Posted on 11/21/2004 9:16:29 PM PST by waterman478
What happened in Santiago?
Dafydd ab Hugh writes:
Judging from your comments, I don't think you guys realize the seriousness of what happened in Chile. Let me put it into perspective: the president has been marked for death by hundreds of terrorist groups; he is in a foreign country, one where there have been near contintuous riots against America and against him, personally, over the Iraq War; as he's walking into a banquet hall, the local police intentionally cut him off from his security detail.
If the first thought that popped into your mind when you heard about that was not "assassination," then your mind is still laboring in a pre-9/11 world.
It's entirely possible that rather than "rescuing" his detained Secret Service detail, Bush in fact saved his own life. If there was a plan, if this wasn't just a random act of rudeness by the Chilean police (why would they do that?), then Bush's quick thinking may have forced the would-be attackers to abort the operation.
This little incident needs a thorough and complete investigation by Chile, as well as by the CIA. The incident the next day -- where the Bush team demanded everyone at the next banquet pass through metal detectors -- shows that they had the same thought I did (and we all should have had); the fact that Chile refused, even to the point of scuttling the party, is troubling, to say the least.
(Excerpt) Read more at powerlineblog.com ...
Actually, it was the Lagos President and his guests who refused to go through metal detectors, which is all you need to know.
All I have to say is there are two groups I would have chained to chairs in dark rooms awaiting some rigorous Q&A: The Lagos "guests", and the Chilean cops who tried to stop the President's agent.
Yeah but nobody wants to kill Bill Clinton - (The terroristd' friend)
Why in the world would anyone want to kill Bill Clinton? Every terrorist in the world loves him. The enabler of 911 that caused the deaths of thousands of American innocents and military personnel endears Bill Clinton to the terrorst scum.
I take my cues from the President.
He did not look like HE felt threatened during the altercation on Saturday, or during any of the events yesterday. In fact, he looks as though he was having a grand old time.
I know Freepers love to escalate things in dramatic ways, but we are not omniscient security experts even though we have internet access and Free Republic logon privileges.
If true, it shows how stupid the terrorists are because the next move on the chessboard would be President Cheney, Vice President Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz and a bright green glow where most of the Middle East used to be.
OK, well maybe that's a bad example, but this powerblog thing is strictly tinfoil hat stuff.
It was a "face" issue.
Like many inferior cultures (see Islam, several home grown sub-cultures) the Chilean's typical foreign contempt for Bush was augmented by a) their anger at American Hubris - that one man was so important as to warrant all that security. b) The insinuation by default that all of that security brought with the President BY the President meant that THEY were incapable of protecting him (Oh yeah! We'll show you Mr. fancy SS guy & arrogant Bush!).
Its that simple.
Ahem...
It was no conspiracy nor attempt on the President's life. Like many inferior cultures (see Islam, several home grown sub-cultures) the Chilean's were "Dissed"!
Their typical foreign contempt (as in most nations's) for Bush was augmented by a) their anger at American Hubris - that one man was so important as to warrant all that security. b) The insinuation by default that all of that security brought with the President BY the President meant that THEY were incapable of protecting him (Oh yeah! We'll show you Mr. fancy SS guy & arrogant Bush!). Its that simple.
IMO, the Chileans are currying favor with "old Europe" by doing this.
It was intended to humiliate Bush.
What I don't get is why this wasn't intimately choreographed beforehand - concerning the security detail. I seriously doubt that Lagos told Bush "Hey why doncha come to my place for dinner...say around 5-ish?" and that Team Bush said "Okeedokee, we'll be there, and probably take a cab." What the sam hill is going on here? Either the Embassy or Secret Service didn't do its job, or the Chileans tried to pull a fast one. Does anybody have any insight as to how a colossal f-up like this could have occurred?
Good point. I sure hope you're right, and not the crazy things that have been going through my head since I heard this yesterday. Still, I'll rest much easier when he's back here in the US.
There are no "buts" in this equation. If God is who He says He is, and our President is under His care, W lives.
Now that being said... "Thou shall not tempt the Lord your God." by being foolish.
A face or turf issue. I think that's right. But I wouldn't relieve the SS of blame. They have a reputation for not being easy to work with.
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