Qatar diplomat recalled from US

Has anyone seen the story on the Qatari diplomat who mad the smooth move of lighting up a cigaret in the bathroom of a plane in the U.S.? Apparently he thought it would be funny to tell the flight crew that he was trying to light a bomb in his shoe. Given that he was on his way back to Washington after visiting a Qatari national being held for terrorist activities (part of his consular duties), the pilot was naturally apprehensive. Fighter jets were scrambled and the plane was escorted home as a matter of standard procedure. Needless-to-say, the diplomatic has been recalled. It did not get much news coverage (it shows up in the 'dumb things people do' sections of papers for a bit of humor), but here is a link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/09/qatari-diplomat-leave-shortly...

Some of the passenger comments reported are amusing. If you google search "Qatar, diplomat and Denver" some brief reports and some humorous commentary shows up. Obviously this in unlikely to receive the in-depth reporting for which the Gulf Times is so famous.

My favorite is the statement from the Qatar embassy declaring that this is all a big mistake and that nothing has been done wrong (i.e. move along, nothing to see here). That is the pesky thing about a free press, they do not just move along and accept government-issues statements as "facts". Apparently, they could jail him for a bit. His diplomatic immunity would prevent a charge of smoking on a flight, but there is no immunity for terrorist activity. Obviously, he not a terrorist (just not the brightest bulb in the box), but they could let him stew jail for a while under the pretense of conducting a further investigation.