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http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/pol/501248052.htmlCanada Reaches New Heights in Hypocrisy and the Militarization Date: 2007-12-06, 6:47PM PST
RADARSAT-2 Launch, Dec. 14, 2007:
Canada Reaches New Heights in Hypocrisy and the Militarization of Space
When Canada's RADARSAT-2 satellite is blasted into orbit on December 14, 2007, Canada will have reached dizzying new heights in the militarization of space.
This launch also represents a new pinnacle in Canadian government hypocrisy and denial. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) proudly lists the applications of RADARSAT-2 as follows:
"Ice; Marine Surveillance; Disaster Management; Hydrology; Mapping; Geology; Agriculture; Forestry."
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http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/satellites/radarsat2/applications.asp >
What this public relations puff piece from the CSA neglects to mention is that RADARSAT is also a billion dollar Christmas present from Canadian taxpayers to the U.S. military. In fact, RADARSAT is likely the Canadian government's single-most important technological contribution to U.S. institutions dedicated to gathering intelligence and waging war. However, the importance of RADARSAT-2 in future U.S. wars will likely be glossed over, if not completely ignored, when news agencies launch their glowing reports in the following weeks.
Not only has RADARSAT-2 already helped put Canada on the map as a major global player in space militarization, its predecessor — RADARSAT-1 — generously mapped the entire world for U.S. military and intelligence agencies. These U.S. government departments are in fact among the biggest and most appreciative beneficiaries of this publicly-funded, but now privately-controlled Canadian space technology.
When describing RADARSAT, the CSA, Canadian politicians and the corporations involved have always loudly extolled the benefits this satellite program to humanity and the planet as a whole. They proudly explain that since its launch in 1995, RADARSAT-1's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors have been using microwaves to produce images of the earth, even when the planet is obscured by the cover of darkness, by clouds, dust storms or the most adverse weather conditions.
And, when RADARSAT-2 is launched this Christmas season, we will no doubt be subjected to many of the same kinds of stories about how useful this device will be for monitoring environmental disasters caused by global warming. We can only hope that journalists will do a better job of uncovering the truth about RADARSAT-2's equally important role in helping the U.S. to fight wars than they did about RADARSAT-1's military applications. Although the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army and various American spy agencies have been among the top users of RADARSAT-1 data, the government and its friends in the mainstream corporate media have always downplayed this side of Canada's premiere satellite. (See: "U.S. Warfighters get their Hands on RADARSAT Data." ,
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/58/Articles/33-35.pdf Read more here.)
The article below is a modified version of an article from April 2006. It summarizes a 30,000-word document, containing more than 350 references, which was published as issue #58 of Press for Conversion!, the magazine of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT). Its full text is available online. (Access it here:
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/58/issue58_title.html )
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