I have changed my political affiliation to Monarchist, but for the life of me I can't decide who should be America's king.This is Free Republic so the answer to that one is obvious.....LOL:
-Eric
Posted on 04/10/2004 4:39:59 AM PDT by JesseHousman
An international incident is touched off when Miami airport screeners insist on examining the luggage of the successor to the Spanish throne and his entourage.
Crown Prince Felipe of Spain and his fiancée pitched a royal fit at Miami International Airport Thursday night, when screeners insisted on searching the future king's luggage -- just as they would any Average Joe's.
Members of the prince's entourage called the required inspection of their private belongings an ''insult'' and ''humiliating'' -- sparking a diplomatic flap that has the United States and Spain on the brink of a protocol war.
Crowning it off, Iberia Airlines, the prince's carrier of choice, is suggesting it might pull out of the airport, according to two sources close to the international incident.
Now, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas has sent the Prince of Asturias, next in line for the throne, an apology, saying he's asked for an investigation into what went wrong.
Thursday's diplomatic dust-up occurred when the tall, blue-eyed, 36-year-old Prince Felipe de Borbón and his beautiful bride-to-be, Letizia Ortiz, 31, a well-known TV newscaster, flew into MIA to catch a connecting flight home.
The couple and four bodyguards landed at MIA around 5 p.m. on a private chartered jet from Nassau. They were booked on a 6 p.m. Iberia Airlines flight to Madrid.
Whether the prince gave U.S. diplomatic officials enough notice of his arrival is at the heart of the problem.
The U.S. State Department requires 72 hours notice to arrange for expedited security screening in a private area. The prince's people called with six hours notice.
When members of the royal party were told that they and their carry-ons would have to be searched -- just like the masses -- the royal flap erupted.
''We're your allies!'' one member of the royal delegation shouted in Spanish to inspectors at a particularly tense moment.
But according to Lauren Stover, spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, the screeners were only doing their jobs. The mandates of the Department of Homeland Security following Sept. 11 require that all commercial airline passengers be screened -- even the princely ones.
''The prince and his bodyguard felt they should not be subjected to the screening, but if they do not have an escort from the State Department or the Secret Service, it is required,'' Stover said. ``It's the law.''
To accommodate blue-blooded sensibilities, the TSA gave the group a choice of a quick public screening or a slower but private one away from commoners. The royal entourage chose a private screening and the group was taken to an American Airlines' lounge.
Stover said three ''top-notch screeners with VIP experience'' and two supervisors rushed to the lounge to conduct the search.
The need by the princess-to-be to go the powder room caused another flare-up. Ortiz was told her already-searched purse would be searched again on her return from the nonsecure area. She decided to hold it.
That sparked more angry words and exchanges, delaying the process and making the entire royal party late for the flight, which waited.
At one point, Milton Oribe, Iberia's station manager, said he would ignore the required screening, come what may, witnesses said.
Oribe also offered to vouch for the prince and his entourage, adding that he would see to it that the Spanish carrier withdrew from MIA, according to witnesses on the scene.
Mayor Penelas, calling the brouhaha a ''lamentable situation,'' immediately sent a letter of apology to the the royal family and pointed out those doing the screening were federal employees.
''The facts I have received thus far indicate an apparent disregard for protocol and disrespect of His Highness and his delegation. . . . I have called upon our County Manager to conduct a complete investigation into this matter,'' Penelas wrote in a letter dated Thursday.
An official of the Spanish Consulate in Miami said Friday that it will be up to Consul General Javier Vallaure to decide whether a complaint will be sent to the U.S. State Department.
''We don't consider this the proper way to treat our future king; it's a breach of protocol,'' said the consular official, who would not give his name.
Said Stover: ``Had anything happened on that flight to the prince or anyone on that aircraft because we decided to relax our screening processes, that would have been catastrophic and a complete failure on our part.''
Well, you see, it's quite simple, really:
You don't get to decide what is enough time.
I agree that there might be a problem, but to blame the lowest level workers is a serious mistake. Elect morons to congress, and this is the level of sophistication that you get in establishing rules enforced by other morons.
