bushgang payback - this time on French pilots

[donsu]

http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$1AETWNWIV2SH1QFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2004/01/18/wfly18.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/01/18/ixportal.html

French fury over US treatment of air staff

In the latest bout of Franco-American squabbling, hundreds of Air France pilots and cabin crew who have French nationality but were born in Muslim countries are furious at being singled out for stringent security measures when they land in the US.

Some of the 324 affected employees complain that they were treated like "terrorist suspects" after being separated from fellow cabin crew and grilled for up to four hours by security agents on arrival at American airports. The treatment, they say, was "discriminatory and insulting".

-snip-

One Moroccan-born stewardess who flew into the city was prevented from leaving when officials could not conduct her interview. Instead, she was driven for eight hours to Atlanta, nearly 500 miles away, and forced to fly back to France as an ordinary passenger.

-snip-

Philippe Decrulle, deputy secretary general of the CFDT-Air France union, said that strong action was needed. "The crew affected by these measures have flown regularly to the United States for years. All of them have a Type B professional visa which means that they have already undergone detailed checks. Why make them go through it all again?"
-snip-
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why come to america and be insulted?

[lefty_mcduff]

1. I may be simple....

...but doesn't it seem like the Bush Cartel is attempting to destroy whatever tourist industry is left?

[donsu]

2. are the people who work in the tourism business screaming 'help' or

is it that we just can't hear them? or are americans staying home and not going abroad so that tourist numbers stay about the same?

[NewJeffCT]

3. well...

Those folks at Disney do allow gay days at their theme parks... that does have to rattle fundy part of the Fright Wing.