NEWS:Bush visit involved flights of fancy
December 5, 2003
smh.com.au
In another White House correction, the Bush Administration has changed its story of a British Airways pilot's spotting of Air Force One during the President's trip to Iraq last week.
The original story - which held that the airline's pilot had talked to Air Force One and that he kept the secret of President George Bush's Thanksgiving Day flight to Baghdad - had been told to reporters by the White House communications director, Dan Bartlett, as he sought to portray the drama of Mr Bush's trip.
But after British Airways denied such a conversation had taken place, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said on Wednesday that the pilot had never contacted Air Force One.
"The conversation was between the British Airways plane and the London control tower," Mr McClellan said.
It was also the London control tower, not an Air Force One pilot as in the original story, that misidentified Air Force One as a much smaller "Gulfstream 5" aircraft, Mr McClellan said.
He said that Air Force One pilots overheard the conversation while flying over the west coast of England.
In another indication of how the White House maximised the impact of the 2-hour stop at Baghdad airport, US officials said on Wednesday that Mr Bush had picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.
In the most widely published image from the Thanksgiving trip, a beaming Mr Bush is wearing an army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.
Officials said they did not know the turkey would be there or that Mr Bush would pick it up. A contractor had roasted and primped the turkey to adorn the buffet line, while the 600 soldiers were served from cafeteria-style steam trays, the officials said.
Reuters, The Washington Post |
