"Exercise" Ocean Lady?

 By M. Williams

It has been several weeks since a mystery ship, the "MV Ocean Lady", with 76 unidentified passengers was intercepted off the west coast of Vancouver Island by a combined security and military force from Canada (code-named "Operation Poseidon", acting on information received from international security partners), and later detained at Victoria's Ogden Point Terminal under a cloak of secrecy. 

This incident managed to grab national headlines just two weeks prior to the arrival of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games' Torch in the capital city, amidst much fanfare and many high-profile dignitaries flown in for the occasion.  

There have been precious few details made public about the vessel, its origin, and its passengers, let alone the reason for its unconventional arrival in Canada. Every day it seems, we are presented with a new piece to try and fit into a very confusing if not perplexing puzzle. And, many questions, it seems, remain unanswered.  

Some might say that the incident has all the earmarks of a made-in-Hollywood movie featuring adventure on the high-seas together with heroic feats performed by a well-trained and well-coordinated police and military force code-named "Operation Poseidon", designed to neutralize evil threats posed by unknown human traffickers, arms smugglers, and foreign terrorists posing as persecuted political refugees seeking a new identity in a safe, prosperous, and freedom-loving country.  

How does one separate fact from fiction when there are so few answers forthcoming from authorities? Are we being led on a wild goose chase or down the proverbial garden path in the name of "safety and security"? Does living in a post 9/11 era mean that one should not ask questions, particularly when things just don't seem to make sense?  

1. Was the "rainy takedown" of "MV Ocean Lady" by HMCS Regina, RCMP and Canadian Border Services part of the large-scale joint military and security exercises held October 19-23 and November 2-6 to practice coordination between more than 100 different government agencies, private sector partners, and international security partners involved in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games?  According to the Canadian Navy's own version of the interception mission: "The ship [HMCS Regina] would be working in support of the RCMP, a near carbon copy operation of the ship's involvement in Exercise Byzantium Voyage, part of the naval support to Other Government Departments." (Source: "Regina crew shows its strength in rainy takedown", Lookout - CFB Esquimalt weekly newspaper, October 26, 2009). If the capture of the "Ocean Lady" was part of the joint civilian-military exercises held in preparation for the Winter Olympic Games known as Exercise Byzantium Voyage, Operation Poseidon, Spartan Rings, Exercise Bronze, Exercise Silver, and Exercise Gold (why have few if any details ever been released by the authorities or published by the mainstream media)?  

2. Who was the "uninvolved maritime traffic", and who were the "curious or unwitting mariners" that "Operation Poseidon's" command crew in HMCS Regina had to keep at bay during the stormy night of October 17 and thick fog the following day? Why did the Security Task Force want to ensure there would be no witnesses to their covert naval operation, (not unlike the civilian authorities who shielded the faces of the passengers from "curious onlookers" and the media as they removed the passengers from the "Ocean Lady")? (See report dated Oct. 18 blogger's report http://mvwindwalker.blogspot.com). Why did government officials permit media contact and photos to be taken of Chinese migrants arriving here by boat in 1999, yet not permit the same today?  

3. If Canadian intelligence officials had been aware since the summer that a ship full of alleged Tamil terrorists was heading to Canada, why was no security alert issued at the time to thwart their mission to enter the country illegally? Apparently one man out of the 76 Sri Lankan passengers on the "Ocean Lady" was recently released from a detention center in Vancouver. Is he an undercover agent, a Canadian citizen of Tamil origin, or perhaps a "person of interest" who can shed light on what happened, where the ship originated, and the identities of the other passengers and crew members? Why has Immigration Review Board banned publication of the names and other identifying details of all 76 people detained by the Canadian authorities as well as the charges against them?  

4. Apparently the "Ocean Viking", an Australian customs ship has been anchored in Indonesian waters for a week with 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on board. The Australian government has not however issued any security-alerts about these individuals nor the more than 200,000 Sri Lankan professionals and skilled people who currently live in Australia. In fact, a press report out of Colombo, Sri Lanka (November 3) stated: "A high official of the Australian government has arrived in Sri Lanka to explore the possibilities of recruiting around 200,000 workers from here." If most of the prospective Sri Lankan immigrants to Australia are likely from the Tamil ethnic minority (of whom more than 270,000 have been detained in Sri Lankan government-controlled internment camps following the end of the civil war), why is the Australian government not alarmed like their Canadian counterparts about security threats posed by alleged Tamil "terrorists" who have been ousted from their traditional homeland and now obliged to live in these "rehabilitation" camps?   

5. According to Canadian press reports Sri Lankan refugees have one of the highest acceptance rates in Canada, with 93 per cent of refugee claims in the past nine months accepted. When the 76 Sri Lankans arrived on October 17, 2009 in Victoria they were neither handcuffed nor shackled in leg irons, yet 10 days later this is how they appeared in front of Immigration officials in Vancouver. What justifies treating them as criminals in the absence of evidence or charges against them? Are all those who fight for freedom from oppression terrorists? If the Canadian government accepted ethnic Tamils fleeing well-documented violence and oppression at the hands of the Sri Lankan government as refugees in the past, is it now relying on the UN Human Rights Council's decision in late spring (that blamed war atrocities on the Tamil Tigers while exonerating the government of Sri Lanka who perpetrated similar crimes), to deny the claims of these new arrivals who may well have left their country prior to the end of the 30-year civil war in May?  

Under the banner of eliminating the threat posed by alleged "foreign terrorist plots" disguising themselves as "would-be refugees", have Canadians unwittingly become involved in covert military operations with "live assets" (including a naval frigate, RCMP landing craft and police, as well as border security, correctional officers, medical personnel and immigration officials etc.), and are we being asked to accept behind-closed door tribunals that rely on rumors or biased evidence as proof that everything is fine and dandy in our country? Is this a sign of the new world order and ominous things to come?