Bush comes to aid of Secret Service agent

AP ^ | 11/20/2004 | AP staff

[wjersey]

President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night.

Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. Bush noticed the fracas after posing for pictures on a red carpet with the summit host, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife and first lady Laura Bush.

[TNdandelion]

I agree. Their love story could rival that of Ronnie & Nancy. Both couples totally devoted to each other. So romantic. Ok...sappy post over. SMILE

[TNdandelion]

I've read/heard several times that the USSS consider the job of protecting Bush especially challenging.

Obviously, the Prez respects them and the job they have, but he doesn't let their rules and regulations dictate every move he makes.

[treeclimber]

"It doesn't take much imagination to understand that Laura has to be some kind of woman to completely satisfy THIS much of a man."

Therein is their confusion-they dont know the first thing about real men...

[MeekOneGOP]

I faxed their ambassador at the Chilean Embassy in DC.

Great! :^D

Hey, if you get a reply will you let me know?? Thanks.

[EricT.]

Wha he shoudl have done, when his access was blocked, was stop, stand still,and loudly call out.."Mr President, please do NOT enter the room sir.."

I disagree. He should have put his Glock up that bastard's nose and told him to stand down or fall down.

[Mikey_1962]

Absolutely... what a MAN

[El Gato]

"He told them they were with him and the issue was resolved."

I wonder if he "told them" in Spanish? There are many interesting ways to do that. There's even a special verb tense to do it in. You might call it the "command tense". My daughter used it when "reading the riot act" to a less than cooperate manager for Greyhound's Mexican affiliate when she was chaperoning a group of U Texas undergrads on a field trip into central Mexico.

[evets]

Video is on dailyrecycler.com here. Didn't see that posted. (I'm still sleepy.)

[rang1995]

coyboys are america,coyboys are cool,americans (most) love the coyboy hero..the rest of the world can stuff it..==gary cooper high noon

[not_apathetic_anymore]

hard to know for certain who is whom.

I agree, it is, and that probably isn't an all bad thing for those of us playing armchair quarterback.

[rang1995]

love that picture, and the rest of the world TS

[MEG33]

LOL!

[El Gato]

Who's in more trouble tonight, the SS agent or the President?

Well the President may be in trouble, but only with the Secret Service. They would not want him exposing himself to that "scrum" the way he did. But tough, he's the boss. They don't much like him working crowds the way he does either. They were nervous when he worked the crowd on the carrier that he had landed on, in this case it had to beyond nervous into apoplexy.

[JeffAtlanta]

I just heard on Fox news that the USSS agent blocked by the Chilean security forces was actually in charge of the other agents. When the Chilean's stopped him, they stopped most if not all other USSS agents. Fox however downplayed it. So, again, President Bush’s quick reactions may have prevented an assassination attempt on him.

This doesn't make any sense at all. Do you think that USSS agents wern't already in the building? The USSS would not have allowed him to enter the building in the first place if the front side agents were not already in place.

This is silly how many are trying to spin this into a certain assassination attempt. If the USSS had thought the situation was that grave, they would have whisked him back out of the building. They wouldn't have thought "the president probably just prevented his own assassination - oh well, I'm sure everything is fine now - Let's all enjoy the party".

If the agents that were on the ground didn't think there was any imminent threat, then how are these certain assasination fantasies justified?

[blackie]

GWB Is The Man ~ Bump!

[Thomas Newton]

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND!

[JeffAtlanta]

I disagree. He should have put his Glock up that bastard's nose and told him to stand down or fall down.

The USSS is outnumbered and out gunned when the POTUS visits foreign nations. That's one of the problems when traveling abroad. The USSS can be used to stop attacks from outside groups that have penetrated the host nation's security, but they can't be expected to be able to protect him from the host nation itself.

I'm not saying the president shouldn't travel. I'm just saying that I'm sure the USSS and other government agencies determine which foreign visits are safe. I doubt we'll be seeing the president visit Saudi Arabia anytime soon.

Pulling out a weapon in that situation could have easily started a fire fight and the president could have easily been hit in the subsequent confusion. Think about it this way, how would the USSS react if the bodyguards of a visiting leader pulled a weapon on them?

From what we know, the USSS agents seem to have reacted in the most reasonable and practical matter. I will say though, that there is a point that the detained agents may have forced to take physical action - thankfully, it didn't get to that.

[Southack]

"the Chilean security had to know who the Secret Service were....and it looks like an attempt to separate the President from his security. This was no accident or mistake.."

Hu Xintao was there too, remember... so I'd rate this pretty high as an attempt by Chili to pick off the Presidential football...with the added goal of isolating the President from SS for some sort of power play.

There will be fallout from what happened, so to speak.

[JonDavid]

I am not spinning. That's what the Fox News said. Your right, perhaps other people, Comrade Kerry comes to mind, would have allowed the USSS to “run" him to the airport after this, but not President Bush.

[cubreporter]

:) Ya can't help but love him. He's the man!