Adams delayed after name found on watch list

[Felix the Cat]

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BUFFALO—Gerry Adams, leader of the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland, was detained at a Washington airport yesterday after attending a St. Patrick's Day event at the White House, according to a congressman.

Rep. Brian Higgins, a New York Democrat who had invited Adams to speak at the Buffalo Irish Center, told the audience last night Adams didn't make it to Buffalo in time because he was detained at Reagan National Airport.

A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said she could not confirm that Adams was detained at the airport. Jennifer Peppin said the TSA log showed no record of Adams having been detained or subjected to secondary screening.

A Homeland Security official said Adams had left the Washington area, but he would give no further details.

According to Higgins, Adams' name and that of a travelling companion appeared on a terror watch list, triggering a lengthy inspection.

"When I spoke with his assistant a little while ago, their luggage was still being, let's just say, inspected," Higgins told a crowd of several hundred people.

Adams himself was detained over an hour, Higgins said.

Earlier yesterday, Adams joined Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and other Irish visitors at a White House St. Patrick's Day ceremony. Last year, U.S. President George W. Bush barred all Northern Ireland leaders from the event to put pressure on Adams.

[Felix the Cat]

Bush humbles Adams after insult to envoy (http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1583186&issue_id=13821)

THE Bush administration's isolation of Sinn Fein-IRA was complete in the US yesterday, when a humiliated Gerry Adams was forced to take a six-hour train journey after he was detained by armed airport security officers because his name was on an international terror list.

The incident happened less than 24 hours after Mr Adams had taken the highly unusual step of publicly criticising President Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland.

In a scathing attack, Mr Adams had said: "I don't have any high regard for Mitchell Reiss's input in this process. If it is he who is advising the president, then it's very, very bad advice."

Yesterday, without even a change of clothes or a toothbrush, the hugely embarrassed Sinn Fein president boarded the early morning train from Washington to Springfield, Massachusetts, for a marathon journey. The alternative was a 90-minute flight, but Mr Adams could not be sure he would not have faced similar problems getting through airport security.

Last night, his luggage had still not been returned to him after it was taken away and thoroughly searched by US security officials at Dulles Airport, Virginia.

A quick shopping trip may have been required this morning, as he is due to take part in the St Patrick's Day parade in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Mr Adams was travelling with Sinn Fein's Washington representative Rita O'Hare, his close advisor Richard McAuley and another man when he was detained at Dulles Airport.

Homeland Security declined to comment for "privacy reasons", other than to say Mr Adams was "routinely going through standard security screening and he had a very thorough secondary screening. He was never arrested and he was never detained from the department's perspective".

The official declined to explain why Mr Adams faced "secondary screening", but Mr Adams' travelling companion told friends it was because the Sinn Fein leader's name was "security tagged".

The embarrassing incident put the cap on Mr Adams' worst ever St Patrick's Day visit to America.

He had earlier been informed that the family of murdered Dubliner Joseph Rafferty intended taking legal action against Sinn Fein, and had faced a pointed snub from US President Bush who declined a private meeting with him at the official White House St Patrick's Day reception.

Earlier, a ban on fund-raising, imposed as a part of Mr Adams' visa conditions, had forced Sinn Fein to hand back $100,000 in ticket sales for a gala breakfast the Sinn Fein leader attended in Washington.

Mr Adams was described as "clearly bitter" about the frosty reception he received from Mr Bush, but he told one reporter, "at least I got a free breakfast."

It is understood that both Mr Adams and Ms O'Hare's names appeared on the international terror list and the pair were detained for so long in airport security that they missed their plane.

The Sinn Fein president was described last night as "certainly not happy" but "resigned" to the inconvenience.

He told US reporters it "seems very unfair", but conceded that the security officers were "only doing their job".

Congressman Brian Higgins telephoned US envoy Mitchell Reiss yesterday to discuss the detainment of Mr Adams, and said he will be making a "strong statement" to Mr Reiss about the matter.

He said it was "reasonable to conclude" that Mr Adams' outspoken remarks about Mr Reiss and his subsequent detention were "more than a coincidence".

Mr Adams had been due to speak at the Buffalo Irish Centre, in upstate New York, at Mr Higgins' invitation. More than 600 guests paid six dollars each to attend the St Patrick's Day event.

A full schedule of Mr Adams' travel arrangements had been submitted to US authorities several weeks previously. He arrived at Dulles Airport at 3.30pm and was scheduled to board the 5.30pm flight, which would have arrived in Buffalo an hour later, but he was detained for several hours in security. At 9pm, the Sinn Fein president complained to friends that his luggage had "still not been released".

Congressman Brian Higgins, at whose invitation Mr Adams was visiting Buffalo, first heard about the incident in a call from Ms O'Hare on Friday evening.

He said: "Rita called and said there was a problem at the airport. We called the State Department, but by that stage the flight had already gone. They were taken aside for extra screening. Two of the four, including Gerry, came up on the terror watch list. Our government is restricting his travel. He was detained for an inordinate period of time. His treatment was insulting and undermining."

Mr Adams' being on a "terror-watch list" may stem from the 18 months he spent in prison in 1982 on an IRA membership charge. Chief of Staff at the time, he was charged but acquitted after the IRA incinerated 12 people at the Le Mons Hotel in east Belfast in February 1978.