No-fly list affected Saudi trip (prince entourage banned)

[pimpbot]

Not sure if this was posted already, but thought it was kinda interesting. Sorry the site sucks and requires registration.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/washington/stories/042705dnintnoflysaudi.4e925787.html


No-fly list affected Saudi trip
Member of prince's entourage was banned from flight to Dallas


10:32 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 26, 2005


From Staff Reports


A member of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's entourage was banned from the prince's trip to Dallas last week after showing up on a no-fly list, federal officials said Tuesday.

As is routine with international flights, the Department of Homeland Security checked passenger manifests against terrorist watch lists and no-fly lists 24 hours before Saturday's trip.

Homeland Security forwarded the information to the State Department, which denied the delegation member a visa to come to the United States, said an administration official, who did not want to be named.

The delegation member did not accompany Prince Abdullah to the United States, the administration official said. He declined to say how close the delegation member is to the prince or why the person was on the no-fly list.

[LdyGuique]

1. I thought that the size of the delegation warranted more attention

The Saudi crown prince arrived at Dallas Love Field on Saturday for a meeting with President Bush at his Crawford ranch. His huge entourage traveled in five airplanes, a Boeing 777, Boeing 767, two Boeing 747s and an Airbus 340.

I thought that Bucko had a big entourage, which includes the Press "gaggle" on AF1 -- but the Prince outdoes him handsdown.