Exclusively in the new print issue of CounterPunch

HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIA — Film historian Ed Rampell details Hollywood’s entangled relationship with the CIA and the Pentagon; HOUSES OF THE DEAD: Nancy Kurshan exposes the cruel human rights offenses taking place inside America’s vast gulag of Control Unit Prisons; BROTHERHOOD OF SUMMER: David Macaray charts the history of the most powerful union in the US: the Baseball Players Association; TAR SANDS COME TO AMERICA: Steve Horn explains how the Keystone Pipeline debates have diverted attention from Big Oil’s other plans to transport Alberta’s oil into the US. PLUS: Jeffrey St. Clair on CONSTITUTIONAL ENTROPY; Mike Whitney on HOW THE BANKS TARGETED BLACKS; Chris Floyd on THE RISE OF BRITAIN’S TEA PARTY; Kristin Kolb on THE NEEDLE AND THE DAMAGE DONE; Kim Nicolini on the FILMS OF WILLIAM FRIEDKIN; and Lee Ballinger on POETS VS. THE ONE PERCENT.

Weekend Edition June 15-17, 2001

Canadian Border Crackdown May Keep Bush from Trade Summit

by Jennifer C. Berkshire

QUEBEC CITY — Tough new enforcement of immigration laws at the Canadian border has prompted concern that President George W. Bush may have trouble entering the country for the Summit of the Americas, scheduled to begin on Friday.

In preparation for the Summit, authorities have implemented unprecedented security precautions at the border, including checking the arrest records of every entrant into Canada. Now, say some officials, those measures may even be extended to Summit participants including George W. Bush.

“We are looking for any history of criminal activity, any evidence that a certain individual may be harmful to himself or the Canadian people,” said Francois de Rigaud, an immigration official in Quebec.

Yesterday, border police at the Derby crossing in Vermont refused entrance to a prominent New England labor leader, on the grounds that he had been arrested during a Vietnam-era protest in 1971.

The exclusion of the labor official, who was to have participated in an international pre-Summit meeting starting last night, has triggered speculation that President Bush himself may have difficulty crossing the border, due to a conviction for drunken driving in 1976.

“We`re obviously concerned,” said one Republican party leader close to the President. “We weren`t aware that the Canadians were going to be checking records.”

Asked earlier this year about the DUI arrest, President Bush expressed sorrow over the incident. “I regret drinking while intoxicated,” he said, “but I was never under anybody`s influence at the time.” CP