Idiots in Government: Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit

During his two stints as prime minister of Norway, a steadfast ally of the United States and a member of NATO, Kjell Magne Bondevik met with Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Idiots in Government: Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit 04Norway-master768

Idiots in Government: Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit 04Norway-master768

A Lutheran minister, Mr. Bondevik travels frequently for his job at the Oslo Center, which promotes peace, democracy and human rights, and he went to Washington this week for meetings associated with the National Prayer Breakfast, at which President Trump spoke.

So Mr. Bondevik was startled on Tuesday when federal agents pulled him aside at Dulles International Airport and questioned him over a visit he paid to Iran. Photographs of his visa, which allowed him to enter Iran from December 2014 to January 2015, were widely circulated online.

“I was asked why I had stamps from Iran and what was the purpose of my visit to the United States,” Mr. Bondevik said in a phone interview late Friday, after returning to Oslo. “I explained to the officer who I was and that I had been to Iran for a conference on extremism.”

Norwegians do not ordinarily need a visa to enter the United States, and Mr. Bondevik carries a diplomatic passport that identifies him as a former prime minister of Norway. So he was surprised that the agents would not let him move on. Among the travelers he waited with were visitors from Iran and Somalia, two of the seven Muslim-majority countries that were on Mr. Trump’s travel ban.

Mr. Bondevik’s wait at the airport, which was first reported by the Washington-area news outlet WJLA, has gotten widespread attention in the wake of Mr. Trump’s travel policy. It was actually Mr. Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, who signed a 2015 law imposing tighter visa restrictions on foreigners who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan within the last five years.

But the policy, which took effect in January 2016, includes exceptions for people who have visited those countries for business, government, humanitarian or journalistic reasons, so it is not clear why Mr. Bondevik was stopped.

Mr. Bondevik said he could understand the need for safety precautions, but he was dismayed at the length of his wait. He notified the Norwegian ambassador in Washington of his concerns.

“The explanation alone should be more than enough to let me pass,” he said. “Surely they can’t seriously believe that a former prime minister of Norway has sinister intentions” or is “planning to perform misdeeds in the U.S.”

A spokesman for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo confirmed that Mr. Bondevik holds a diplomatic passport and that Mr. Bondevik had been in touch with the ministry about this matter, but he declined to comment further on the incident.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/world/europe/kjell-magne-bondevik-norway-dulles.html?_r=0
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Idiots in Government: Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit

Idiots in Government: Norwegian Ex-Premier Is Stopped at Dulles Airport Over Iran Visit

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