Posted on 11/20/2004 4:13:02 PM PST by wjersey
Edited on 11/20/2004 7:38:20 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
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.
The President's security team are probably made up of former Marines, Army Special Forces, SEALS and the like, and my guess is that they are amongst the best on the planet at hand-to-hand combat. But they're also specially trained in how to react in these situation, and a hot head could have proven to be disastrous. The last thing they wanted was a gunfight or donnybrook to break out with the President standy nearby.
And so they were. The President however was inside the hall when this CF started.
The Chileans are saying the the Secret Service folks were supposed to go in the side door, the front being reserved for the principals involved in the conference. You would think there would be Secret Service already inside, but some countries are pretty hinky about armed foreigners in their country. Like us for instance, so they may have only allowed the armed detail inside when the President was inside.
From your link:
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.
Abandoning the other three, Bush walked over to the agents, reached through the dispute and pulled his agent from the scrum.
The "other three" are not three agents, but rather "Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife and first lady Laura Bush".
This is much ado about nothing. But, there are a lot of seige junkies in this forum, and these scenarios feed their need.
I donn't know about you guys Vlad look like that dude from Man of the Uncle Just a thought LOL!
Yeah Vlad smile more
President Bush and President Of Chile aout to give a news conference - Fox News.
LOL, great term.
It's a popular term amongst the less conservative FReepers.
There is a video up at dailyrecycler.com
I concur wholeheartedly with IrishCatholic's accurate assessment at 1197 of President Bush's command presence and handling of the situation. President Bush getting right in the middle of this cluster just makes me laugh and further validates my respect for this guy as an individual. What a hardcharger.
Advise Chile be immediately bumped to the top of FREE REPUBLIC's sh*tlist of countries!
(Not that I understood a thing the reporter was saying! LOL! Ohio is one of the only Japanese words I know. :o)
Bears repeating.............I LOVE our President! He didn't look 'irritated' as the reports said..........he looked like he enjoyed getting into that scrum and rescuing his SS friend!
I agree with both of your points.
I just don't see this as an assasination attempt. Especially since the event continued without incident.
As someone else said, The Secret Service wouldn't have let the President stay if they thought the situation was anything other than a misunderstanding.
According to the story below more than 15,000 troops have been brought in extra to the current military in Cartagena.
Cartagena permanece tranquila y a la espera del presidente Bush
REDACCIÓN LOCAL
El Universal
La noticia sobre la llegada de George W. Bush a la ciudad se regó como pólvora y, aunque algunas personas se mantienen indiferentes ante la visita, las calles del Centro Histórico, Bocagrande, Avenida Santander y todas aquellas vías que recorrerá el mandatario de los estadounidenses, permanecen fuertemente resguardadas.
Los operativos a los vehículos y control al tráfico automotor, se advirtió ayer en las principales avenidas y calles más concurridas; los sobrevuelos de
ÓSCAR DÍAZ/EL UNIVERSAL/
EL DESPLIEGUE DE SEGURIDAD se realiza especialmente en el Centro de la ciudad y en barrios cercanos a dicha zona.
helicópteros no se detuvieron en todo el día y hoy continuará el mismo dispositivo que ya mañana, se desplegará en toda su dimensión para el arribo de Bush y su esposa Laura a Cartagena, a las 11:45 de la mañana aproximadamente.
Son 15.000 hombres los que integran el pie de fuerza que se encuentra en esta ciudad. En estos dispositivos de fuerzas confluyen la Armada, Fuerza Naval, Policía, Infantería, Fuerza Aérea, DAS, Policía de Carreteras, entre otros organismos de seguridad.
Bush, quien llegará a esta ciudad procedente de Santiago de Chile, donde lo recibieron con múltiples y violentas protestas en el marco del Foro de Cooperación Económica Asia-Pacífico, se reunirá con el presidente Álvaro Uribe para dialogar las "formas comunes" de trabajo, como se señaló en un comunicado de prensa de la Casa Blanca.
"Como aliados cercanos para proteger y promover la democracia, los derechos humanos y el imperio de la ley, la lucha contra el terrorismo y el narcotráfico, y promover la prosperidad a través del crecimiento económico y las oportunidades", se lee en el comunicado que fue difundido por Prensa Presidencia de Colombia.
ÓSCAR DÍAZ/EL UNIVERSAL/
A LA ENTRADA DE BOCAGRANDE los operativos de la Policía fueron constantes. Las motos fueron retenidas para verificar papeles, como también los carros.
La expectativa por la llegada del reelecto mandatario estadounidense se advierte principalmente en el Gobierno nacional, que evalúa ahora la solidez de los lazos con el huésped de la Casa Blanca por cuatro años más, y de seguro calibrará la calidad de las relaciones bilaterales que se han distinguido por ser de mutuo apoyo.
Serán pocas horas para el encuentro (escasamente cuatro), pero durante ese lapso los mandatarios también abordarán los avances del Plan Colombia, que a propósito firmó el ex presidente Bill Clinton en una visita a esta
ciudad durante el año 2000, quien rompió las distancias luego de once años luego de la última visita presidencial realizada precisamente por George Bush, padre.
Pese al corto tiempo, los beisbolistas de grandes ligas, Orlando Cabrera, de los Medias Rojas de Boston, y Édgar Rentería, de los Cardenales de San Luis, también están programados en la agenda de reuniones para un diálogo con los mandatarios.
Thanks for the info. I wish it was tomorrow and they were on their way home! I did hear about the black tie dinner being cancelled because Chile didn't want the guests to go thru metal detectors. How ignorant, IMHO. That's a pretty "easy" request and pretty vital to the President's safety.
***This is AFTER the scuffle. The SS guy looks rattled. The President looks kinda pleased.......***
HIs life is so scripted and planned, he was probably glad for a little excitement, not to mention he got to kick some butt. :-)
Actually he did fly the plane about 1/2 way to the aircraft carrier. There's a really amusing anecdote about it in one of the books about him--can't rem. which one but someone will know.
The SS agent asked the navy pilot as they got on, "You're not going to let the Pres. fly, are you?" The pilot assured him "no" but as they got to cruising altitude, the pilot let the Pres. take over. The Pres. then proceded to mess around a little, losing altitude, to further make the SS guy nervous. (this might not be exactly right, but when I read it I LOL'd because I can just see the Pres. enjoying making the SS guy a little nervous.
As you say, tho, this happened in seconds while the aircraft carrier landing was totally planned.
Just saw a clip of the Pres. on the news and he looks TIRED today.
Prayers for the President's well being and SAFETY!
What a great idea!
Problem needs solving........I'll do it!
An athlete, a scrapper, a leader........maybe not as big as some of the other guys on the team, but feistier, and afraid of nothing.
A GOOD man to have in charge of things.
And yes........I do believe he enjoyed the change of pace. :o)
For all we know those CIA agents were detained because there a was a plan to take the President out, once the CIA agents were removed.
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