Captain Paul Watson

[Guest guest]

Je Accuse in the Paranoid States of America by Captain Paul

Watson

 

Je Accuse in the Paranoid States of America by

Captain Paul Watson

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 13:17:47 -0800

Je Accuse in the Paranoid States of America

 

by Captain Paul Watson

On the morning of Friday, February 10th, I was

returning from Vancouver, British Columbia. I had to

go north to extend my passport the day before. Being a

resident of the United States I had previously gone to

the Canadian Consulate in Seattle or Los Angeles to do

so. However this month, the rules have changed and

Canada no longer issues or extends Canadian passports

outside of Canada.

I had gotten my passport renewed a year ago in

Seattle but because my birth certificate was

laminated, it was issued only for a year until I could

produce a non-laminated birth certificate. This was

not so easily done as my first application to the

Province of Ontario's Registrar General was lost and

my second application took six months to be processed.

I had used the laminated birth certificate for

passport renewal for the last twenty years but the

Consulate General told me that Osama Bin Ladin was

responsible for changing the rules.

It appears that Osama has changed quite a few

rules and has been the catalyst for diminished

freedoms and increased violations of human rights.

What would have been unthinkable pre-September 11th,

2001 is now the norm

So with my passport successfully extended at a

cost of $84 in addition to the $84 I paid a year ago,

I spent the night in Vancouver and headed south to the

border bright and early the next morning.

There was not much of a line up and I was hopeful

of breezing through and making the ferry to Friday

Harbor.

I handed my passport and resident alien card to

the Homeland Security Officer. He asked me why I had

been in Canada and I answered that I had to come north

to extend my passport. He then entered my passport

number into his computer. I saw his eyes widen and his

hand went to his gun. He quickly stepped out of the

booth and ran to the back of the truck and ducked

behind a concrete barrier. Suddenly additional

Homeland Security agents appeared, all of them taking

up positions behind concrete blocks as they crouched

down and leveled their guns straight at me.

There were at least seven guns aimed at my head as

the first officer I encountered yelled. " Toss your

keys out the window. "

I did so.

He then barked, " put both your hands out the

window. "

I did so.

" Now, " he continued. " Take your right hand and

bring it back in and open the door and step out of the

truck.

I did so.

" Turn around, face the front and place your hands

over your head. Now! "

I did so.

It was very surreal to see these uniformed men

crouching down with their handguns leveled at my head.

It certainly left no room for argument or protest.

" Bring your right hand down behind your back. "

I did so.

" Now bring your left hand down behind your back. "

I did so.

" Spread your legs apart. "

I did so.

" Wider. "

Suddenly I felt the cold steel of handcuffs on my

right wrist and heard the click as they seized me.

I was violently pushed towards the door of the

Border office.

" Look, I said, this has happened to me before.

Just run the passport and I'll be cleared. "

They pushed me into a room and emptied my pockets,

felt for weapons and an officer actually felt my anus

through my pants.

They unlocked the cuffs.

" Guys, look, I always get flagged for secondary.

I'm an environmentalist. "

I told them that I had already had similar

incidents with guns being drawn, handcuffed and

interrogated at the Detroit border crossing in

September 2005 and at the Niagara Falls border

crossing in 2003.

In Detroit they held me for four hours and woke up

a special agent to come interrogate me. While waiting

one officer, when he found out I was a director of the

Sierra Club, informed me as fact that the Sierra Club

was a subversive organization.He spent some time

browsing through my book Ocean Warrior and told me

that he was worried about my potential for violence

because I had written about shooting a boy in the butt

with a bb gun when I was 12 because he was about to

shoot a bird. One of the officers at Blaine

laughed and said, " Hell, I did that. "

After that they were all very friendly and

explained that they were following procedure and

promised to have my record updated. Of course they had

promised me that in Detroit and Niagara Fall also so I

was not to hopeful.

I do know why I am tagged. Two reasons actually.

