are a part of. Any sane nation would have encouraged Kashmir to go. So they wouldn’t have to part with an inch of land, Indian armed forces have run a regime of torture in Kashmir. This is nothing new, but with absolutely free hand in Kashmir, they kill, rape and pillage at will. When a soldier is killed, the army randomly arrests those in the vicinity and kills them in retribution. The locals hate the army. Terrorists, who care for none except for their own salvation and a bunch of virgins, kill the general public in India at random. Letting Kashmir go, however, is not going to solve the terrorist problem. For people of Kashmir are not fighting for liberty—they know of no such conc ept. Their fight is based on tribal instincts. There is no forgiveness. There is not even revenge. Only a cycle of wrongs on the wrong people: you hurt me and I will hurt someone else. Terrorism is a symbol of people’s failure, and indeed refusal, to seek reason and peace, respect other people’s personal property and space, and act in a fair and honest way. >From a rational point of view the problem is very simple to solve, but rationality is rare if not absent in this bazaar. War Control, NOT Gun Control! ____________________________________________________________________________________ Have a burning question? Go to www.Answers.yahoo.com and get answers from real people who know. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:52:16 -0800 From: Clive Edwards <45clive@telus.net> Subject: RE: Global small arms issue hits local target The film, Armed to the Teeth, presented in Vancouver last month at the Harbour Centre by the Canadian Red Cross and Amnesty International Canada. The film quickly introduced many staggering statistics from around the globe, starting with Albania. After Albania's economy fell following a predicted economic boom with the introduction of democracy and an open market economy, locals vented their anger, attacking the military with stolen small arms. In Albania, a country with more than 500,000 concrete bunkers, the police are now supported by the UN in the process of removing weapons. Albania is just one example, the film states, of many other UN operations worldwide to stop the illegal trade of small arms. According to the film, half the trade in small arms is expected to be illegal. "Small arms are like uninvited guests that won't leave," the film's narrator states. "They replace law and order with chaos." Cripes! If the above doesn't sound like a clip from "Reefer Madness".... I guess the half of the guns that are legal go to the government, while the half that are illegal go to the citizens. If anyone has any doubts that the UN and globalization needs to be stopped, it is worth considering that if you have to fight them, and eventually you do, there is no difference between communists and fascists - and it seems very clear to me that the UN globalization crowd are, yes, fascists. Clive "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." -Patrick Henry ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:42:18 -0500 From: Dan Haggarty Subject: Re: Montague hearing coming fast! At 11:41 AM 2007.03.06, you wrote: >Dear supporters: > >Following is an ad that a fellow supporter wrote for us, to help advertise >the upcoming constitutional challenge that will be heard next week. I >thought it was a good "ad" so I thought I'd share it with you. >[...] Bruce, By coincidence, I was cleaning up some e-mail folders earlier this morning and realized that your hearing is next week. Good luck! And for your amusement, I also came across a link to a web site that describes the licensing of radio receivers in Canada starting in the 1920's: www.northernelectric.ca/radios/mot_warning/mot_warning.htm. It would certainly be interesting to know the political motivation for discontinuing the licences in 1953. Dan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 08:34:01 -0800 From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Fw: Military Chiefs give US six months to win Iraq War, Guardian, February 28, 2007 Looks like the US-led coalition is "winning militarily" in Iraq...... http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2023542,00.html ~ Violence expected to rise after UK withdrawal ~ Troop numbers too low ~ Coalition is 'disintegrating' Simon Tisdall Wednesday February 28, 2007 Guardian Unlimited=20 An elite team of officers advising US commander General David Petraeus = in Baghdad has concluded the US has six months to win the war in Iraq - = or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that = could force the military into a hasty retreat.=20 The officers - combat veterans who are leading experts in = counter-insurgency - are charged with implementing the "new way forward" = strategy announced by president George Bush on January 10. The plan = includes a controversial "surge" of 21,500 additional American troops to = establish security in the Iraqi capital and Anbar province.