Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:24 am Post subject: Gerry Adams (of Sein Fein) on 'im and passport control |
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Queues, delayed flights and lost baggage all make travelling arduous enough as it is. That's nothing - wait until you're upgraded for a special security grilling, says Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams
Richard McAuley and I were the only male caucasians in the large "holding room" at Newark airport, in the US. The rest of the people there - men and women of all ages and even a scattering of children - were mostly dark-skinned. The majority of our companions looked as if they were of Middle Eastern origin.
It was at passport control that Richard, my press secretary, and I were taken out of the line. Once our passports are put into an airport computer, the machine tends to light up like the Christmas tree at Belfast City Hall.
So, over the past decade or so, we have come to know a lot of airport holding rooms. Lots of times, by arrangement with the US state department, our entry into America is eased and an official will take us out of the line. Open sesame - before we know it, we are in the land of Uncle Sam, ready to be whisked off to whatever event we are attending.
Lots of times, this process isn't quite so straightforward, though. Once the computer lights up, that's it. In the holding room, it may only be a matter of form, but it depends who is about the place.
Sometimes the FBI is around. That can be a bit of a pain. Most of the FBI people at airports are young fellas.
"Have you a schedule, sir?"
"Yup," I say, with the patience of a man used to spending four or five hours at a time at the side of Irish roads in the company of the British Army's Parachute Regiment, back in the days when British Army roadblocks were daily rites of passage.
I hand the FBI young gun a copy of my travel schedule - a document that has been in the possession of the US state department for the past month or so.
"Huh," he says. "Why are you going to the White House, sir?"
"To see the president."
"Huh. Why?"
"He asked me," I say evenly. |
Panic at passport control |
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