Arms Race On The American Great Lakes

Capt Patrick W. Brennan of the US Coast Guard said at a public conference on October 10 that his service branch needs to utilize live fire to practice its duties of drug interdiction, and law enforcement activities to stem smuggling and human trafficking. Further pubic hearings of the Coast Guard proposal will be held over the next ten days, while the period for public comment has been extended to November 13. Live-fire exercises were conducted this summer by the US Coast Guard in the Lake Superior waters off Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The US Coast Guard has designated 34 so-called “safety zones” on the Great Lakes: Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie, and Ontario. These safety zones would be closed to private vessels, such as pleasure-craft and commercial fishing boats, for periods of 4 hours at a rate of 4 to 6 times per year. Captain Brennan told the public conference on October 10 “We need to train in the environment in which we are going to fire the weapons”. According to an AP article, Heritage Foundation analyst and former Pentagon official Mackenzie Eaglen said that “The live fire training just can’t replicated…As the Army says, ‘Train like you fight’”. The mayor of the Canadian city of Sarnia, Ontario, which faces the US city of Port Huron, Michigan, across the St. Clair River, has asked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to bring an end to any live-fire exercises. The mayors of the Chicago, Illinois, and of the Canadian city of Toronto, Ontario, have also denounced the tests. Companies that operate car ferries shuttling between the states of Michigan and Wisconsin over Lake Michigan have expressed concern since their routes pass directly through the proposed live-fire zones. http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idCategory=33&idsub=134&id=6025&t=Arms+race+on+the+American+Great+Lakes

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