Washington File

AFTER FLYING INTO BARCELONA IN APRIL THIS YEAR, ONE HAS TO WONDER THE NEED FOR PASSPORTS. EUROPE HAS VIRTUALLY NO BORDERS ONCE YOU ARE ON THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT. I WOULD SUGGEST THAT WE SCRAP THE WHOLE BORDER SYSTEM. THIS IS RADICAL, BUT WE HAVE A POLICE SYSTEM IN PLACE THAT SHOULD BE ABLE TO COPE WITH CRIMINALS. WE HAV E NAFTA FOR GOODS. TERRORISTS CAN ALWAYS GET IN ILLEGALY ANYWAY. I SAY, SAVE THE MONEY, HAVE WIDE OPEN BORDERS. JUST LIKE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE. MAKE IT UNITED STATES OF CANADA AND AMERICA.

Like Antonio, I am also a foreigner to North America. Just over a week ago, on holiday, I went whale watching on one of those guided tours based in Victoria, BC. The boats are all allowed to cross the territorial border in the Strait of Juan de Fuca as the orcas like to hang out just off San Juan island. Being a quarter of a mile offshore, it was difficult to think of that island as part of a separate country, especially when the islands still in view to the west are part of Canada. However I am well aware that if I had set foot on that island, I would have been arrested for illegal entry and given a free holiday in Cuba, complete with fashionable orange boiler suit!

How to maintain security over such a long border who knows? It simply may not be possible. If such security is to be applied rigidly, it should mean that all the boats operating in the Strait of Juan de Fuca will have to stay on their own side of the maritime boundary (which I believe is disputed?). It will also mean that the various Maids of the Mist at Niagara will have to keep to their own side of the river. Not very good for the tourist industry is it?

I am not surprised the 'nazi' border guards of the increasingly facist US gov't were so incompetant.

If the present government of the U.S.would stop trying to force their ideology around the world maybe retaliation would stop and we all could live without borders problems.

Does anyone realize what it would actually take to create a truly "secure" border? The resources just to build the infrastructure would be immense and then there is the army of guards that would be required forever, etc and of course an armed border such as that would not exactly be conducive to trade, travel, etc. The Great Wall didn't work and even at a far smaller scale, the Berlin Wall still had breaches so this idea is foolhardy. It is however, indicative of current American paranoia.

This is simply an ineffective and very expensive method of approaching the idea of security. It may appeal to domestic America but is as truly pointless as the current efforts to "secure" the Mexican border. When thousands of poor, untrained Mexicans regularly beat the southern border security efforts does anyone really expect similar methods to be effective against trained, funded and motivated "enemies"? Hunting rabbits with a cannon is about as efficient.

So why do we want to block humans from travelling across the world without hindrance? It's only to protect ourselves and our privileged society from the disadvantaged of the world. I say treat all humans with dignity and respect, and do away with all passports and border checkpoints.

I live on the Us-Canada border and at any moment I could walk out my front door, swim across a small river and I would be in the US. There are no border patrols, checkpoints, etc. within 40km in either direction. Fortunately I would rather be in Canada so I would have no reason to take on such a venture.

One thing that concerns me about the passport issue is, what do we do with all the Americans that are refused back into their own country(should they not have a valid passport).
Do we have to keep them here in Canada?
Do our politicians realize how much it would cost Canadians to sort through all those exiled Americans?

To MonsieurGonzo, what hubris? It seems that, while alerting their own border guards to the danger posed by Mr. Speaker's condition, the American officials forgot to protect North America by informing Canadian and Mexican border services that they were red-flagging his passport, etc. This is the issue that needs to be addressed. Without this information, the fact that a U. S. citizen with a valid passport, in transit to his own country, was not detained by Canadian officers, should not be questioned. That is, and continues to be, how we treat our law-abiding neighbours.

As for Mr. Speaker, he and his complicit new wife should be sued into penury, if he has infected even one person after having been advised of the severity of his illness. He was afraid that he would not get adequate care in Rome? Get real! He was probably more afraid that his health insurer wouldn't cover his care. I don't recall hearing that he donned a proper mask for his travels across several countries to Prague, and then to New York city via Montreal. They have shown a total disregard for other people's health and well-being. In taking these actions, I would call him a medical terrorist, for knowingly exposing hundreds of people to possible injury or death.

