This story is featured prominently at the British Guardian, but I haven’t seen it in any U.S. news sources so far:
The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines.
The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as “blackmail” and “troublesome”, and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington’s requirements.
Somebody read the article and try to figure out what bats are flying around in the Bushies’ heads.
One of the big worries going around is that because you don’t need a visa to travel from the UK to the US, and the UK has a large pool of disaffected Muslim youth (7/7 bombings, etc.), that terrorists will use that UK population to hide in and enter the United States that way, or to hijack a flight from the UK to the US. This air marshal thing wouldn’t guard the 1st danger but would against the 2nd I guess. The request for personal info (which is not a new development) is to guard against the 1st danger.
So:
(Easy access from UK) + (dangerous people in UK) = High risk
Adrian — of course, but there are ways to deal with this kind of threat that would not involve pissing off the entire European Union.
A lot of this sounds like old news, in that the bushistas started demanding all sorts of stuff after 9/11, but most of it was so poorly thought out and insulting to our allies that most people, especially the EU, decided that if they quietly dragged their feet, after a while the US would calm down and start making sense. Sadly, we’re talking the Bush administration.
Indeed, but the Bush Administration wouldn’t be the Bush Administration if it thought like that. Pssh, Old Europe.
There is no rational explanation for this type of behavior. The Bush administration is trying to justify its continuing irrational focus on terrorism by doing everything a paranoid would except that which actually increases security. All of it is a an attempt to justify a growing “big brother” on the back of their failure to properly protect us in the first place. They have no game except fear. It is going to take years to undo this insanity.
It seems to me that, with the fallen dollar, that the U.S. has one heck of a lot of tourists visiting from Europe and spending one hell of a lot of money in the U.S. Tourism is one of the last industries that is not experiencing a recession. And these jerks want to kill another golden goose.
Nothing they think up is rational.
I know why the Bush administration is doing this now, but because the enemy is listening I can’t talk about it.
I’m picking up little bits and pieces here and there of seemingly unrelated information that is giving me a sense that Bush is pumping life back into the terrorism demon..maybe to bolster McCain’s presidential platform of combating radical Islamic extremists. As I see it how it stands now, McCain will be at a clear disadvantage come election time if he puts too much stock into battling radical Islam unless that issue is revived enough to tip a balance with ignorant voters. Aside from that, terrorism is Bush’s mainstay and no other tool in his toolbox of control works for him. If it works, ya work it?
I somewhat agree with fallen and swani, in that they don’t really care about this particular issue. Whether they eventually back down, it gets terrorism back in the news, which is one less news cycle about the historic turn out for Democrats (and Huckabee). If Democrats react to this story publicly, it will give the Right an opening to go on Hardball and say 9/11waronterrorDefetocratparty. What the hell else they got to win on in November?
Seems to me the wingnuts are also trying to extend their power to last after they have to leave office. And if they keep up with this kind of insanity, they will definitely have to leave office. I can’t believe there is one person left in the U.S. that wants Bush’s kind of “leadership” to last another four years!
Swami makes a good point. It is entirely plausible the Administration is angling to help McCain. But I think it’s all the more sinister…and God help me for sounding like someone with a tinfoil hat, but am just not convinced that Dick Cheney plans to leave office. There are a lot of skeletons in his “man sized” safe, and just don’t see these packing up and leaving town all that quietly.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but some type of attack just before the election, and they could be shutting down the election, “just until the dust settles.” Remember, they were sending up trial balloons on this for the 2004 election (temporary delay if something happened).
Unfortunately, nothing this group might try would surprise me.