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The Center
The New
Home The US Consitution, Bill of Rights, and the Amendments
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A Note: This essay was submitted by a longtime visitor
to the Center.
July 15, 2000 -- The M.V. Coho is a passenger and car ferry that
runs between Port Angeles, Washington, United States and Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada. Traversing across the open sea that is the strait of
Juan De Fuca in it's journey between two nations, the M.V. Coho's obscure
point of departure from the United States (small, isolated Port Angeles,
Washingston at the top of the Olympic Peninsula), it's destination in Canada,
(Victoria, a relatively large city however located on semi-remote Vancouver
Island), and its relatively small size have made it a little known
route in crossing the border between Canada and the United States. Furthermore,
the The significance of all this is as follows: ferry service between the United States and Canada is a notoriously easy way to smuggle illegal items across the border. That's not to say the sercurity and inspections are necessary more lax, however the border crossing in more crowded and traversed routes, such as that on Interstate-5, provide more established, staffed and inspected border crossing areas, (naturally, more people cross here and resources should be focused on this area). In any case, it is widely known that it proves far less eventful to cross the border on the MV Coho or the Victoria Clipper, (a passenger ferry that runs from Seattle to Vancouver Island), for that matter than a similar crossing of the border with a car on road routes. The personal experience of this author qualifies
him to say that smuggling anything from Korean immigrants to Sticky Doja
is a lot easier on the Coho than the I-5 crossing and certainly easier
then the jail that is the crossing into Mexico on the United States' Southern
border. It should be noted as well that due to the percieved increase in
"BC Bud," (as the rude, "i-fuck-my-mom," Customs Swine like to call it), Case in point: In December of 1999, an Algerian man, Ahmed Ressam, was arrested on the Coho after authorities found bomb making materials in his trunk. See the original story here from CNN Interactive. Though in this episode, secutiry was successful in stopping contra-band from entering the United States, the circumstances of the case are unsettling, and proved unsettling enough for the city of Seattle to cancel its new years eve celebration. (Though Seattle Mayor Paul Schell denies that this episode had any effect on the situation.) As original reports from the incident indicate, Ressam was only discovered after shoddy planning and a nervous reaction on his part allowed him to be discovered. According to various media reports from the time of the original incident, inspectors first became suspicious when Ressam's "itinerary" indicated he was traveling from Vancouver to Seattle, the Coho obviously being an out-of-the-way vehicle for this journey. How customs officials discovered his "intinerary" is beyond the scope of any published reports, but regaurdless of this, Ressam still could have easily bypassed customs authorities. His openly nervous behavior still only prompted a search of the trunk, not a complete, thorough dismantling of the vehicle which often occurs in cases of strong suspicion. Here, customs officials discovered the bomb-making materials hidding carelessly in the spare tire well, the first place officials will look. Ressam was See the original story here from CNN Interactive. Though in this episode, secutiry was successful in stopping contra-band from entering the United States, the circumstances of the case are unsettling, and proved unsettling enough for the city of Seattle to cancel its new years eve celebration. (Though Seattle Mayor Paul Schell denies that this episode had any effect on the situation.) As original reports from the incident indicate, Ressam was only discovered after shoddy planning and a nervous reaction on his part allowed him to be discovered. According to various media reports from the time of the original incident, inspectors first became suspicious when Ressam's "itinerary" indicated he was traveling from Vancouver to Seattle, the Coho obviously being an out-of-the-way vehicle for this journey. How customs officials discovered his "intinerary" is beyond the scope of any published reports, but regaurdless of this, Ressam still could have easily bypassed customs authorities.
Bottomg Line: The US Customs can stop you for importing wonderful plant matter into our country, they can see to it that you are jailed for long periods of time for this "indisgression," but don't count on them doing anything to protect you from terrorist attacks on your home soil. None of the information represented in this report is necessarily or legally qualified.
Related Stories: US and Canada agree to increase holes in border security. - June 6th, 2000 CNN Interactive Talks on Border Terrorism. - January 27th, 2000 CNN Interactive
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Coho
is the only car ferry to be privately owned and operated that makes the
international journey in the Pacific Northwest. (Other car ferries leave
from Washington to B.C. but are state run, while other privately run ships,
such as the Victoria Clipper, accept only passengers.)
the border crossing is more challenging then it has ever been with rude
customs officials simply acting inhumane, utilizing the ultimate in racial,
age and gender profiling techniques that reek far more of evil Nazi-Germany
than the delicious scent of the burning contra-band, [Seen Left], these
pigs so ignorantly try to capture. Resources dedicated to the eradication
of a peaceful traffic in a common weed could much better be dedicated to
stopping terrorists and other genuine threats to US National Security.
The incident prompted no less than various committe hearings in US Congress,
tightning down on security at all embassies, (Ressam purportedly has links
to Saudi millionare and enemy of the US Osama Bin Laden), further agreements
between the US and Canada in plugging holes in the border and a nervous
tension throughout the US on the Millenium's New Years Eve. The end result
however was to show that the MV Coho is the perfect example of an isolated,
little-known route to easily cross the international border between the
US and Canada with the potential to allow dangerous items to enter the
US. Recent agreements, (see related stories below), since the incident
appear to be little more than lip service to this most dangerous incident
in December of 1999. How safe is the US from domestic terrorism?