Once I searched the Prince of Spain...
Apr. 11th, 2004 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertango...now I work at the Pizza-Pizza.
Or so one would hope.
Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and his fiancee Letizia Ortiz went on a trip to the Bahamas.
On their return trip to Spain, they took a chartered jet to Miami International, where they planned to transfer to a commericial Iberia Airlines flight.
Problem: The Crown Prince of one our few allies in Iraq, an ally increasingly likely to pull out, so you'd think an ally we'd like to treat in as diplomatic a way as possible to persuade them to continue to work with us... Anyway, the Crown Prince gave only a six hour advance warning to the airport that he and his party would be flying through.
Apparently, policy is that one needs to give 72 hour notice for expedited VIP security handling. So the TSA searched the Prince, his fiancee, and the entire party.
The Miami Herald, who broke this story, takes the stance of, Those wacky royals. Expecting special treatment.
I certainly hope our troops appreciate that when the Spanish pull out of Iraq. And I look forward to the Herald's reaction should Air Force One be subjected to similar search procedures.
But it doesn't end there.
"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."
Have I mentioned yet that Ms. Ortiz is the anchorwoman for the number one TV news program in Spain?
No?
Can you imagine the possibilities here? What happens if she leads off every future broadcast with, "Today, I wasn't searched by the United States." That'd be a running gag at least as good as anything Letterman is doing vis-a-vis Oprah, or Saturday Night Live and Francisco Franco. (Talk about irony...)
Or so one would hope.
Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and his fiancee Letizia Ortiz went on a trip to the Bahamas.
On their return trip to Spain, they took a chartered jet to Miami International, where they planned to transfer to a commericial Iberia Airlines flight.
Problem: The Crown Prince of one our few allies in Iraq, an ally increasingly likely to pull out, so you'd think an ally we'd like to treat in as diplomatic a way as possible to persuade them to continue to work with us... Anyway, the Crown Prince gave only a six hour advance warning to the airport that he and his party would be flying through.
Apparently, policy is that one needs to give 72 hour notice for expedited VIP security handling. So the TSA searched the Prince, his fiancee, and the entire party.
The Miami Herald, who broke this story, takes the stance of, Those wacky royals. Expecting special treatment.
I certainly hope our troops appreciate that when the Spanish pull out of Iraq. And I look forward to the Herald's reaction should Air Force One be subjected to similar search procedures.
But it doesn't end there.
"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."
Have I mentioned yet that Ms. Ortiz is the anchorwoman for the number one TV news program in Spain?
No?
Can you imagine the possibilities here? What happens if she leads off every future broadcast with, "Today, I wasn't searched by the United States." That'd be a running gag at least as good as anything Letterman is doing vis-a-vis Oprah, or Saturday Night Live and Francisco Franco. (Talk about irony...)
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-11 03:00 pm (UTC)Fair or not, this was a major diplomatic faux pas.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-11 03:19 pm (UTC)And Ms. Ortiz isn't just popular. She's popular and in a position to greatly influence how the incident is presented to the Spanish people.