Qatari diplomat in US airplane ‘bomb’ scare 8, April 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in American ME Relations, Qatar.Tags: Qatari diplomat, Qatari diplomat arrested, US airplane bomb scare
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A Qatari diplomat based at the US Embassy in Washington was arrested after causing a bomb scare on a Washington to Denver trip. The third secretary and vice-consul of the Qatari Embassy apparently tried to light a cigarette in the plane’s toilet. When he was confronted by the air marshals he then made a sarcastic joke of some description about setting his shoes on fire which caused the Marshal to subdue him. When the plane landed it was surrounded by police and the man, despite having full diplomatic immunity, was arrested.
This is an exceedingly curious reaction by the Americans given their well-known great sense of humor when it comes to jokes about aviation safety. How was the Qatari to know?
Update – Here’s Juan Cole’s take on the situation: a real blot post from a proper blogger…if only I had the time and inclination to be as dedicated. Shukran Rohan.
The Gulf blog 
What on earth is going on at the bottom of this Juan Cole blogpost about this incident?
http://www.juancole.com/2010/04/air-farceqatari-diplomat-cuffed-on.html
His comment on Arab deaths via America direct and indirectly? A bit of a curious one for Juan, I’d have thought. I suppose that it’s true though…
Yeah, it’s probably true, but the post just takes an abrupt turn from discussing the incident to pontificating about smoking, it just seemed really odd. Or maybe I don’t read Cole enough.