Controversial passport scheme delayed

[dArKeR]

THE GUARDIAN AND AP , WASHINGTON

The US House of Representatives voted to delay for one year the deadline for 27 countries to provide their citizens with tamper-proof passports that can be read by machine.

The voice vote Monday responds to complaints, mostly from European nations with visa waiver agreements with the US, that they will be unable to meet the Oct. 26 deadline for issuing the new biometric passports.

It also challenges administrative assertions that other countries need an extra two years to overcome technology problems and resolve privacy questions.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in March that without a two-year extension, millions of new visas would have to be issued in countries whose citizens currently do not need visas to visit the US. They said US consular offices in the affected countries would be overwhelmed.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/06/16/2003175273

Total Republican leadership incompetence salted with massive flip-flopping. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell, Lott, Frist, Hastert, Delay all should be impeached for incompetence and endangering our Nation. They are NOT able to even make a plan and anticipate the problems for a new passport system! TOTAL TOTAL Incompetence!

[saigon68]

1. Halliburton can fix this

Just give themn the money </sarcasm>

[LibLabUK]

2. Hehe..

"Secretary of State Colin Powell and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in March that without a two-year extension, millions of new visas would have to be issued in countries whose citizens currently do not need visas to visit the US. They said US consular offices in the affected countries would be overwhelmed."

It's just dawning on them that tourists from Europe spend a lot of money in the US when they travel there. The competition for the traveller's Euros will be lost if people have to get visas to travel.... especially since travel within Europe is pretty free and very cheap now.

The whole biometric passport and the data-mining of flight lists thing is a red herring.... it's not going to do anything to prevent terrorism and is just a huge invasion of privacy.