The solution is to have minimum qualifications for the people who make the rules.
this is not good enough for Americans! Security "procedures" in airports are counterproductive and useless. There needs to be a more sophisticated method of screening than what what has been edicted and then employed by these vapidly stupid TSA employees.The point of the "security" at airports isn't security. It's partly pacification of the masses by bolting the barn door after the horse has escaped. Its primary purpose is to test police state tactics on US citizens. This was proven by the fact that the first head of the "TSA" wasn't someone with security experience, but Clinton's BATF director.
-Eric
I'll bet you a week's pay that was a partisan jab. The mayor of Miami has just about got to be a Dem, and this gives him a chance to take the high road and slam the administration.
That said, the entire airport screen system is a disaster. It treats millions of innocent people every day as potential terrorists, and does not, imho, make the country any safer.
I'm also sure there was at least a small entourage, including personal security, aides, etc..
And I'm also sure that they had the appropriate Visas, and Diplomatic papers identifying his rank and status..
It's not "silly" to expect airport screeners and their supervisors to have at least rudimentary familiarity with international passports, Visas, and papers indicating such..
The Crown Prince of Spain may be "obscure" to you, but that is not the case in the rest of the world..
If he were to come to harm, or be kidnapped, it would be an international incident of major proportions..
Guaranteed..
Possibly even an act of war...
I have changed my political affiliation to Monarchist, but for the life of me I can't decide who should be America's king.This is Free Republic so the answer to that one is obvious.....LOL:
-Eric
Exactly. There are perhaps a half dozen to eight major international airports in the U.S. One would think that at each and every one of those there would be both FBI and State Department offices manned 24/7.
I suspect that if there isn't it's the result of Dubya's lapse in common sense in holding over incompetents from the recent Trailer-Park presidency. Isn't it about time to correct that mistake? I would start with all of the State Department. That department should exist to serve first and foremost the interests of the United States. They don't agree? They can go work for the DNC.
''We're your allies!'' one member of the royal delegation shouted in Spanish to inspectors at a particularly tense moment.NATO still exists as a viable alliance.Really? America currently has enough cowards claiming to be allies.
-Eric
Give it a rest. That line might work for a crown prince, but not here.
Lardass? Maybe as court jester, but try comparing that pill popping blowhard to Edward "Longshanks" Plantagenet. The latter was a real monarch. Remember, real monarchs hate.
I wonder if the typical screener could recognize a fake diplomatic paper from someone posing to be some prince from some country ---- what if the Crown Prince of Spain was waved through but then the plane he boarded was blown up because someone posing as a Crown Prince of Ireland had also been waved through but had on him a bomb.
I doubt the screeners were all that rude --- he and the girlfriend probably started with the attitude "What!!! you don't know who we are??? you don't realize that we are important people???"
Read it again. He came in on a charter jet. He was leaving on Iberia Airline, where the flap occured.
Even trailer trash knows that Iberia is "Public Transportation".
As for the rest of the flap. I have three words: Formally established protocol.
Ya... PROFILING.That won't catch the sophisticated terrorists, who are the dangerous ones.Muslim? Middle-Eastern? 17-44? Male?
DING! DING! DING!
Even presuming we're talking about Muslinms, how tough would it be to take a black, Asian, Bosnian, or half Russian (European looking) 25 year old male and give him false credentials? If they could train him to speak with an American accent, he could even be given fake American credentials. Dress him in "business casual" clothes and you'll get past any "profile".
-Eric
All right Chad. Go hide in the corner a while.
Your lack of education/experience or plain common sense if sorely showing.
Think about it. Do you think the Queen of England does not have diplomatic immunity? Hell, she doesn't even need a last name!
Not gutless.
He's just an automatic @ss-kisser.
Either that, or he sees himself as being Spanish first, American second, if at all.
But how many countries are there? How many just in Africa, and how many in Europe, Asia, Latin America..... and how can anyone recognize all the papers from each individual country. If they took all the royalty from all the countries and mixed them up with thousands of other people from over the world --- could you really pick them out? The Crown prince of Uganda? Or his sister the princess? (if they exist) or the Crown prince of Thailand? Or of Belgium? I could probably recognize Prince Charles of England but not his siblings if I came face to face with them --- but I'm not even sure about that.
Your "examples" are all ludicrous. I pray that you have no role in any official diplomatic activities for our country!
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