=20 But the team, known as the "Baghdad brains trust" and ensconced in the = heavily fortified Green Zone around the US embassy, is struggling to = overcome a range of entrenched problems in what has become a race = against time, said a former senior administration official familiar with = their deliberations. "They know they are operating under a clock. They = know they are going to hear a lot more talk in Washington about 'Plan B' = by the autumn - meaning withdrawal. They know the next six-month period = is their opportunity. And they say it's getting harder every day," the = former official said.=20 By improving security, the plan's short-term aim is to create time and = space for the Iraqi government to bring rival Shia, Sunni and Kurd = factions together in a process of national reconciliation, us officials = say. If that works within the stipulated timeframe, longer-term schemes = for rebuilding Iraq under the so-called "go long" strategy will be set = in motion. But the next six months are make-or-break for both the US = military and the Iraqi government.=20 The main obstacles confronting Gen Petraeus's team are: ~ Insufficient numbers of troops on the ground ~ A "disintegrating" international coalition ~ An anticipated upsurge in violence in the south as the British leave ~ Morale problems as casualties rise ~ A failure of political will in Washington and/or Baghdad "The scene is very tense. They are working round the clock. Endless cups = of tea with the Iraqis," the former senior administration official said. = "But they're still trying to figure out what's the plan. The president = is expecting progress. But they're thinking, what does he mean? The plan = is changing every minute, as all plans do."=20 The team comprises an unusual mix of combat experience and high academic = achievement. It includes Colonel Peter Mansoor, Gen Petraeus's executive = officer and a former armoured division commander who holds a PhD in the = history of infantry; Col H R McMaster, author of a well-known critique = of Vietnam and a seasoned counter-insurgency operations chief; Lt-Col = David Kilcullen, a seconded Australian army officer and expert on = Islamism; and Col Michael Meese, son of the former US attorney-general, = Edwin Meese, who was a member of the ill-fated Iraq Study Group.=20 Their biggest headache was insufficient numbers of troops on the ground = despite the increase ordered by Mr Bush, the former official said. "We = don't have the numbers for the counter-insurgency job even with the = surge. The word 'surge' is a misnomer. Strategically, tactically, it's = not a surge," an American officer said.=20 According to the US military's revised counter-insurgency field manual, = FM 3-24, authored by Gen Petraeus, the optimum "troop-to-task" ratio for = Baghdad requires 120,000 US and allied troops in the city alone. Current = totals, even including often unreliable Iraqi units, fall short of that = number. The deficit is even greater in conflict areas outside Baghdad.=20 "Additional troops are essential if we are to win," said Lt-Col John = Nagel, another Petraeus confidant and co-author of the manual, in an = address at the US Naval Institute in San Diego last month. One soldier = for every 50 civilians in the most intense conflict areas was key to = successful counter-insurgency work. Compounding the manpower problems is = an apparently insurmountable shortage of civilian volunteers from the = Pentagon, state department and treasury. They are needed to staff the = additional provincial reconstruction teams and other aid projects = promised by Mr Bush.=20 The recent British decision to reduced troop levels in southern Iraq, = coupled with the actual or anticipated departure of other allies, has = heightened the Petraeus team's worries that the international coalition = is "disintegrating" even as the US strives to regain the initiative in = Iraq, the former official said. Increased violence in the south is now = expected, caused in part by the "displacement" of Shia militias forced = out of Baghdad by the US crackdown. American and Iraqi forces entered = the militant Shia stronghold of Sadr City today for the first time since = the surge began. No more major operation have yet been attempted there = but "we or the Iraqis are going to have to fight them", one American = officer said.=20 According to a British source, plans are in hand for the possible = southwards deployment of 6,000 US troops to compensate for Britain's = phased withdrawal and any concomitant upsurge in unrest.=20 Morale is another key concern in the Green Zone headquarters as US = forces prepare for a rise in casualties as the security crackdown = gathers pace. In a message to the troops after he assumed overall = command last month, Gen Petraeus heaped praise on their sacrifices while = warning of more "difficult times" in the months to come.