Way back in 1977, I was arrested for trespassing

during an anti-nuclear protest in Washington State. I

was convicted but the case was appealed and the

charges were dismissed. Apparently there is no record

of the dismissal in the computer, just the arrest and

the conviction. For this reason I have to carry a

letter in my passport from the Federal Court in

Seattle with a copy of the dismissal order. I have to

produce this letter whenever asked at the border.

The other reason is that back in 2001 we had

transported a ton of equipment and supplies to the

Costa Rican National Park rangers at Cocos Island.

Included in these supplies were 14 rifles. I had gone

through the proper and legal channels to take on the

rifles and when the ship stopped in St. Lucia, I

declared them as stipulated by St. Lucian law. The St.

Lucian Custom officials removed the rifles as is their

policy. When I left St. Lucia with the ship, the

rifles were returned. When we unloaded the rifles at

Cocos Island we were given a receipt for the donation.

Everything was above board and completely legal.

However when we were in St. Lucia we had

documented the killing of a whale in Castries harbour

and the photograph was published worldwide much to the

embarrassment of the St. Lucian government.

They retaliated by reporting to the United States

that I was smuggling guns. Why they thought this was

the business of the United States is interesting

because our ship was registered under the British flag

and I am a Canadian.

So in September 2002, When I was clearing Customs

in Long Beach, California, I was approached by six

Customs officers and escorted to a room and

questioned. I answered their questions and referred to

the proper channels that I had gone through including

the legal declaration of the weapons in St. Lucia.

" What laws have I broken? " I asked.

" None, " they answered. " We are viewing you as a

person of interest. "

And so I have been flagged by Homeland Security as

a " person of interest. "

I am allowed to live in the United States and I am

free to come and go but each time I arrive at an

airport I am directed to a room where I sit for an

hour or two, or sometimes three. No one asks me any

questions and usually after missing a plane

connection, I am handed my passport back with a

friendly, " Thank-you for your cooperation Sir, you are

free to go. "

Not that I had any choice but to cooperate.

When this first started I asked a Homeland

Security agent just why they were doing this to me.

She answered that anyone with a criminal record is

automatically sent to Secondary.

" But I don't have a criminal record. " I answered.

" Sir, " she replied. You were arrested in August

1977 on a trespass charge in Washington State. "

" Yes I was, " I replied. And I was acquitted. "

She looked at me and said, " Sir if you've been

arrested in this country you have a criminal record. "

I was stunned to discover that since 9-11, the

mere fact that a person has been arrested on any

charge is grounds for having a criminal record. This

completely overturns the concept of innocence until

proven guilty. Arrest is now evidence of guilt and

grounds for suspicion.

It is a strange new world in Post 9-11 America.

Stranger still that so many people have unquestionally

accepted this new order.

It reminds me of the words of President Franklin

D. Roosevelt when he said that " we have nothing to

fear except fear itself. "

Today, the Bush Administration is playing fear as

a weapon and an excuse to undermine freedom in America

in the name of freedom.

Osama Bin Laden and his band of fanatic

superstious wackos has succeeded in completely

transforming America from a land of liberty to a land

of paranoid tyranny.

I am sure that I will be regarded with more

" interest " for this article but I happen to believe in

the old America, the land of freedom, tolerance,

liberty and opportunity where a person was judged by

their actions and their ability, and not by accusation

and suspicion.

Perhaps we may see the day when freedom is once

again restored to America. Such a day will only happen

however when people once again listen to the words of

Franklin Roosevelt and reject the fear-mongering

posturing that has replaced legitimate and responsible

governance in the United States.

Captain Paul Watson

Founder and President - Sea Shepherd Conservation

Society - Sierra Club USA - The Farley Mowat Institute - Atlantic Grey Whale Society

President - Oceanic Research and Conservation Action

Force

P.O. Box 2616

Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Tel: 360-370-5650 Cell: 310-701-3096

E-mail: Paulwatson

Website: www.Seashepherd.org