Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Who are these White House Spokesmen?

White House officials, White House spokesmen. No names.

Margie Burns says the White House also would not give her the names of the people in Georgie's entourage going to Asia.

Regardless of party, when an American head of state visits a foreign country, the American public has a vested interest in knowing who goes with him. I am not referring to the Secret Service and other security personnel. The public has a legitimate inquiry as to which Cabinet members, trade officials, and presidential relatives are visiting these nations with our head of state, and for what reason. Bear in mind that Seymour Hersh wrote after the first Gulf War that Bush relatives cruised the Middle East generating contracts for themselves; that Bush’s close relatives are among the individuals making money off the “war on terrorism” and the Iraq war; and that some of these contracts jibe oddly, or not at all, with the administration’s stated policies. Indeed, a US military contractor where Bush uncle William H. T. Bush is a director has generated contracts with Japan, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and the U.A.E. among other foreign entities: http://www.engineeredsupport.com/press.htm.

Bush’s trip to Asia is being paid for by our tax dollars. Or at least all public officials on the trip, their staffers, and all of the attendant security personnel are being funded by American taxpayers. A White House visit, with entourage, is state business. Thus it is, by definition, the public’s business, at least up to the point where legitimate security concerns take over. Arguably it is the public’s business also to know of any others accompanying our head of state who are not on public business, even if the taxpayers are not funding them directly. (A big if, perhaps.) I might add that any security problems generated by this junket to some of the world’s hottest terrorist hot spots will also be paid by us.


Margie says the White House "spokesman" she tried to get the information from wouldn't even give her his name.

She also says that Sonny's Asian entourage consists of about 600 people. That must be a whopper of a tab we're picking up.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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