TSA faces diplomatic storm after Indian ambassador to U.S is subjected to patdown... because she was

[avaistheone1]

Source: Daily Mail

The TSA was the centre of a diplomatic storm today after the Indian ambassador was subjected to a 'patdown' at a U.S. airport - because she was wearing a sari.

Meera Shankar, who dined at the White House just last month, was given one of the searches after she was pulled from an airport security line in Mississippi.

Today the Indian embassy in Washington protested to the White House about the incident.

External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said: 'This is unacceptable to India and we are going to take it up with the U.S. government and I hope things could be resolved so that such unpleasant incidents do not recur.'




Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1337137/US-faces-diplomatic-storm-Indian-ambassador-Meera-Shankars-TSA-patdown.html

---

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. good work TSA... keep that up

this will piss off the "right" people

search some congresscritters too

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Don't be so sure this will work in our favor.

Diplomats and other privileged people will make a list which will not include us.

[DirkGently]

6. That's the "solution" I would predict. (nt)

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Bullshit. I don't care what kind of official goes through airport security.

I'm a big proponent of equal opportunity molestation.
If we have to endure this bullshit, our leaders should too.
Equal treatment for everyone.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. The problem was she was enthically profiled --

read the first line -- they are alleging she was pulled because she was wearing an "exotic" sari -- in other words, a suspicious brown person.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

18. I'm not averse to properly applied profiling techniques.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. Sorry, but -

"brown" is not "properly applied" profiling. :puke:

[Tempest]

34. "properly applied profiling techniques"

That sure reminds me of the south's "driving while black" rational for stopping minorities.

[CBGLuthier]

40. Oh to be white in america

feels good don't it.

[entanglement]

44. That's really stupid - she isn't even muslim (which, I presume, is your excuse for profiling?)

It would make more sense for them to perform cavity searches on all white males before they profile someone belonging to her demographic.

/ETA: I'm against profiling anyone, btw.

[MattSh]

46. And why would THAT make more sense?

THAT being cavity searches on all white males.

Boy, this ought to be good, IF you bother to respond.

[entanglement]

47. Ok, that was a bit of hyperbole - I should have said "about as much sense"

The treatment this lady endured at the hands of the TSA is inexplicable. No recorded acts of terror have been committed by people of her demographic - Late middle-aged Indian woman, non-Muslim (That's not even considering that she's a diplomat from a friendly nation with a clearance to dine at the White House and was refused a private screening). More acts of terror have been committed by middle-aged white males in the recent past (McVeigh, abortion clinic bombers, real IRA).

I repeat - I'm against pat-downs for everyone and consider them an assault on individual rights - but incidents like this make it clear that "profiling" isn't truly based on the statistics of past and likely future terrorist activity. Rather, it is security theater and harassment of innocent travelers with highly intrusive searches, often ignoring TSA's own policies and with no mechanism for redress. There is also an undeniable element of white appeasement / co-optation ("See, we'll search anything that looks furrin, so you're not alone in submitting to this.") which strikes me as quite cynical. What that leads to is people saying things like "hey, I get gr**ed at airports all the the time, so why shouldn't everyone else" and what you have is a steady erosion of liberties for everyone with no real improvement in safety.

I hope that explains it better.
:hi:

[LisaL]

50. As far as I know no acts of terror have been committed

by three year olds either. Which doesn't stop TSA from patting down and scanning children, does it?

[Starbucks Anarchist]

45. What was proper about this?

[LisaL]

51. I am sure TSA will be the first one to tell you-they can

pick anyone for the "enhanced screening."

[shoreline]

19. I often travel with someone...

...who has a diplomatic passport - the standards for diplomats are different. They commonly carry classified information and "enjoy personal inviolability and are not liable to any form of arrest or detention in the performance of their functions." As an Ambassador, she is always acting in an official capacity, and as such, she never should have even been in line. More embarrassment from TSA.

