Dig Days: Again a problem with the American customs By Zahi Hawass Last year I wrote about the problems I had with American Customs at Dulles Airport in Washington, DC. At the time I was on a lecture tour to promote my book, Hidden Treasures of Ancient Egypt, published by National Geographic. At the airport, the officer who was looking at my passport said politely, "sir, you will have to follow me," and took me to a room full of foreigners who did not speak English. After giving the officials in charge my passport and lecture schedule in the US, I sat in the waiting room for half an hour. This was especially remarkable, because my first lecture was at the White House. I was extremely upset, and I kept asking myself why this was happening to me. I lived in the US for seven years while working on my doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania. During that time, I never made a single mistake, not even forgetting to pay a traffic ticket. While I was sitting in the waiting room at the airport, I was thinking that I had friends all over the world and that most of my best friends were American. So why were they doing this to me? After more than an hour a police officer came over and said, "you are the famous guy with the hat that I always see on the National Geographic and Discovery channels!" I have never objected to taking my shoes off or to being searched at an airport because I always feel that this is for the safety of everyone: terrorists are keen to take the souls of anybody who happens to be in the way. But my title is written in my passport, and there was no reason for them to hold me. To be put in a room for more than an hour without explanation was a situation nobody would accept. I was so angry that I was planning to leave the country and never come back. However, when I got to the hotel, David Walsh, then the American ambassador in Cairo, called me to apologise and say that the whole thing had been a terrible mistake. This made up for a lot. I thought that my problems with American customs were solved when the American Embassy gave me an A1 Visa, the equivalent of diplomatic status. However, when I arrived at the airport in New York in May of this year, the customs officer asked me why I was there. I told him that I had been chosen by Time magazine as one of the Top 100 Influential People of the Year, and that I was attending a party at Lincoln Center in honour of this occasion. I even showed him a copy of the magazine. He was very nice, but said that he would have to take me to another office because he was not able to process my entry stamp. Fortunately, he came with me and gave my passport to another officer and asked him to stamp my passport quickly. At that time, there were about 100 foreigners in the room, and I thought that I would have to stay there for a long time until I was cleared. Again, I asked why I had to go through this but I never received an answer. I could not believe it! This particular incident was reported to Francis Ricciardone, the current American ambassador in Cairo. I was assured later that this would never happen to me again. Yet it has happen a third time. I was invited by Senator Frist to give a lecture at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. They even made Dina Habib Powell, the daughter of one my best friends, call me to convince me to come to Nashville. However, I had the same problem again at the airport in New York; but, thanks to a nice man from the EgyptAir office, my stay in the waiting room was shorter. I do not know why this keeps happening to me, since I am the only person on earth with the name of Zahi Hawass. It is hard for me to believe that the American government is keen to treat people like me in this manner. In my own country, many people accuse me of being a friend of the Americans, which I am proud to be. However, the Department of Homeland Security should not treat dignitaries in this manner. What is strange is that they do this all the time. What is even stranger is that this happens only at the airport in New York and not in other American cities. I do not want to say that I should treat them in the same manner. The American Embassy always asks me to meet their dignitaries, and I am always so happy to take VIPs like Laura Bush to see the Pyramids and my excavations. However, I do not know if I will tolerate this indecent treatment again.
