Mattias Bengtsson

This has nothing to do with Americans but rather incompetent airport security. Before 9/11 they were to lax, and now afterwards everyone is treated as a potential security threat. And they're to stubborn to admit that their initial reaction might be wrong... (that's the incompetent part, if someone can't admit they've maybe made a mistake...)

Anyway, its not exclusive to USA.

Friend of mine usually gets or used to get stopped in customs because he got that "look", whenever he travels and he's been to USA several times on vacation.
This little incident however happened in UK where he did a transfer and appearantly the officers thought it strange as he was taking off from Copenhagen in Denmark instead off any Swedish airport.
The fact that for a swede to travel to other Scandinavian countries like Norway and Denmark is no more complicated than for a American to get from one state to another or a English to go to Scotland or Wales was unexplainable to them, and that the Danish airport was much closer to him than any Swedish airport of equal size.

And as the interrogation went on and on, they asked "then how come he was so nervous" with the answer that "of course he was nervous, as his plane was leaving in 20 minutes and he was worried he might miss it....."

Makes me think of Benjamin Franklin:
"A state which sacrifices a bit of freedom for a little bit of security, will deserve neither and lose both"