[Delphinus]

42. I wondered about that.

I don't know a lot about diplomatic immunity, but the fact that an Ambassador was traveling like that surprised me.

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. I've got a great resolution to the problem.

Get rid of the security dog and pony show altogether.

I was not targeted for irradiation or molestation when I flew between Orlando and DC this past weekend, but I did see people being scanned and groped at National Airport. It was eerie to see them parade through the backscatter machines and downright embarrassing to watch a guy getting patted down. It really is invasive if anyone has any doubts.

[KansDem]

37. I flew into KC from San Francisco last Sunday

When I arrive at the security check-point at SFI, it was chaos. We all "found" a line to stand in then proceeded to move along to the security screening. There were perhaps 4 or 5, maybe 6 lines moving slowly along as we took off our outer clothing, belts, shoes, and emptied our pockets, placing our belongings in the bin(s) to be run through the x-ray machine.

Well, I discovered I had gotten into of the line for radiation scanners. I wasn't too pleased when I noticed TSA was running two such scanners alongside the metal-detector variety. That's right, TSA was using the radiation scanners right alongside the metal-detectors. Whether you got irradiated or not depended on which line you decided to stand in (we couldn't see which was which when we chose).

It turned out the person in front of me was taking an inordinate amount of time in the scanner, so the TSA agent waved me through the metal-detector! I thought, why not have all metal detectors?

It was a dog and pony show. And it seemed like all the TSA agents were about 17 years old!

[Delphinus]

43. The *exact*

same thing happened to me! Same day, same airport (different destination).

I had about an hour to kill waiting for the flight bringing in my friend so I sat and watched what the people were doing (passengers and TSA personnel), thinking to myself how much this was just what you said - a dog and pony show. It's all theatre.

[Glassunion]

4. I'm sure in the future diplomats will not have to endure such a humiliation...

They will reserve it for just us Proles.

[NV Whino]

7. That link brings up a blank page

But what I'm getting from what you posted is that she was not a diplomat. She simply dined at the White House.

[avaistheone1]

9. I just clicked on the original link I posted and it works.

It states in the first line of the article she is an ambassador.

[NV Whino]

24. Thanks for the clarification

I wanted to read the entire article to verify it, but couldn't get to it. Since it was the Daily Mail, I thought the headline might not be entirely accurate... if you catch my drift.

[Celtic Raven]

10. Indian ambassador in the first line

:hi:

[Demit]

12. Huh? She's the Indian ambassador to the US. A fact stated in the title & first sentence of the post.

[shoreline]

15. She is the Indian Ambassador to the US...

...not just someone who "dined at the White House".

[LisaL]

48. Well Obama thinks these procedures are necessary,

so presumably he'd think there was nothing wrong with her being patted down.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Better, original report here (people: never use the Daily Mail as a source unless unavoidable)

India diplomat gets 'humiliating' pat-down at Mississippi airport

By Elizabeth Crisp, The (Jackson) Clarion-Ledger
JACKSON, Miss. — The recent Transportation Security Administration pat-down of a foreign diplomat at Jackson-Evers International Airport has upset state hosts and elected officials.
...
Shankar presented her diplomatic papers to officers and was escorted by an MDA representative and an airport security officer, but witnesses said she was subjected to the hands-on search.

"The way they pat them down — it was so humiliating," said Tan Tsai, a research associate at MSU's International Security Studies center who witnessed the screening. "Anybody who passed by could see it."

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-12-08-india-diplomat-pat-down_N.htm

(About the Daily Mail - note to every DUer: it's an unreliable right wing rag, and should be treated the same as Fox News. Always find a different source for 'news' from it, if you can)

[Rowdyboy]

8. Haley Barbour is trying to blow this up for political purposes....

Please don't help him succeed.

[avaistheone1]

14. Well good for him. This is a civil liberties issue and it cuts

across all political party lines. I am a life-long Democrat and I strongly defend our civil liberties. The porno scanners and genital gropings are outrageous and they are serious violation of our civil rights. What ever happened to the rule of law?

