On my flight back from Nairobi to New York via Zurich - I picked up the Swiss newspaper “BLICK” and found the following article written by Simon Spengler, translated here from the German original:

    “Moritz Leuenberger like a criminal.”

Now The Gentleman is President of Switzerland, and he was one of the three main speakers at the Nairobi closing session, Friday November 17, 2006, together with UN SG Kofi Annan and the President Of Kenya, the host country.
The article comes from Frankfurt (Germany) were seemingly a “Commotion on the return trip from Africa. President Moritz Leuenberger (60) is being frisked on a stop over in Frankfurt.”

Saturday morning, 6.15 a.m. Frankfurt Main airport: LH 591 from Addis Abeba has just landed and we are escorted with a VIP limousine from the airplane to the Business Lounge: President Moritz Leuenberger (60), his direct co-worker and myself as an escorting journalist. In the lounge we are expected to stay for about 1 hour until our connecting flight to Zürich.

Our VIP escort with our President proceeds, and passes the security desk in front of the Lounge. The stop over of the Swiss President was, of course, cleared in advance through diplomatic channels. Suddenly a group of security personnel jump and the Head of the crew screams at the President:

“Stop, Stop, go back! First the control check!” Then she waives her arms to motion to the President and his entourage to back off. It is like herdsmen in Africa driving away their herd. But that is not all. The President has to take off his Jacket, is being frisked all over, his attache case checked in slow motion. “Why are you  ransacking my bag?” asks the President. No answer. The Swiss Diplomatic Passport is of no importance in Frankfurt. The VIP escort is very embarrassed. “Would you treat your own President the same way?” asks Leuenberger in anger. “No, certainly not” answers the Lufthansa escort and  excuses herself. But she does not interfere.

Then, finally, the security people find something that will excuse their rude behavior. A jar of honey. Our President received it as a farewell gift in Africa and put it, without thinking,  into his hand luggage. According to the new EU regulations, this is not allowed anymore, since honey is considered liquid. LH would  transport the honey jar  separately.

In the Lounge, after we have passed  security,  we are served a good cappuccino. I take off my jacket and discover a mineral water bottle in the pocket. I have forgotten about it completely. It has been in my pocket since Addis Abeba. Of course the jacket was checked by the same security personnel, but they were apparently too busy with checking  our President, that they overlooked my bottle of water.  “Now we see how well the Frankfurt airport works” says Transportation Minister Leuenberger.

The President has waived a formal complaint.

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Nah, Nah above seems amuzing and the Swiss President has humor - BUT…BUT…is this security?

Did the Germans fall flat on their faces, or is it the norm of things how they should be in 2006, or let’s say in the post 9/11 age?

What about searching a President of a legitimate country? I WOULD SAY YES!

What about a President of a questionable entity? I WOULD SAY DOUBLE YES!

What about the American, New York, UN security staffs, and their handling of similar cases? I WOULD SAY THAT THEY ARE NOT EVEN AWARE OF THE PROBLEM - AND THE FACT THE GERMANS LET THE BOTTLE OF WATER OF THE JOURNALIST GO BY IS CLEARLY NOT AN EXCUSE FOR THE AMERICANS AND THE UN PERONNEL OF HAVING NO LAW WHATSOEVER IN THIS MATTER. Just think of one master crook - the famous Arrafat - who brandished his pistol holster at the UN podium - he was not even a President of an existing state - he came into the US with that pistol in his belt! Oh yes, that was before 9/11. But are you sure Ahmadinejad did come without a pistol? Did you check him for it?

So why do we print this?  Had it not been for Germany, I would have said that this was an oil industry induced ploy this because the gentleman takes global warming seriously, but I would not say this about Frankfurt - so I can say only that the German airport displayed correctness in its security check - equal responsibility to check - and equal chance to fail security - and the system is still not right.