P.R. HELL

If there’s one thing the U.S. could be doing right now, it’s thinking about how it can improve the country’s image abroad. So what does the Bush administration do? It imposes a new immigration rule that will make life extremely difficult for foreign journalists to cover this country adequately, forcing them out of the country for long periods (up to four months) in order to renew their visas. It’s already a nightmare to enter this country, because of the new security regulations. British journalists have been jailed, humiliated and deported for the most minor of details, immigration officials at the borders now have powers that defy judicial review and act accordingly. Many of my European friends tell me that they simply won’t visit the U.S. any more because of the experience of entering what appears to be a police state at the border – and the risk of summary arrest for no good reason. This is bad enough when it affects millions of ordinary people – tourists, business-people (I’ve noticed a big decline in European tourists on the Cape this summer). But when you target the group that is responsible for conveying what the United States is to the rest of the world, you are only hurting yourself.