I don't care who leads on shutting down the scanners and the gropings be they Democrat, republican, green or even a non-political person, whoever that person is they have my ardent support.

It is crime that the Democrats have not taken a leadership position on this. Another lost opportunity to lead.


lib·er·al    /ˈlɪbərəl, ˈlɪbrəl/ Show Spelled Show IPA
–adjective
1.
favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.
2.
( often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.
3.
of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.
4.
favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.


I am a liberal Democrat and the defense or our civil liberties is in keeping with my values.

[valerief]

13. Yes, TSA, you're not supposed to pat down the privileged, just the rabble. nt

[shoreline]

22. It is not a matter of "the privileged"...

...it is a matter of international law and treaties regarding the treatment of diplomats. The woman is the Ambassador to the United States from the largest democracy in the world - a country the US will increasing need to rely on as China becomes more powerful and Pakistan teeters on the brink of chaos. I don't know how old you are, but the relationship between the US and India hasn't always been as fruitful as it is today - it is a nation of vital strategic importance to the US and embarrassing incidents like this only signal to the Indians that we don't regard them as worthy of anything but a grope from an otherwise unemployable rent-a-cop.

[valerief]

23. And that's what makes her the privileged. Duh. nt

[saigon68]

31. Too bad her husband wasn't there

He could have had his privates groped too

[avaistheone1]

16. Times of India report

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Indian-Ambassador-to-US-patted-down-at-Jackson-airport/articleshow/7069178.cms

[goforit]

21. Keep it up OBAMA!!..You just may become the most hated man in the world

[struggle4progress]

28. Security screening for envoys of all countries: Ronen Sen

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: December 09, 2010 14:39 IST

New Delhi: Reacting to reports that Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, was patted down by an American security agent at a US airport, Ronen Sen, a former Indian envoy to US, said security screening at airports is applicable to dignitaries from all countries.

Sen said such screenings were not new and he too faced similar experiences between 2004 and 2009, not only in US but also in Germany.

"Security screening at airports is applicable to dignitaries from all countries, with the exception of Union Cabinet Ministers and above, that too on official visits," he said, adding, "The exception is not applicable on private visits. It is not even applicable for Ambassadors, Governors, Chief Ministers or Ministers of State. It does not apply to former Presidents or PMs." ...

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/security-screening-for-envoys-of-all-countries-ronen-sen-71536?cp

[struggle4progress]

25. India to protest against envoy’s ‘pat down’ at US

(AFP) 9 December 2010, NEW DELHI — India said on Thursday it will lodge a diplomatic protest with the United States after its ambassador was frisked at an airport reportedly on grounds that she was wearing a ‘sari’.

Last week, India’s envoy to the United States, Meera Shankar, was pulled out of the security line at a Mississippi airport and subjected to a ‘rigorous pat down’, according to Indian officials, despite her diplomatic status ...

In September, Shankar suffered a similar experience at a Chicago airport ...

Protocol normally exempts diplomatic envoys and other dignitaries from such searches ...

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/December/international_December351.xml§ion=international

[struggle4progress]

27. Indian embassy taking up Ambassador "pat down" with State Department

... According to reports Ms. Shankar, who was returning to Washington from an event at Mississippi State University was about to board a flight to Baltimore when she was taken to a waiting room “despite staff being told that she was an ambassador.” ...

Reports also said the organisers of the event that Ms. Shankar had attended expressed dismay at the episode. Janos Radvanyi, Chair of the University’s International Studies Department was quoted as saying, “It was a wonderful programme, maybe the best we have had, (but) this stupid incident ruined the whole thing.”

He added, “She said, ‘I will never come back here.’ We are sending her a letter of apology,” noting also that Ms. Shankar was “very upset,” and that the incident would be “very bad for Mississippi.”

