Well at least I live in Dekalb

Comments

# Jeremy said on May 30, 2007 3:24 PM:

Well this is the first I heard of the event. There are a LOT of inconsistencies that bother me:

1) Notice the dates. CDC hand-delivers the medical directive May 11th, ONE DAY before the initial flight (May 12th from Atl. to Paris). One day before a wedding/honeymoon of that magnitude? And it's a surprise he wasn't at home or at work? Was it that hard to pick up a phone first?

2) His passport is flagged and put on the no-fly list somewhere between May 11th and May 28th, the returning flight. Is that adequate time to get such a thing approved? Even then, is it the government's responsibility to report back to the CDC saying it's done? Finally, why on earth would you TELL HIM? All he had to do was attempt to fly back and he should have been detained THERE, avoiding the entire fiasco

3) Who'd be covering the bill for his stay in Italy? Tax payers? CDC? G.W.? None of the above. Would insurance even come into play? Highly doubtful.

4) The CDC jet eventually was used, but apparently it only operates on U.S. soil.

It smells like the CDC was playing the "cover our own ass after the fact" game. What I find ironic is that it ended up proving a hole in the TSA defense. The only thing that is creepy to me is the CDC's behavior but that seems typical, sadly. First they try to "gain a level of trust" through words, then when they drop the ball (but it's then perceived that you're a threat) the talons come out. Scare tactics, inconsistencies, and whatever else was used to try to placate what amounts to now as their screw up. I suppose it's lucky he didn't end up getting shot, eh?

This is the first I've heard of the story (lucky me) and given the events I read, I would have likely done the same thing if not ran entirely. Why go home to a country where it's uncertain what would become of me when I got there? If the CDC was so uncertain before, what would make me think they magically got their act together? Not a damn thing.