Could U.S. Officials Please Treat a Nobel Peace Laureate with Respect?

Here is my first thread on ATS. I picked it many because of the what the author points out and and the notability of the author. I quoted about half of the article written, the other half contains details and more opinions about the situation. It brings in a question if there was indeed a security change for immigration or not. Despite that the article doesn't provide enough evidence of changes in security, there still is the big elephant in the room to capture Obama admin's attention to lighten up on immigration.

Obviously, opponents could try to hold Obama accountable for these 'detentions' even if Obama didn't do anything to cause such changes. Ann Wright lets us know just how big the elephant is today.

Could U.S. Officials Please Treat a Nobel Peace Laureate with Respect?

By Ann Wright, former U.S. Diplomat

Less than a month ago, in late July, 2009, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire (www.peacepeople.com...) was travelling from Dublin, Ireland to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet Peace Laureate Jody Williams to participate in peace events there. As she arrived at Dulles airport near Washington, DC, from Ireland on July 30, 2009, she passed through the regular immigration line, but then was detained in a special processing area over two hours causing her to miss her connecting flight to Albuquerque.

This is the second time Maguire has been detained by US Immigration in the past three months. On May 14, 2009, she was detained at the Houston, Texas, International Airport as she was returning from a 3 day conference in Guatemala, hosted by four of Nobel Peace Women Laureates. During the detention in Houston, Immigration officers questioned her about her visit in April, 2007, to the Palestinian village of Bil’in where she was injured by a rubber-coated bullet shot by Israeli military forces during a protest at the fence built by the Israelis in the village.

In Houston, Maguire asked the Immigration officials what she could do to prevent future detention and was told to get a 10 year visa to the United States.

She immediately applied and obtained a 10 year visa in early July from US Consul in Belfast, Ireland. She presented that visa to the Dulles Airport Immigration official. Maguire had had an indefinite visa to the U.S. in a previous passport and had never had any problems travelling to or through the United States.

Three months later, when she told the U.S. Immigration Officer at Dulles airport that she was a Nobel Peace Laureate and showed him the documents concerning the Peace Laureate meeting she was attending in New Mexico, the Immigration Officer sarcastically said that detention “is going to happen every time you enter the United States,” and “you should get used to it.”

About the Author: Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book "Dissent: Voices of Conscience."

Edit: Note this letter was posted to a few blogs, so I'm unsure which one is the original post.

[edit on 26-8-2009 by dzonatas]

Hi there, interesting first post, thanks for posting it.

Is it just because of the Pakistan protest she was involved in, that she is detained every time?

Maybe thats standard stuff?

CX.

well...of course she is singled out...she wants peace and negotiation...this country is about war, and the powers that be cannot have anybody interrupting that. it's bad for business, and it could cut the profits of companies and their wealthy owners that depend on wars to create havoc, fear, and future business.

She is not the only Diplomatic Envoy or participant in a Peace Conference that has been detained for "additional screening".

Peace Activist Retired Col. Ann Wright, was detained at Ottawa Airport in 2007 and refused entry into Canada by airport security while en route to anti-war talks and a news conference.

Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) in 2004 was detained by the TSA while en route to a Peace Conference in the US and deported by DHS immediately after.

Raed Jarrar, a human rights activist for Global Exchange was detained by the airport security on the way to a historic meeting in Jordan between US peace activists and Iraqi parliamentarians. His detainment was for wearing a shirt that said "I will not be silent" in English and Arabic.

Congress members are not immune from these additional screenings either. Both Sen. David Vitter, and Rep. Peter DeFazio have been detained by Airport Security. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy was even on the TSA No-Fly List!

It is a difficult time that we live in when those who are recognized for their efforts towards Peace are treated like terrorists and potential criminals.

reply to post by CX


Hi, thank you.

I didn't see any reference to Pakistan protest from the article. Did you mean the one where she protested the Israeli attempts to divide the Palestine land?

reply to post by fraterormus


The main theory behind the motives for the war in Iraq is about scarcity, which is what is needed to keep capitalistic system afloat. Once enough reason is created for scarcity, then that becomes a reason for war. Then war creates the economic successions that the U.S. has experienced since the start of the war in Iraq.

That would be hard to pin on a noble peace laureate, yet Nixon and JFK are said to have went down mainly because of their efforts to stop war and be pro-peace. Various sources point to Eisenhower as the one who made structural changes in the U.S. to ensure war and scarcity won't be easily obstructed, yet of course it is harder to prove the more time goes by and the more the Holocaust sentiments have kept his works covered and stored away.

reply to post by fraterormus


Wow, a few more I didn't know about.

It's sad I get e-mails from people that tell me how bad Ted was and that people are so happy to see him go. I just let those e-mails pass and don't even respond. They do make we wonder if one of the reasons why Ted was detained is because of such controversies over his term.

I've heard several events before of shirts written in arabic and the wearer being detained. Those were closer to 911 event when everybody was in a frenzy.