I'm tired of all the finger pointing. I'm tired of the 'poor Americans' who are always being wronged. The whole world's against them. If there are terrorists sneaking into Canada or the US to plot against America, why do you think that is happening? Because the US has a history of sticking their nose into other countries business and then can't understand why there are reprocusions. Because Canadians make it our business to pay attention to world happenings, we sometimes can see things clearly as an outsider. And then, we once again, as a silent neighbor, stand behind the US just like the little brother of a bully. We don't agree but we care because we're in the same family. There have always been border issues going farther back than 9-11. Canada has had the same problem with American criminals taking refuge in Canada because of our more leniant justice system. Right or wrong, I'm sick of it. I hope Canada requires all foreigners including Americans to have passports to enter our country. We all now have one, 95% of us. It wasn't that hard to do!

I have no objection to American passport requirements. It is well past time that we realise that it is a very foreign country.

Cheers,
dba

What anti-American hubris, sir. You fault the inspector at the drive-through border crossing for his faulty call to allow an American citizen to re-enter his country unhindered, despite the red flags apparent on his passport profile; Yet, you never mention the utter lack, the "ignorance is bliss" What, Me Worry? circumstances of Canadian customs allowing an infected passenger to just sashay into North America via Eastern Europe? Perhaps the American border officials figured (wrongly) that the Canadians had their backs covered. At least in Mexico, the border guards have to be bribed ~ in Canada, they're just dysfunctional.

I'm a proponent for an open world but we seem to have moved backwards. However, there are a couple of practical reasons for the US to put up the passport requirement, first and foremost upon its own citizens to return home. Firstly, there have been up to 8000 forms of acceptable US ID for their citizens to enter, on top of those once allowed for Canadians. Imagine that a US inspector in Vermont, a native of Georgia, is faced with a crumpled and worn birth certificate from Coos County, Oregon. The passport streamlines that to one. Secondly, the US is suffering rampant identity theft. It isn't impossible to get a US passport with fake credentials, or to forge one, but the barrier is raised significantly. The objective is truth in crossing, not security ... that is a canard, given how many US citizens and legal residents have been arrested on terrorism charges in the past year alone, never mind the previous five years.

Although the previous comments made about the level of border security between the state of Israel and the Palestinian territories were intended to elicit sympathy for the Palestinian cause, they touch upon the core of the matter here in North America. In every discussion of plans to 'secure' our countries by insisting travelers show documentation at official border crossings, our leaders choose to ignore the raw geographic ridiculousness of such a scheme. Try as our hard-working border guards might, I am perfectly confident that armed with a high-tech canoe and the cover of nightfall, I could 'infiltrate' the U.S.A. in a matter of an hour or two. (Note that this is in Eastern Ontario, where there is (at least) a river separating the two countries.)

The truth is that the only way to make this nation truly 'secure' from a determined 'evil-doer' would be to construct the same sort of barriers that are now present in the West Bank; barriers that would make movement between our two countries (by necessity) virtually impossible.

With every announcement of another multi-million dollar biometric solution, or increased border patrol, or armed Coast Guard vessel, I just think back to my canoe, and the fact that I don't think there is so much to be afraid of that such 'security' would be more valuable than our current friendly relationship with America, and Americans.

As Joy mentions in her post, this sudden flexibility is yet another proof, as if we even needed another one, that the Global War on Terror is a sham. No such thing exists and never has. If there was such a thing as a war on terror our society would greatly resemble Israel's, particularly the border crossings, airport security, soldiers patrolling the streets, etc.

That we aren't making a total war effort to win in Afghanistan as we did in WWll is indicative of a new, largely economic, reality of constant war. It is good for a US economy short on consumer goods manufacturing and other healthy economic activity in favour of arms production on a massive scale, but it isn't anything to really worry about. Go on, go to Disney and have a great time. Don't let any of this other stuff worry your little head too much.

The only reason we are involved is because the US wants to insure it's supply of resources (against China, India, et al) and not because of any desire to rid the world of tyrants or export democracy: we are assisting them in order to provide respectability while they position themselves globally.

Just food for thought.Do you think they would
have caught Mr. Speaker at the border if he had
the physical appearance of someone from the
middle east and/or Arab nations?

I'm always a little put off by the whole border issue that the USA has. Firstly, let me say that we shouldn't be USA bashers, it only belittles us. Secondly, it is not the average US citizen that is making these ridiculous decisions about the border. It is a few power brokers in their government and industry that are the trouble makers.

