Quote:
Originally posted by BillW+Oct 24 2004, 09:34 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (BillW @ Oct 24 2004, 09:34 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-RougeUnderoos@Oct 24 2004, 07:16 PM
Well thanks Bill, although I don't really know where I said I know all about the inner workings of the Secret Service.# I searched high and low in that quote of mine you used as a jumping-off point for your impressive lecture but I didn't see it there.
You are obviously "in the loop" so why don't you explain to us ninnies why George has been taking heat for his little sit-down for 3 years and hasn't bothered to offer up the wonderful "it's SOP to sit on my ass reading donkey related books during a national emergency" explanation.#
Your explanation that "they need 5 minutes to secure the building" strikes me as a little odd.# You are obviously the expert, so perhaps you can tell me why it would be that the elementary school in which the President is sitting is not pre-secured.# It seems to me that he would be in real trouble if their were an emergency.# I mean, if something bad happened (like massive terrorist attacks against the United States and an obvious threat to the President) and the Secret Service needed five minutes prep time to get him out of the building, our friend George would be SOL (sh*t out of luck for those not familiar with government regulations).
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I specifically said “to resecure either of the routes back to the airport and the perimeter of the school.” Anytime the President is going to be at a location more than 30 minutes they do not keep the motorcade route locked down for the entire time. The locals would go nuts if traffic were tied up that long, so they move the President and then resecure the route when it’s time to leave. The same holds true for the perimeter of the secured building he’s in which is the only area to maintain top security during his stay. The Secret Service will typically have multiple exit routes planned, but in a case like this they will not announce to the supporting agencies which one will be used until the last possible moment to prevent a possible ambush along a route known in advance.
The President has taken the “heat” for a number of reasons, the least of which being that the explanation has been covered in several sources, but the mainstream media has not wished to cover those. The President also understands that he can not make a direct statement to what happened because it would be interpreted by his opposition and the media of him whining about the Secret Service much like Kerry does all the time – especially when he curses them on the ski slops. The President also keeps his mouth shut out of respect for the men who have volunteered to die for him if need be and the heat they would come under if he accused them of being a delay. Considering the mass exodus of experienced Executive Detail Secret Service that occurred under President Clinton for the way he and his family treated them, President Bush learned very well how to work with them from the way his mother demanded everyone traveling with his father respect the job they have to do.
If the Secret Service needed to evacuate the President in 5 minutes, they can do it at anytime, but they first must feel the threat in the current location is worse than the threat in an unscheduled movement. Since the FAA, NORAD, and NSC had been talking for less than 2 minutes at the time they had nothing but speculation to offer him and they needed some kind of facts and proposed plans to present to him and they actually didn’t have that until about 15 minutes later.
I would prefer to have a President that acted on facts than feelings. We have a saying in fighter aircraft that you never react to a situation, you assess and then respond. As a former and very competent combat fighter pilot, President Bush understands that if he would have stopped immediately he would have been reacting, and then he would have sat around waiting for enough facts to respond to. [/b][/quote]
You specifically said a lot of things, such as they needed to re-secure " the perimeter of the school". In your latest reply you did say "the perimeter of the secured building he’s in which is the only area to maintain top security during his stay" so now I'm a little confused. Did they need to resecure the building, or was it already secured because he was still in it?
Much like you are a member of the inner circle, I am part of the President's opposition, and I promise you, if he said "I had to sit there and read that donkey book because the Secret Service told me not to move because they had to re-clear the mudroom and the soccer field" then I wouldn't attack him for it. I certainly wouldn't think he was whining about the Secret Service if he said it.
In other news, why didn't "The Ace of the Georgia Skies" ever take his great skills across the pond? Security issue? Cowardice? Drunkeness?