Bush Orders Clampdown on Flights to U.S.
February 11th, 2008Via: Guardian:
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.
According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.
And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.
The data from the US’s new electronic transport authorisation system is to be combined with extensive personal passenger details already being provided by EU countries to the US for the “profiling” of potential terrorists and assessment of other security risks.
Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers – for example family members – who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as “absurd”.
Seven demands tabled by Washington are contained in a 10-page “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) that the US authorities are negotiating or planning to negotiate with all EU governments, according to ministers and diplomats from EU member states and senior officials in Brussels. The Americans have launched their security drive with some of the 12 mainly east European EU countries whose citizens still need visas to enter the US.
“The Americans are trying to get a beefing up of their visa-waiver programmes. It’s all contained in the MOU they want to put to all EU member states,” said a diplomat from a west European country. “It’s a very delicate problem.”
I think the most “beautiful” aspect of the whole charade of ever-expanding “security” is this: those who are FOR these measures claim they are trying to keep us safe(r); so if something bad does happen, well, you can’t blame the guys who at least tried to make things safe(r); but you sure can blame the guys — like those pussies in Brussels who describe these efforts as “blackmail” (the very idea!) — who didn’t cooperate with the guys who wanted to make it safe(r). And so when a false-flag operation is executed, who looks bad? The pussies, of course, and acutely so. And if we don’t have a false-flag operation for a while? Well, the security freaks don’t look great, but they certainly don’t look acutely bad. Their position, i.e., pro-ever-expanding-security, is safe. And so, the noose gets a little tighter with each passing year. The bad guys have completely stacked the deck, and the good guys don’t have the balls to call them on it.
I think there is a solution to this, but the “left” is too spineless to even consider it: go after the spooks, aggressively investigate the false-flag ops, support whistelblowers like they’re your children. I fear 9/11 was the last great opportunity to really, shockingly catch the military-industrial complex with its pants down, and the odds of exposing it get closer to zero every day. When the much-heralded 9/11 II comes, an iron curtain will descend on America and people won’t even speak of an investigation for fear of being thrown into a black hole for promoting “homegrown terrorism”.
Ha.
What treaty will Bush not conquer with his sickoness?
27 countries mentioned herein are part and parcel to a treaty – hah lets trash that one too.
Visa Waiver Program
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html
Scroll down on the link above:
Read and weep to see those foreign nationals Bush want to trash as possible terrorists:
ugh. its getting uglier by the minute.
Which countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)?
Currently, 27 countries participate in the Visa Waiver Program, as shown below:
Visa Waiver Program – Participating Countries.
Andorra Iceland Norway
Australia Ireland Portugal
Austria Italy San Marino
Belgium Japan Singapore
Brunei Liechtenstein Slovenia
Denmark Luxembourg Spain
Finland Monaco Sweden
France the Netherlands Switzerland
Germany New Zealand United Kingdom