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Home Front: WoT
Assassination attempt against President Bush?
2004-11-22
Here's the post from commentator Dafydd ab Hugh onto Powerline that started the whole hubbub about the now-infamous Chile incident.
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.

There are a lot of people out there who want to see George W. Bush dead; alas, there are a lot of heads of state who would not shed a tear. In this day and age, when armed local cops intentionally cut the president off from his security detail, that should be taken as no less a violent act that when an anti-aircraft missile battery "paints" an American plane with fire-control radar.
Posted by:Edward Yee

#12  Why not walk through a metal detector?........unless you've got something to hide!!? Possible assassination attempt was the first thing that came to my mind. All it takes is ONE HEARTBEAT to kill anyone. DON'T TAKE ANY CHANCES WITH GEORGE W.!!!! All they need to do is detain his security for ONE HEARTBEAT...... Bush turning back threw their timing off. You never know...........
Posted by: Floting Granter5198   2004-11-23 12:05:01 AM  

#11  No one has adequately explained why cancel a State Dinner over a metal detector.

I'm not much of a conspiracist, but I stand by my original post on the original thread. Something is wrong about this. 2 events - first one, okay, just a little macho dustup. Second one - hmmmmm. Doesn't make any sense. You KNOW they use metal detectors to protect their Prez - just as we do, just as everyone on the planet does - why, for crying out loud, cancel a major event over it?

When someone has a quickie fix for this one - other than macho pride, I'll bite. If it's macho pride, again, then Lagos and his protection service need Dr Steve's immediate attention - and Bush needs to stop being so goddamned reasonable and give some shit back to fools like this.
Posted by: .com   2004-11-22 11:50:47 PM  

#10  I wouldn't ascribe any ill intentions to the Chilean government. More likely one person associated with senior police saw a way to bring down the government there.
Posted by: Dishman   2004-11-22 10:41:31 PM  

#9  I don't ascribe any ill will to the Chileans, but I hate the fact that Saturday's episode showed that it is possible to separate the President from his security detail. That can't happen.
Posted by: Matt   2004-11-22 10:04:37 PM  

#8  I wouldn't know, Dishman, but I visited the WTC on 9/9/01 myself ... I just don't get these gut feelings. But you're right, the Chilean thing is BAD ...
Posted by: Edward Yee   2004-11-22 10:03:29 PM  

#7  I'm gonna sound like a loon, but, WTH.

I had a bad feeling Friday afternoon. I can't explain how my subconscious put things together. It was .. reminiscent of the bad feeling that led my to cancel my Hong Kong flight 9/9/01. I was very concerned for W's safety. I'm not nearly as concerned now.

Make of that what you will.
Posted by: Dishman   2004-11-22 9:57:34 PM  

#6  Hell even the Queen was annoyed when the Secret Service ruined her garden :-)
Posted by: True German Ally   2004-11-22 9:35:46 PM  

#5  TGA is probably right that one issue here is the Chilean's sense that the demands of the Secret Service were insulting to them. Before we all make too much fun of that idea, realize that they are surely the best of the security forces in Latin America -- many were trained by us.

I'm not so sure about the misunderstanding idea.

No doubt overweaning American demands should be resisted. In this case, given world events however, I strongly wish Lagos had made an exception here for Bush.
Posted by: rkb   2004-11-22 9:30:18 PM  

#4  Payback for Operation Condor?
Posted by: Thraing Uluper1662   2004-11-22 9:08:16 PM  

#3  "What happenend in Chile sounds more like a chain of misunderstanding."

You must be daft! It has already been reported that the Chilean security and the SS had been arguing that day about who would be allowed into the banquet.

Their closing of ranks the instant the Prez passed through was blatant and deliberate. And, it is not outside the realm of probability that it could have been a setup for assassination.

-AR
Posted by: Analog Roam   2004-11-22 7:55:38 PM  

#2  I don't think so. Secret Service personnel sometimes does have a problem with local security (it even happens in Germany) because they tend to treat every space the President is going to occupy as extraterritorial. Most of the time problems are solved easily. What happenend in Chile sounds more like a chain of misunderstanding. You can be sure that local police (whether in Chile or Germany) has EVERY interest in keeping the President safe. They are sometimes a bit pissed when the Secret Service tries to treat them as irrelevant. Most of the time it depends on the liaison officer in charge to make things go smoothly.
Posted by: True German Ally   2004-11-22 7:06:38 PM  

#1  I think the Chileans are a little obtuse on security protocols at international conferences. Now they know. And this particular conference won't be back anytime soon.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-11-22 6:58:52 PM  

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