USA Today quoted Tan Tsai, a research associate at MSU who was at the scene, saying, “She is a very strong woman, but you could see in her face that she was humiliated... Indian culture is very modest.” ...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article941311.ece?homepage=true

[struggle4progress]

29. Krishna terms pat-down search of Shankar unacceptable

PTI, Dec 9, 2010, 02.42pm IST

... External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday said the matter will be taken up with the American government ...

Shankar presented her diplomatic papers to officers and was escorted by a Mississippi Development Authority representative and an airport security officer, but witnesses said she was subjected to the hands-on search ...

In September, visiting Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel was quizzed by US immigration authorities at the O'Hare airport in Chicago after his name and date of birth matched with that of another Praful Patel, who is on America's watch-list.

Read more: Krishna terms pat-down search of Shankar unacceptable - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Krishna-terms-pat-down-search-of-Shankar-unacceptable/articleshow/7070664.cms#ixzz17dXjHvm2

[struggle4progress]

26. Mississippi State U. Officials Apologize to Indian Ambassador for Pat-Down Search at Airport

December 9, 2010, 12:40 am

... Transportation Security Administration officers told Ms. Shankar, who was wearing a sari, that she had been singled out for the search because of her clothing, said the officials, who witnessed the search. János Radványi, the institute’s chair, said he planned to send a formal letter of apology to the ambassador, and he expected other university leaders would do so as well. “She was very upset,” he said. “This is very bad for Mississippi.” ... http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/mississippi-state-u-officials-apologize-to-indian-ambassador-for-pat-down-search-at-airport/29016

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. Note to terrorists: do not wear saris.

There...fixed it.

[leveymg]

30. WTF? - People with diplomatic passports NEVER get searched.

This is becoming one of the most authoritarian, backward countries in the world.

[rabs]

33. Reading this story thought, well it is Mississippi

where maybe some TSA people are not up to snuff on foreign ambassadors and have never seen a sari.

I had a wanding at the Fort Lauderdale airport two years ago because a TSA dude (spoke with a Haitian accent) did not recognize my New Mexico driver's license as being from the United States. This was before the groping and nudie studies of passengers.

[indepat]

32. Maybe unpleasant incidents involving enhanced pat-downs of one's privates should be confined

to the little people. :shrug:

[struggle4progress]

35. Diplomats not exempt from 'pat down', says US (Sify)

2010-12-09 18:50:00

Washington, Dec 9 (IANS)

... the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says diplomats are not exempt from the searches.

Meera Shankar 'was screened in accordance with TSA's security policies and procedures', spokesman Nicholas Kimball said.

A number of factors could prompt a pat-down search, including bulky clothing, but he said the agency did not generally discuss specific cases.

Kimball said less than three percent of passengers received a pat-down search and anyone who asked for a private screening would be taken to a room out of public view ...

http://sify.com/news/diplomats-not-exempt-from-pat-down-says-us-news-international-kmjsOvdfhfa.html

[DFW]

38. Anyone know a Hindi translation for this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3LNxvG1qQM

(it should rhyme, too....)

[daleo]

39. Diplomatic pouch

A diplomatic bag, also known as a diplomatic pouch, is an envelope, parcel, shipping container or any other kind of receptacle used by diplomatic missions. As long as it is externally marked to show its status, the bag has diplomatic immunity from search or seizure,<1> as codified in article 27 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.<2> It may only contain articles intended for official use.<2> It need not be a bag. In fact, no size limit is specified by the convention. It is often escorted by a diplomatic courier, who is similarly immune from arrest and detention.<1><2>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_bag

[pinboy3niner]

41. If only she'd enclosed herself in a Diplomatic Pouch

Problem solved! :)

[Nossida]

49. What is it?

what is it with Yanks?
It seems dehumanization is the order of the day.
Videos of searches of under age children have
made the rounds on the Web. Disgusting way to
treat American citizens in their own Country.