With an estimated 12 - 18 million people breaching their southern border in the past couple of decades, this would be my choice as a "terrorist" regarding an entry point into the USA.

If other countries were to treat US citizens the same way they treat people from other countries we would see a shift in their policies. Unfortunately this will never happen as most politicians don't want to bear the brunt of the backlash (economically) from the US politicians.

We (the collective world) need to grow a backbone and standup for what is right for our citizens and not tremble in the corner when the bully gives us that dirty look.

I lived in Europe for a number of years when you had to pass through numerous border crossing and show your paperwork and have your vehicle inspected. Late in life I went back to Europe when virtually all these border sites have been torn down and where you have to keep an watch out for the road signs to determine what country your in. It makes me think that the USA is becoming the East Germany of North America . . .

As a foreigner to both Canada and the US, I can personally attest to US border security, when my Toronto-New York train was stopped at the border in 2005. The customs official literally glanced at my passport, and moved to the next passenger. A bloke a few rows back, who had a noticeably "Middle eastern" appearance and clothing, had every one of his bags searched, as well as his clothing and other ID. This was in stark contrast to my arrival in the US by plane, where I was finger printed and photographed.

The lesson I learned that day was that if I were a terrorist looking to enter the US, cross at a land border and dress like an American and there wont be any problems.

If we are really serious about border security, why not learn from 50 years of experience in Israel and build numerous checkpoints similar to the ones populating the landscape of the West Bank and Gaza Strip?

These checkpoints operate on the assumption that every Palestinian is a "terrorist" and have evolved over the years of occupation to become fundamental aspects of a security infrastructure seemingly designed to humiliate, create economic hardship and, perhaps unintentionally, foment the development of the next generation of resistance.

Passing through one of these checkpoints can take from 20 minutes to 3 hours from one day to the next - creating an unpredictability that plays havoc with your work schedule. Some days the checkpoints are closed without advance warning, and on other days "temporary" checkpoints are created at random locations. Some checkpoints have turned into pedestrian-only chokepoints so you must take a taxi to the checkpoint, walk through carrying your shopping bags, and resume your trip in another taxi on the far side. A round trip of only 5 kilometers can take 4 hours.

And yet even these checkpoints have been deemed ineffective by Israeli authorities so construction is now underway of a 703 km barrier 8 meters high that will eventually surround the West Bank.

Now that's a smart border the likes of which the world has not seen since the Berlin Wall.

Perhaps an 8-meter barrier may be the only way to allow entry of US shoppers into Canada while keeping out the US terrorists. It would also create another photo opportunity for Niagara Falls tourists.

Don, I hope your comment is tongue-in-cheek. If so, you make a good point about the hypocrisy of Americans. Let's not allow Canada to become ruled by such a Stasi-like mentality, however. I was listening to Michael Moore on cbc radio today and he said (paraphrase) that the US toots its horn about being the land of the free but Canada actually IS the land of the free.

The thing that is so ridiculous about this sudden flexibility in the border crossing regulations is that it is obviously all about convenience, not safety. If there really is a security concern at the border, then why on EARTH would they relax the regulations "for a few months"? Either we need massive security measures or we don't. If there is a real risk, why is it okay to risk people's lives for the sake of convenience until the passport backlog abates? If security is needed and lives are at risk, nobody would mind waiting for a thorough check to be done. If it's okay to just wave people through, then wave them through and stop scaring the bejammers out of everybody. One or the other. The inconsistency makes it clear that all this hoopla is just more American lies.

Most Americans traveling abroad head to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean. What were those idiots in Washington thinking? That there wouldn't be a rush on passport applications? Come on you goofballs! Get a clue, will you?

"Smart" and Washington are mutually exclusive terms...

Canada should sieze the initiative: beginning now, all US citizens trying to enter Canada should be stopped, searched and, if not in possession of a valid passport, immediately arrested and taken off to a "detention facility" where they would be subject to investigation as to whether or not they are members of any group with ties to Al Qaida. We could declare them "unlawful enemy combatants" which would allow us the opportunity to hold them indefinitely and without charge until such time as we could convene military tribunals to deal with their cases. Perhaps in 5 years time. I imagine the US would be on board with that - tit for tat, and so on. How could they possibly object after all? We are partners in the "Global War on Terror", aren't we?

Seems only fair to want to return the favour.