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.
First I've read this: the Chileans were also involved in a shoving match with Chinese bodyguards accompanying their President Hu Jintao. The Chileans won that round:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/22/wchile22.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/22/ixhome.html
"... Mr Bush waded into a crowd of Chilean security personnel to rescue his own chief bodyguard, Nick Trotta, who was being prevented from following his boss into a dinner for Asia-Pacific leaders, part of an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit that preceded yesterday's brief state visit.
Mr Bush, hearing Mr Trotta's frantic protests, reached over two lines of people to grab him by the lapel, telling startled Chilean security: "He's with me". Mr Bush then walked into the dinner, shaking his head in disbelief, and straightening his right shirt cuff.
Chilean guards were also involved in a shoving match with Chinese bodyguards accompanying President Hu Jintao at the Apec summit, successfully preventing the Chinese guards from following their head of state into a meeting with Mr Lagos."
Looking at this picture of the President reaching through this tight crowd I am not sure how he was able to accomplish freeing the SS man from them so easily. It appears from other pictures that the crowd was not even aware that the President was actually there. I really wonder if a miracle took place and Angels helped him accomplish this. They may even have blocked people from seeing the President. Nobody is looking at the President in any of the pictures I have seen of this incident. Can you imagine being assigned to the President as an Angel and protecting him and helping him in this situation?
You're welcome .. what a great guy.
http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/003152.html
November 21, 2004
"GWB 1 - Chile 0"
he does.
Our fearless leader is a fighter pilot.
Once a fighter pilot, always one.
[Stand behind me and you'll be OK!]
Per Adua Ad Asta!
Blessings -- Brian
Were you looking for Crimson Trace red dots? LMAO! My very favorite laser. I highly recommend it!
That's gotta be my favorite picture of Dubya! Whatta guy!
The world has changed. Privatising SS does not make nme trust them. They knew our Secret Service Agents. it was an attempt to go mano mano with one of our guys. WHY?
I thought that an agent had told Bush to go back in the room. If I were the SS I would really not want the president in what looked like the beginning of a bar fight.
So the guy in the middle was SS and the other two guys were not?
"W" is the first letter in my aphabet... Now I remember why I voted for him.
YEEEEE HAAAA !!!
Yes, he sure is! :)
BTTT
Wanna bet whether Bush would take a bullet for his agents? It might be a natural reaction for someone like him.
Thanks for that explanation. That makes a lot of sense.
I couldn't make out much of anything, noise wish of the video.
Bellflower, in the video, you can see the person who realizes the President is there.
He's on the right side of the screen. After a few seconds you can see him pointing, first at the agent and then at the President.
I can't hear what he says, but I think he might have told them it was the US President.
That said, however, I do completely agree with you that there was divine protection over him. That situation could have gotten bad really fast.
As you said, NO ONE ever really looked at him during the entire thing. Not when he first entered the thing or even as they were leaving.
He's got your back. Can you imagine Johnny Nam doing this? Not bloody likely.
>>>This is much ado about nothing. But, there are a lot of seige junkies in this forum, and these scenarios feed their need.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-farc28nov28,0,3731279.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Colombian Government Claims Rebels Targeted Bush
By Warren Vieth and Rachel van Dongen
Times Staff Writer
6:43 PM PST, November 27, 2004
BOGOTA, Colombia — Marxist rebels tried to organize an assassination attempt against President Bush during his visit to the port city of Cartagena last week, a top Colombian official said Saturday.
Defense Secretary Jorge Alberto Uribe told reporters in Bogota that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-member rebel group known as FARC that has been fighting Colombia's government for decades, had plotted to kill Bush.
"Through informants and various sources, we had information indicating that different groups of the FARC had been instructed by the secretariat (of the FARC) that they would attempt to assassinate President Bush," Uribe said in a report carried by Caracol Television.
White House and other U.S. officials refused to discuss the reported plot Saturday, and it was not immediately clear whether members of FARC actually attempted to carry out any instructions to target Bush during his brief stop in Colombia.
Bush traveled to Colombia on Monday to assure leaders there of continued U.S. aid in a crackdown on drug trafficking. The stop came after the president's trip to Chile for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
Uribe would not elaborate on the details of the alleged plot and would not say whether there had been any arrests or confrontations between Colombian or U.S. security forces and the rebels. Uribe offered no evidence of an assassination plot and did not say whether any evidence had been recovered.
Secret Service spokesman Jonathan Cherry in Washington declined to discuss the plot outlined by Uribe.
"The Secret Service does not comment or release information regarding our protective intelligence and protective methods," Cherry said. "The Secret Service does not discuss any alleged threats to our protectees."
A White House spokesman also declined to provide details.
"We have full confidence in the fine work of the Secret Service and their work with security officials on the ground when the president travels," White House spokesman Jim Morrell said in Washington, D.C.
Security was heavy Monday during Bush's stop in Cartagena. Security personnel were stationed atop the airport control tower, and several helicopters were circling overhead when the president arrived shortly before noon. Uribe said Saturday that 15,000 Colombian troops were deployed because of the threat against Bush.
Low-flying helicopters accompanied Bush's motorcade on the drive through the city, including two black choppers that flew extremely close to the ground. At one point, the helicopters swooped so low they kicked up a small dust storm, forcing onlookers to cover their heads and eyes. Armed security officers, including some in riot gear, were stationed along the route.
Over the past four years, the United States has provided billions of dollars in aid to help the government of Colombia improve internal security and counter the drug trade. Colombia produces most of the cocaine and much of the heroin sold in the United States. Both the FARC and the country's right-wing paramilitary organizations have ties to drug traffickers, according to Colombian and U.S. authorities.
FARC has made several unsuccessful assassination attempts against Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, including a car bomb attack during his 2002 campaign.
U.S. officials have been impressed by President Uribe, who has launched a full-scale military assault against FARC.
Bush vowed during his stop that the United States will add new money to Plan Colombia, which has cost $3.3 billion since President Clinton began the program in 2000. The package makes Colombia the largest recipient of U.S. aid outside the Middle East.
Last month, Congress agreed to double the size of the U.S. military contingent in Colombia, from 400 to 800. The troops train Colombian forces and help them carry out anti-narcotics operations; they are barred from any combat role.
Times staff writer Vieth reported from Crawford and special correspondent Van Dongen from Bogota. Staff writer Paul Richter in Washington contributed to this report.
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