To DUers who are residing in the UK right now:

[Denzil_DC]

3. Since you ask, I'm not at all surprised Greenwald's partner was detained.

His flight was financed by the Guardian, he'd been visiting Greenwald's collaborator Poitras. Some of the information already leaked relates to the UK surveillance apparatus, and Greenwald has claimed in no uncertain terms that there's more revelations to come.

As it is, given the background, this resident asks what the hell they were thinking having him fly through Heathrow anyway? I find it rich if Greenwald or anyone else involved is surprised that he was stopped. Hell, anybody who's had dealings with UK airport authorities or the security apparatus or ever been a political activist could have predicted it. I'd be much more surprised if he hadn't been questioned in the circumstances. As for the length of detention, that's what they do because they can. Americans date the major recent steps in loss of civil liberties from 9/11, Brits tend to date them from the heyday of the IRA, then 9/11 got overlaid on that.

As for whether it's frontpage news, it may be so in the Guardian, and it's possible the BBC may pick it up, but I doubt it'll make a big or prolonged splash. Heavyhanded treatment at major hub airports like Heathrow with far less putative justification isn't that unusual. It'll get more traction in the US through Guardian online than it ever will in the UK.

If he'd been arrested or mistreated beyond what the law allows, that would be a story.