So we segue now from Alex Gabriel’s musings about Winnipeg and Louis Riel to, naturally, a scene at the Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC)! Uh…okay… So if you’ve never heard of them, the ITAC[1] is a real life entity made up of representatives from multiple police and intelligence services that can be brought together to … Continue reading 28-And now…the ITAC!
27-Winnipeg Map Recce (3): Morale & Motivation!
It’s about time we wrapped up the Winnipeg Map Recce. Alex Gabriel feels he’s ready to return to Stevenson’s HQ, and finally meet his subordinates. He’ll tell them exactly how they’re going to take and hold down town Winnipeg against all comers, and they will no doubt feel privileged to hear it, since he spent … Continue reading 27-Winnipeg Map Recce (3): Morale & Motivation!
26-Winnipeg Map Recce(2)-Terrain!
***This post gets into some detail about fighting a war in a Canadian City, which raises certain ethical questions and issues. My post discussing these issues can be found here.*** So like the title says, this post is going to look at the terrain aspects of Alex Gabriel’s Winnipeg battle plan. To this end we’re … Continue reading 26-Winnipeg Map Recce(2)-Terrain!
25-Winnipeg Map Recce(1) – Manpower!
As has been the case before, this post is going to hop back and forth in relation to the chronological order of the novel. This is something that Bland seems to do as well, since Alex Gabriel hops around from one location to another another without a lot of consistency. To counter this, I’ll be … Continue reading 25-Winnipeg Map Recce(1) – Manpower!
24-Okay I have questions…
For those of you keeping track, we’re just reaching the first hundred pages of the novel and we’ve already had the following: A briefing at the SIR room, another one at the Akwesasne Complex, another one with the CDS and the Defence Minister, then now another one at Stevenson’s Winnipeg headquarters. And that’s not counting … Continue reading 24-Okay I have questions…
23-Word on the Street…
***In the interest of dividing this deconstruction up logically by themes, I’m going to dedicate this post to Alex Gabriel’s trip to Winnipeg, and his first meeting with Sam Stevenson, the NPA commander. The next couple of parts will then deal with another briefing (_sigh_) followed by Alex's reconnaissance of Winnipeg. For anyone following along, … Continue reading 23-Word on the Street…
22-Can you dig it?
So we’ve just heard how the 2006 census proves that the ‘white’ race is the real endangered minority (I think?). Now it’s time for our everyman character Col Ian Dobson to warn us about violent gangs! Not content to go by the easy route of calling in someone from, say, the RCMP to lay out … Continue reading 22-Can you dig it?
21-Apparently Healthy but Badly Led…
The officer handling the briefing, Col Conway, doesn't seem to respect his democratically elected leadership. Before launching into his part of the briefing, he pauses in for a moment to revel in his natural superiority over the mere civilian before him: ‘Conway smiled to himself. He very much doubted that Riley knew any such thing, … Continue reading 21-Apparently Healthy but Badly Led…
20-“Think in terms of vulnerabilities…”
This is Tuesday after the raid (on Sunday) and the Chief of Defence Staff is about to brief the Minister of National Defence. You may remember that the MND was present at the previous briefing, but ignore that fact. This scene here is the moment when the army presents its first initial assessment of the … Continue reading 20-“Think in terms of vulnerabilities…”
19-Meet General Bishop
When we last saw our intrepid command staff, they had just concluded a briefing. The Prime Minister was to be notified! So was the Privy Council's Office and the RCMP. Things were moving far too slowly but they were moving and there was a real possibility of seeing something happen next time these characters appeared on … Continue reading 19-Meet General Bishop
Putting Down Uprising 