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America the Unwelcoming

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In his 2003 book "Courage Matters," Sen. John McCain writes, "Get on the damn elevator! Fly on the damn plane! Calculate the odds of being harmed by a terrorist. It's still about as likely as being swept out to sea by a tidal wave." He added what seemed like a sound rule of thumb: "Watch the terrorist alert and when it falls below yellow, go outside again."

Except that since 9/11, the alert has never dropped below yellow (which means an "elevated" level of risk from a terrorist attack). At airports, we have been almost permanently at orange—"high risk," or the second highest level of alertness. Yet the Department of Homeland Security admits that "there continues to be no credible information at this time warning of an imminent threat to the homeland." The department's "strategic threat perspective … is that we are in a period of increased risk." What is this "strategic perspective?" Is it the same as the "gut feeling" that Secretary Michael Chertoff cited when he warned, in July, that we were likely to be attacked during the summer? Or is it a bureaucratic mind-set, the technical term for which is CYA?

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Posted By: ajac @ 12/15/2007 6:34:09 PM

Points 5 and 6 are taken to an extreme of sorts, but... I'm truly sad to say that the basic direction of the argument still reflects a reality most of us with schoochildren K-12, and collgege alike can relate to. Our jobs and livelyhood are exported to totalitarian countries at the same time as our children's education is watered down to the point of uselessnes. It's very, very , very difficult to gain legal residence in the U:S:A for the one's that are willing to follow the law.Dishonest lawyers misslead immigrants, authoritys are unpredictable and heavyhanded. America can be very unwelcoming and carry a double standard by allowing litterary millions of illegal ailens remain in the country, as cheap labour at the same time as they have no right to actually be here, let alone civic right's duties or benefits. America has a high calling but is it answering.
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Posted By: Asiaman @ 12/09/2007 9:58:38 PM

This article is terribly misleading.

According to data from the U.S. Commerce Department, the number of international visitors to the U.S. in 2007 is set to surpass the near record of 51.1 million set in 2006, which was a 4% increase over the number of visitors in 2005. The U.S. travel and tourism industry has posted positive gains in the number of nonresident arrivals for the last 19, soon to be 20, consecutive quarters. The last time the number of arrivals was down was the third quarter of 2003, which was BEFORE the controversial U.S. Visit program went into effect on January 5, 2004.

Don???t take my, or Mr. Zakaria???s, word for it. Go see for yourself. Here is the link to the data for 2000-2006 (http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/Historical_arrivals_2000_2006.xls), and here is the link for projections from 2007 and beyond (http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/f-2000-99-001/forecast/Forecast_World_Regions_to_web.pdf).

Of course, we can select certain countries, such as Japan, and state that the number of visitors has fallen from 5 million in 2000 to 3.6 in 2006. But, we could just as easily highlight a number of countries from which visitation has increased since 2000: China, India, Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Spain, Ireland, Australia.

Further, the U.S. share of international visitor arrivals has gradually fallen since 1992 (recording, during the Clinton presidency, the greatest declines EVER, and would thus not appear to be the result of any recent change in policy. Here is the link to that data: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpages/inbound.world_us_intl_arrivals.html.

I guess this article is the garbage you get when a writer rushes to file a poorly researched story in anticipation of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
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Posted By: ebn11 @ 12/02/2007 12:36:58 PM

I was born in Ireland, and have been traveling to the US frequently on business and for pleasure for the past 35 years. I love the US, but I have no intention of ever moving there permanently (it's just that I like my own country more).

I have had an opportunity to see the gradual erosion of the American welcome to visitors, over a period of 35 years. All things considered (and I mean ALL things), the situation is bad. I feel sad to see what is happening to the country I love so much. It is almost like watching a good friend wither away.

I am not saying that the US authorities do not need to be vigilant and more cautious than in the past, but the changes that we are seeing today are overall doing little or no good to the US. With all the ingenuity and resourcefulness that exists in the US, don???t tell me that the current situation is unavoidable. There is more damage being done to the US by its policy of unwelcoming visitors than by a brigade or terrorists.

I truly hope that someone somewhere in a position of authority in the US is reading this.