White House aides advancing President Bush's Normandy visit ordered the Pentagon to erect a $100,000 platform for his entry into a U.S. military cemetery, well-placed sources told the Daily News.
...In addition, White House staffers demanded that bleachers erected for several thousand spectators be torn down, limiting the number of guests who could attend the event. "Some 25-year-old White House kid thought they weren't esthetically pleasing," one administration official complained.
The red carpet price tag wasn't anticipated by Pentagon planners, so the $100,000, which has already been paid out to the civilian contractors who did the work, will have to be scrounged from somewhere else.
"That money will have to come out of some account that otherwise would be spent on soldiers," according to a source familiar with the situation.
...The expensive choreography was a drop in the bucket compared with the overall cost of the U.S. government's participation in D-Day celebrations in France - estimated at $30 million by knowledgeable officials.
That sum includes about $24 million in direct costs like building roads, highways, parking lots and other infrastructure in Normandy, as well as $6 million in value-added taxes paid to the French government.
NY Daily News article
...In addition, White House staffers demanded that bleachers erected for several thousand spectators be torn down, limiting the number of guests who could attend the event. "Some 25-year-old White House kid thought they weren't esthetically pleasing," one administration official complained.
The red carpet price tag wasn't anticipated by Pentagon planners, so the $100,000, which has already been paid out to the civilian contractors who did the work, will have to be scrounged from somewhere else.
"That money will have to come out of some account that otherwise would be spent on soldiers," according to a source familiar with the situation.
...The expensive choreography was a drop in the bucket compared with the overall cost of the U.S. government's participation in D-Day celebrations in France - estimated at $30 million by knowledgeable officials.
That sum includes about $24 million in direct costs like building roads, highways, parking lots and other infrastructure in Normandy, as well as $6 million in value-added taxes paid to the French government.
Funny, isn't it? We get to pay for all that.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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