Posted on 10/13/2001 12:01:42 AM PDT by knak
WASHINGTON: The State Department is reviewing a programme that allows people from 29 countries to enter the United State without visas.
Mary Ryan, assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, told Congress on Friday that the US State Department is reviewing the visa-waiver programme, which allows people with passports from these 29 nations to enter and stay for 90 days. About 23 million people came to the United States through the programme last year.
Agency personnel are visiting six countries "to discuss with them their passport controls and border control" and perhaps drop them from the programme, Ryan told the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on terrorism. She would not identify the six countries.
According to the State Department web site, the 29 participating countries are: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
The Immigration and Naturalisation Service said on Thursday that 13 of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks entered the country on legal visas. No records have been found on the other six. ( AP )
I'm not so sure about Switzerland. They're the ones who protected Mark Rich. I'll bet you start tracing some of the arms the Terrorists have and you'd find Mark Rich.
I think the quote that you are looking for (and note the author) is:
"There are some ideas so preposterous, only an intellectual could believe them."
-- George Orwell
And another one of my favorites that just seems to apply, not only to this situation, but to our government in general (and note exactly where it is enshrined):
"There is nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action."
--Goethe - engraved on a plaque at the Naval War College
Obviously I echo your (and their) sentiments!
I think you misread it, it says they're reviewing this program, which is currently in place. They're thinking about getting rid of it, not creating it.
Question: Which six?
The confusion comes from the last line of this article, where it states that most the terrorists HAD visas. It's the few that didn't that are the focus of this review.
Psssst. Read the article...it's about the UN relaxing visa policies. LOL!
Of course you didn't include the "the" and you hyphenated the un-relaxing. I belive the capitalization for emphasis led me to read it that way, but I know you wanted to provide emphasis on the "un" part. Thus my references to the UN.
I read the original article the same way you did at first...I just wasn't ready to accept anything written in an Indian newspaper without some other sorce to confirm it. Then xml772e2 pointed out the facts...it's about removing the visa exemption for some nations.
Like right now you can travel to England without a visa, and they can visit they U.S. likewise. If this agreement were lifted, you would have to apply for a visa BEFORE you could visit England.
Another area I hope that they consider is Merchant Seaman. Right now there are international agreements that pretty much allow Merchant Seamen to come and go as they need, using their Merchant Seaman's documents in lieu of a passport. You don't even want to know how many Merchant Seamen there are of Arab extraction.
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