'Declaration of North American Integration' unearthed
Pastor Dale Morgan
'Declaration of North American Integration' unearthed*
Activist points to mayor's endorsement on document signed by 90 leaders
Posted: July 25, 2007
The endorsement by a major city mayor of a document described as "The
Declaration of North American Integration" represents a long-term effort
by local governments to bypass state and federal governments and work
directly with Mexico and Canada to create agreements that integrate the
continent below the radar screen, charges an activist.
Adam Rott, founder of watchdog blog Oklahoma Corridor Watch, brought to
light the document signed by Mayor Mick Cornett.
The document was presented at the May 2004 summit meeting of the North
American International Trade Corridor Partnership, or NAITCP. According
to an Internet-archived summary report of the meeting, held in Kansas
City, Mo., the document was signed by 90 people.
Rott said that he created Oklahoma Corridor Watch because, "I saw the
efforts in Texas by Internet blogs such as Texas Corridor Watch and
Texas Toll Party to get the word out in Texas about the Trans-Texas
Corridor. I wanted to warn Oklahoma about plans to extend the
Trans-Texas Corridor along Interstate 35 north into our state."
Rott said it should be clear to everyone "that the international
business interests and government officials working with them do not
intend to stop the four-football-fields wide TTC-35 at the Texas border
with Oklahoma."
"Oklahoma has been at work for almost 15 years to get I-35 designated as
a NAFTA superhighway," Rott said. "I want to wake Oklahomans up to the
reality that Oklahoma is on the front lines of the battle being waged by
investment bankers, foreign investment consortia and politicians who
stand to benefit to expand the TTC-35 north into Oklahoma."
"What is so diabolical about Cornett's signature is that it has largely
remained hidden from view since 2004," Rott charged. "It is disturbing
to think that councilmen and councilwomen who live in our communities
are working for North American integration in the mistaken notion that
globalism will result in local economic development."
Roth is skeptical of the promise North American integration holds for
economic development in Oklahoma.
"What we see is the sovereignty of the U.S. being compromised at a local
level, and we have yet to see where globalism has benefited Oklahoma
City," he said. "Our manufacturing base is deteriorating in Oklahoma
City as plants close and multinational corporations outsource from
Oklahoma to get cheaper workers in international markets."
Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon agrees.
Brogdon said that he believes "the ramifications of what Oklahoma City
Mayor Cornett is doing is to destroy U.S. national sovereignty and to
grab property like we have never seen before."
Brogdon was outspoken in his opposition to North American integration.
"Economic development at the expense of our sovereignty is not a fair
trade as far as I am concerned," he said.
On June 24, 2005, NAITCP signed a memorandum of understanding with the
North America SuperCorridor Coalition, or NASCO, effectively absorbing
NAITCP into NASCO. An archived NASCO webpage no longer displayed on the
current NASCO website documents that NAITCP had its origin as a
"non-profit organization in Mexico dedicated to economic development and
improving trade relations through the heartland of America to Canada and
Mexico."
NASCO also did not respond to a request for comment.
Brogdon entered an amendment to an Oklahoma bill that would have
required that the state's Department of Transportation "shall be
prohibited from participating or entering any negotiations or agreement
with NASCO."
Brogdon's amendment further specified, "No state funds or federal funds
dedicated for state use shall be used for any international, integrated
or multi-modal transportation system."
In a series of complicated maneuvers, the bill died.
Still, Brogdon is determined to press forward against NASCO.
"In this next legislature," he said, "I am going to add amendments to
legislation that will continue to require the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation to get out of NASCO. We have spent $481,000 in Oklahoma
since 1995 to be a member of NASCO, and we have yet to receive any benefit."
In the last legislature, Brogdon also sponsored Senate Concurrent
Resolution 10 urging the U.S. to withdraw from the Security and
Prosperity Partnership of North America and any other activity that
seeks to create a North American Union, and to oppose any NAFTA
superhighways.
The resolution passed unanimously in voice votes in both houses of the
Oklahoma legislature, Brogdon noted.
"Hopefully, he said, "the legislature is waking up to all the subversive
legislation that is trying to be sneaked past us by the George Bush
Security and Prosperity Partnership agenda and interests such as (Texas)
Governor Perry, who has pushed TTC-35 through despite the objections of
the Texas legislature."
NASCO's website adamantly rejects the idea that a North American Super
Corridor could ever be a "NAFTA superhighway."
Yet, the NASCO website documents that in addition to the state of
Oklahoma, the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, is a member.
As fully documented on the TxDOT website, the department does plan to
build a new Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to Interstate 35, and NASCO
has yet to repudiate these new superhighway construction plans.
'Shared vision'
The NAITCP 2004 summit brochure initially presents the signed document,
on Page 2, as the "Kansas City Declaration." Yet later, in a conference
summary on the last page, the document is identified as "The Declaration
of North American Integration."
The summary page notes "more than 90 North American leaders signed an
important document entitled 'The Kansas City Declaration' to officially
record their shared vision of future cooperation for communities along
the NAFTA Trade Corridor in Canada, the United States and Mexico."
The summit brochure lists Mayor Cornett as a signatory.
Oklahoma Corridor Watch expressed concern that, "It is becoming
increasingly more apparent that our government officials have been
working overtime behind the scenes to bring in the "North American
Union" and often in relative secrecy away from their constituents and
from scrutiny."
Last month, Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill brought superhighway
proponent Robert Poole to Oklahoma to give presentations on the virtues
of "public-private partnerships" designed to advance the interests of
private investment consortia seeking to build or lease state toll roads.
Poole, a mechanical engineer who has advised the administrations of
George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to privatize U.S.
highways, estimates more than $25 billion in public-private partnership
highway projects are planned or approved in the U.S.
Among the other named signatories were two professors prominent in the
push to create a "North American Community," Stephen Blank of Pace
University and Robert Pastor of American University.
Blank is known for organizing the "North America Works" conferences held
annually since 2005 in Kansas City. Pastor, a prolific author on the
subject of North American integration, holds annually holds a student
North American model parliament, an activity organized by the American
Forum on Integration, of which Blank and Pastor are both directors.
Rott also documented that Cornett called for the economic integration of
North America in a video interview given at the Conference of Mayors in
Boston in 2004.
"This signifies how local governments across the nation are either
moving forward with, or directly supporting, the economic integration of
North America, also called the North American Union," Rott wrote on his
blog. "While such a pursuit may seem like the stuff of conspiracy
theories, it is increasingly becoming more apparent that our government,
with the direct support of private sector participants, is building a
union in North America comparable to the European Union."
The 2004 NAITCP "Kansas City Declaration" was also signed by Kay Barnes,
then Mayor of Kansas City, Mo.; Michael Haverty, chairman and CEO of
Kansas City Southern; Chris Guiterrez, president of Kansas City
SmartPort; and Francisco Gil Diaz, secretary of finance and public
credit in Mexico.
According to the NAITCP brochure, the Kansas City Declaration reads in
part, "We have come to realize that our communities in Mexico, Canada
and the United States are closely linked to each other, and that we
share profoundly in this emerging North American economic system.
"The answer is to move forward together," the declaration continued. "We
will deepen the ties among our communities. The economic vitality and
social integration of our communities demand open, dynamic and secure
borders. We encourage our respective governments to dedicate sufficient
resources to create 'smart' and efficient borders. Likewise, we urge our
governments to assist us in forming a 'North American Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee' that will formulate a strategic vision for an
integrated regional logistics system."