Melee in Chile seen as ‘big deal’ – The Washington Times: Nation/Politics – November 23, 2004 Weird
White House officials were still shaking their heads in disbelief yesterday that President Bush personally had to rescue a U.S. Secret Service agent from angry Chilean security officials Saturday night.
“This is a pretty big deal,” said a senior White House official, who called the incident a “melee.”
“I mean, the guy who was supposed to be guarded had to rescue the guy who was supposed to be guarding him.”
The official expressed astonishment that Chilean security officials had stopped the No. 2 agent on Mr. Bush’s security detail from accompanying the president into a meeting with another world leader, an unprecedented public breach of security arrangements agreed upon in advance.
Well, in defense of the secret service person, he doesn’t really have a lot of clout in Chile. W has lots. No one is going to throw the president against a wall, so he’s in a much better position to get the guards to listen to him.
an unprecedented public breach of security arrangements agreed upon in advance.
While most people would be able to indentify Bush on sight, how many people can recognize the “#2” secret service agent on sight? Isn’t that what the SS wants – you can recognize the bodyguard “style”, but no details about the agent stand-out in your mind?
I think it is less about clout, than they were stopping someone they didn’t recognize. And how many people in security details have heard that “I’m with the band!” crap? 🙂
The reports made this sound like Bush was in a bar brawl.
When I read about this in the printed press, one got the idea that Bush may be back to his old bar brawling days. I was more than a little excited.
But when I say the video clip it was next to nothin. Is the news cycle really so slow that they have to over report this incident?