Posted on 01/07/2004 5:29:17 PM PST by blam
U.S. Security Needs Anger Some Europeans
Thursday January 8, 2004 12:16 AM
By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) - Fears of a new airborne terrorist attack have brought heightened tensions, grounded flights - and created turbulence for U.S.-European relations.
Some European nations have balked at the United States' tough new aviation security measures, which include armed guards on aircraft and preflight scrutiny of passenger lists. Airlines, hit by rising security demands, want governments to handle part of the cost.
``There are tensions within Europe on how to handle U.S. requests,'' said Philip Butterworth-Hayes, editor of Jane's Aircraft Components. ``Politically, it's a complete nightmare for Europe.''
Meanwhile, France is searching for an Afghan on a U.S. list of suspected terrorists because someone with his name failed to board a Christmas Eve flight across the Atlantic that was canceled amid security fears, officials said Wednesday.
A passenger surnamed Hai was ticketed for Air France Flight 68 to Los Angeles but did not show up, French officials said. They said investigators have not yet established whether the passenger is the Abdou Hai on a U.S. terrorism watch list or someone with the same name.
The name was one reason why security on trans-Atlantic flights was stepped up over the holiday season. In all, six Air France flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were canceled amid concerns members of the al-Qaida terrorist network might try to board planes.
Investigators said Abdou Hai is not known to French intelligence, and France's judiciary has not opened an investigation into him, meaning he is not now suspected of wrongdoing.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, asked at a news conference Wednesday if there was a single potential terrorist loose who is a source of grave concern, said he was ``not aware of any one particular individual who is loose.''
But Justice Minister Dominique Perben confirmed Wednesday that French and European authorities were searching for someone who failed to show up for an Air France flight.
``We are looking for someone, but I can't say more,'' Perben told RMC radio. ``What's important when someone doesn't take a plane is to know why he didn't take it,'' he added.
The Air France flights were canceled after U.S. intelligence told their French counterparts that al-Qaida operatives would try to board the planes over Christmas, French officials have said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, many airlines around the world have acceded to U.S. requests, installing bulletproof cockpit doors on aircraft and agreeing to share passenger lists with U.S. authorities. But for some, the demand for armed sky marshals on flights to the United States was a step too far.
While a European Union-wide aviation safety agency is being established, each member country has been free to take its own position on sky marshals.
The Irish government, which took over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Jan. 1, said Wednesday it was organizing a meeting of EU aviation chiefs in Brussels, Belgium, next week to discuss the U.S. request.
On Dec. 29, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that airlines would be required to place armed law enforcement officers on flights to the United States ``where necessary.''
The announcement came after U.S. authorities raised their terrorism alert to orange, the second-highest level, and increased security surrounding international flights. More than a dozen flights to the United States on British Airways, Aeromexico and Air France have been canceled or delayed since New Year's Eve because of security fears.
British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling called the deployment of sky marshals ``responsible and prudent'' and said passengers would have to get used to increased security. France and Germany, alongside nations such as Canada and Australia, also agreed to the U.S. request, with Germany saying it has had sky marshals on some flights for more than two years.
But civil aviation authorities in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Portugal all said they would not allow armed marshals to fly and would instead cancel flights if there was a strong suspicion of a planned attack.
Denmark's Transportation Minister, Flemming Hansen, told the Politiken newspaper that ``putting armed guards on passenger planes is the same as saying that the terrorists have won.''
Package tour operator Thomas Cook, which operates charter flights between London and Orlando, Fla., also said it would not accept sky marshals, and pilot organizations in Britain, Spain and other countries expressed strong reservations.
``We do not accept that it is necessary to introduce armed officials on to aircraft,'' Conor Nolan, director of safety for the Irish Airline Pilots Association, was quoted as saying by the Irish Examiner newspaper. ``The aircraft should be the last place for security measures. They should have taken place on the ground before takeoff.''
Aviation expert Butterworth-Hayes said the trans-Atlantic disagreement ``partly comes from differences of culture, for example on the issue of arming pilots. The U.S. is much more bullish about that.''
Cost is also a factor. Heightened security measures since Sept. 11 have cost major airlines between $90 million and $180 million, according to aviation analyst Nick van den Brul of BN Paribas.
Sky marshals are not the first American demand to have met a mixed reception. In December, after months of negotiations, the European Union agreed to share flight passenger lists with U.S. authorities. But the EU won concessions to comply with European privacy rules, including an agreement to hold the data for 3 years rather than the 50 years originally proposed.
And on Wednesday the Australian airline Qantas bridled at a U.S. request that it discourage passengers from gathering in groups during flights to America. Australian Transport Minister John Anderson described the request as ``a little bit hard to handle.''
Darrin Kayser, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said Wednesday that passengers were free to wait in line for airplane bathrooms. But he said the agency had asked all airlines flying to the United States to discourage people from congregating on planes, possibly by making announcements to that effect before takeoff.
Other nations have been irked by the U.S. introduction of fingerprint scanning and photographing for visitors from all but 27 mostly European nations. Last week, Brazil began fingerprinting and photographing arriving Americans in retaliation.
On Tuesday, the Brazilian foreign minister met with the U.S. ambassador to ask that Brazilians be exempted from fingerprinting and that they ``be treated with dignity,'' according to a government statement.
David Learmount, an aviation expert with Flight International magazine, said U.S. authorities would have to accept a compromise on some of its security demands.
The effort against terrorism should be ``about people working together, not America bulldozing its way around, telling everyone what to do,'' he said.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Tennessee | 580.00 |
13 |
44.62 |
317 |
1.83 |
81.00 |
9 |
Thanks for donating to Free Republic!
Move your locale up the leaderboard!
OK, but if you want to land in the US, or fly over it, you have to meet our standards.
OXYMORON ALERT!
If the French gov't gets enough flack from its traveling citizens, likely far more important than your typical paysans, it may find a palatable way to ease the burden on itself...by stopping terrorists.
"Requests"??? Demands, is more like it. Here's a new insanity inflicted upon travelling citizens of America's staunchest ally, and prompted by Homeland Security chief Eddie Munster's most recent attack of paranoia:
Don't worry, we are. Haven't you seen the job loss figures in the US airline business, Arpege?
It's not war. It's regulation-for-its-own sake, gone mad. Compliance costs alone for Patriot Act financial regulations in the US are expected to be $11 billion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.