=20 "We serve in Iraq at a critical time... A decisive moment approaches. = Shoulder to shoulder with our Iraqi comrades we will conduct a pivotal = campaign to improve security for the Iraqi people. The stakes could not = be higher," Gen Petraeus said.=20 "It's amazing how well morale has held up so far," the former official = said. "But the guys know what's being said back home. There is no = question morale is gradually being sapped by political debates in = Washington."=20 The advisers are also said to be struggling to prevent the = "politicisation" of the surge by the Shia-dominated government of Nuri = al-Maliki. The fear is that any security advances may be exploited to = further weaken the position of Baghdad's Sunni minority.=20 Despite progress this week on a new law sharing Iraq's oil wealth, = continuing Shia and Kurdish opposition to measures to ease the = post-invasion de-Ba'athification policy that excludes Sunnis from many = senior posts is proving intractable. The Petraeus team believes the = government is failing to work hard enough to meet other national = reconciliation "benchmarks" set by Mr Bush.=20 Yet it is accepted that the US is asking the Iraqi prime minister to do = what most politicians in normal circumstances would refuse to = contemplate. "What we're doing is asking Maliki to confront his own = powerbase," one officer said.=20 Possibly the biggest longer-term concern of Gen Petraeus's team is that = political will in Washington may collapse just as the military is on the = point of making a decisive counter-insurgency breakthrough. According to = a senior administration official, speaking this week, this is precisely = what happened in the final year of the Vietnam war.=20 Steven Simon, the national security council's senior director for = transnational threats during the Clinton administration, said a final = meltdown in political and public backing was likely if the new strategy = was not quickly seen to be working. "The implosion of domestic support = for the war will compel the disengagement of US forces. It is now just a = matter of time," Mr Simon said in a paper written for the Council on = Foreign Relations.=20 "Better to withdraw as a coherent and at least somewhat volitional act = than withdraw later in hectic response to public opposition... or to a = series of unexpectedly sharp reverses on the ground," he said.=20 "If it gets really tough in the next few months, it will throw fuel on = the fire in Washington," the former official said. "Congress will be = emboldened in direct proportion to the trouble in Iraq." If the policy = was not judged to be working by Labour Day (the first Monday in = September, which marks the start of the new political year), Mr Bush = could lose control of the policy to Congress and be forced to begin a = phased pull-out, he suggested.=20 Despite the problems identified by Gen Petraeus and his advisers, a = senior Pentagon official said this week that it was too early to gauge = the strategy's chances of success - but that preliminary reports were = encouraging.=20 "There are some promising signs. There is a new overall Iraqi commander = in Baghdad. A number of joint operations have just begun. The number of = political murders has fallen. Iraqi forces are showing up as promised, = admittedly a little bit under strength, and are taking up some of the = responsibilities that Maliki said he would," the Pentagon official said. = "We have to be realistic. We're not going to stop the suicide bombers = and the roadside explosive devices for some time. And the military alone = are certainly not going to solve the problem. Maliki has to meet the = benchmarks. A civilian surge is needed, too. The Iraqis have to do it = themselves."=20 American officials say they also have rising hopes of a breakthrough in = Sunni-dominated Anbar province where tribal chiefs are increasingly = hostile to al-Qaida terrorists and foreign jihadis - and are looking for = ways to build bridges to moderate Shias. But this week's US decision to = join a dialogue on Iraq with Iran and Syria, after previously refusing = to do so, is nevertheless seen as an indication of growing = administration alarm over the possibility of an historic strategic = failure. Full coverage Special report: Iraq The trial of Saddam Hussein Britain and Iraq In memoriam: 100 British troops killed in Iraq Special report: UK politics and Iraq Interactive guides Saddam's trial More click-through graphics on Iraq Key documents Full text of speeches and documents Audio reports Audio reports on Iraq ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V10 #303 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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