Posted on 11/22/2004 1:30:55 PM PST by GretchenM
Yeah unlike former Chilean despots. Pinochet would have had the agent taken out and shot. I don't guess Chilean reporters think that's cowboy action though.
Or the Chilean president might have just shot himself, like Allende ;)
Also, John Wayne wouldn't have bothered to argue...
Deceased film director, Burt Kennedy, described what a bad*ss John Wayne was in a book he wrote.
Frank Sinatra and Wayne were staying in the same Vegas hotel in the '50s. Sinatra had an all-night party and Wayne was trying to sleep. Wayne was not fond of Sinatra and went to the suite to tell them to quite down. When one of Sinatra's bodyguards lipped off to Wayne, he backhanded him, knocking him flat. When the guy tried to get up, Wayne cracked a metal chair over his head.
The party quieted immediately and The Duke peacefully went to sleep.
This Web site gives a bio of the Secret Service Agent Nick Trotta: http://www.salesianhigh.org/alumni/news.html
I was very involved in the business of Head of State security some years ago and when Pres Bush, senior visited the country in the ME where I worked at the time, we met some of the large number of security staff travelling with him.
Notably on one occasion whilst relaxing poolside, wearing yellow T-shirts emblazoned 'You elect 'em, we protect 'em!
It was acknowledged that the US President's close escort unit always accompanied him wherever he went. Other Heads of State would yield to the indiginous security (Which, make no mistake, was good), but that was never the case for the US.
I can see that at a mixed gathering of Heads of State this arrangement might cause some perceived 'loss of face' on the part of those services of the host country, which is sad because the aim of the exercise may be compromised by squabbling. These issues were always resolved prior to any function, in my experience.
No offence intended, just experience talking, but it is a typical Latin reaction (My Arab colleagues dealt with it OK, just gave the Presidents close team more space).
Love those T-shirts!
I have heard of other heads of state being assassinated by their own military, such as in the case of Anwar Sadat, so I think it is wise for our President, who is a large target, to have his own security. There are way too many people who want him out of the picture. Frankly, I wouldn't even want him to be without the SS in our own USA!
Here and there I have been at public events where there were some SS, and I have never found them to be obtrusive. They were dressed in suits, kind of in the background, no visible guns. I don't see why the Chileans would have a problem with them.
Reading about Nick Trotta, I learned that he is a praying man, so I can see why the President would like him.
LOVE THOSE COWBOYS!!!
Some Chileans said President Bush's move was a breach of protocol. Commons sense tells me that he was obviously in the right. Since you may have special knowledge of diplomatic arrangements, shouldn't the presence of personal bodyguards be worked out ahead of time? I mean, shouldn't Chile have told the USA in advance that no bodyguards will be allowed instead of trying to stealthily keep them out at the last minute? That way, the President could decide in advance whether he even wants to meet under those conditions? Wouldn't Chile's deception be an obvious breach of protocol?
Interesting bio. Thanks for the link.
Thank you for the information. Those machomonsters were out of line.
"Colombian official: Rebels plotted to kill Bush FARC leaders allegedly ordered assassination during Argentina visit
Reuters
Updated: 12:31 p.m. ET Nov. 27, 2004
BOGOTA, Colombia - President Bush was targeted for assassination by Colombia’s biggest Marxist rebel group this week when he visited the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, a top Colombian official said on Saturday.
“According to informants and various sources, we had information indicating that various members of the FARC had been instructed by their leaders to make an attempt against President Bush,” Defense Secretary Jorge Alberto Uribe told reporters.
(snip)
Assassination attempts
The FARC has made many attempts against the life of President Alvaro Uribe, one of few conservative South American presidents with strong ties to Washington. Uribe, whose father was killed resisting kidnap by the FARC in the 1980s, narrowly survived a car bomb attack by the FARC during his 2002 presidential campaign.
The last U.S. president to visit Colombia was Bill Clinton, whose trip to Cartagena was marked by the seizure of bomb-making materials from a house six blocks from a building Clinton was visiting.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6594646/"
I got this from World Net Daily:
"[Dr. Jack]Wheeler explains that Chilean officials attempted to block Secret Service agent Nick Trotta from protecting the president.
Writes Wheeler: "The attempt was a clear double-cross, because all security arrangements are made and agreed upon for the POTUS (President of the United States) between the Secret Service and host country security well in advance and etched in stone. The Chilean police knew and agreed that Trotta would be with the president, yet they blocked him in a complete surprise.
"Far worse than this was Chilean President Lagos' refusal to have guests at a State Dinner go through a metal detector. No one attends a function with the POTUS, either here in the U.S. or anywhere in the world, without going through a metal detector, and this was agreed to way beforehand in Santiago. At the last moment, Lagos refuses – then cancels the dinner when the Secret Service won’t budge."
Available only to subscribers of To the Point, Wheeler's piece, entitled "Chavez in Chile," goes on to explain the connection to Chavez.
"Ricardo Lagos is a left-wing anti-American socialist whose hero is Salvador Allende, who almost turned Chile over to the Soviets, and a great friend of Hugo Chavez," Wheeler writes. "Was there a plan to slip a firearm into this dinner in Santiago and assassinate GW? No one in Washington is sure – but there is a very frightened and angry buzz of worry that there might have been."
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