Sharp-eyed British pilot almost blows Bush cover

[ConcernedCanuk]

. . ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE—Secrecy was the watchword as the Boeing 747 bearing the president of the United States flew toward Iraq.

"I was fully prepared to turn this baby around, come home," if the news leaked out before his arrival in Baghdad, George W. Bush said.

And at one point, it nearly did.

The pilot of a British Airways jetliner spotted the U.S. jet streaking through the sky. "Did I just see Air Force One?" he radioed.

/snip/



"fully prepared to turn this baby around"

- signs of a BRAVE man - right ?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

1. I say to you terrorists "bring it on"

oh shit, "turn this baby around!"

[PaDUer]

2. As if he was

the one piloting the plane! What a jerk!

[Lisa]

3. they've sure been trying to give that impression ...

(about the "piloting" thing, I mean) -- CNN was going on about how Bush was in the cockpit of AF1 when it landed in Baghdad. At this rate they'll be trying to convince us he was at the controls, wearing night-vision goggles!

[Screaming Lord Byron]

4. Well, they do let kids in the cockpit on flights, don't they.

So why not Georgie?

[Hieronymus]

6. They know that by saying

Bush was in the cockpit that some poor red necks will take that to mean he was piloting the plane. Remember some of them still think he landed on the carrier in his dress-up suit.
The White House spin machine knows just how to manipulate.:eyes:

[Pastiche423]

17. "The piloting thing"

Reminds me of this:

[truthisfreedom]

5. chronology

1] bush makes false case for rush to war.
2] bush invades and occupies Iraq.
3] soldiers die at an escalated rate... in a few short months as many as died in Vietnam in the first three years.
4] bush stands with padded crotch in front of "mission accomplished" banner while keeping solders from returning home so he can do photo op.
5] bush says "bring it on!" to guerilla insurgents.
6] bush blocks photographs of arriving coffins after death rate escalates.
7] during the month of the greatest rate of death to date, on Thanksgiving, bush risks the security of our nation to attend sneak photo op with a couple hundred troups in Iraq. seemingly, this photo op is designed to counteract the padded crotch one, which has become an inflammatory symbol of recklessness and overconfidence that is of more use to Democrats than bush's election campaign.
8] as bush is raced back out of the country safely, soldiers are locked in the building for an hour, arguing to be let out, fearing that IEDs (bombs) are being set up on roads they'll be travelling as they are forced to sit on their hands. within hours, another american soldier is dead.
9] the american press is flooded with the stories of bush's sneaky lies that got him secretly out of the country for his photo op. we are supposed to be proud of bush's ability to be very sneaky, secret, and lie to us. guess what... nothing's new... that's what has been expected of us all along. be proud of a lying, sneaky, secretive president and his ultra-rich lying, sneaky, secretive cabinet.

[Eloriel]

7. Link?

[Lisa]

8. British Airways story ...

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N27209901.htm

Bush found this the most crucial moment for keeping the trip secret, because now more people knew about it. He cautioned reporters against making cell phone calls.

"I wasn't sure whether or not people would be able to tell their loved ones: 'I can't see you on Thanksgiving. I can't tell you why,' I was worried about that but I was fully prepared to turn this baby around and come home."

(snip)

Somewhere en route, a British Airways pilot thought he spotted an unusual plane from his cockpit.

"Did I just see Air Force One?" the pilot radioed.

There was a pause. Then came the response from Air Force One: "Gulfstream 5" -- a much smaller aircraft.

Another pause. "Oh," said the BA pilot.

[ConcernedCanuk]

9. The Toronto Star Image is the link

[pinkpops]

10. A brave man would

let them know he's coming, drive up from Kuwait in a Humvee. Maybe also go into Baghdad and shake a few Iraqi hands.

[Military Brat]

11. A brave man would never have made the mess that bush did

A brave man has intelligence, and uses it. A brave man listens to those who desire that wisdom will prevail, not power.

I can hear it now: "Turn this thing around. I'm a big baby!"

[PaDUer]

15. Big baby & Big Bully...

NFG

[Cronus Protagonist]

19. Heh. I like your thinking

Maybe if Arnold had accompanied him, that would have been even better. I mean, surely the morale of the troops would have been doubly boosted if The Terminator showed up along with The Deserter in a bullet hole ridden open top jeep.

Click Here To Find NO MICHAEL JACKSON Buttons, Stickers & Magnets

[KDLarsen]

12. A few oddballs..

1) Since the seperation at that point might have been around 1000' feet*, I find it odd that the pilots on the BA flight could accept a 747 being a Gulfstream 5. Sorta like an elephant trying to pass off as being a mouse.

2) Since when did AF1 pilots start listening to the "chat frequency". They haven't done it before, most likely not to let anyone know their position.

* I'm not sure if AF1 uses the civil NATS or the military ones.

[opihimoimoi]

13. And what the hell is the report on Fox that the Prez and Rice were

wearing baseball caps and pretending to be asleep in the back seat at the check point to the airport? They so full of crap its sickening.

They are guilty of embellishing the stupid story to suck every bit of juice they can.

[PaDUer]

16. Maybe they were

sucking down the juice!--which ?

[peacetalksforall]

14. Know what I can't get out of my head?

Iraq was a sovereign country, no worse than many other countries. How could any group of government officials and reporters, plus their crew enter any other country in the world without diplomatic approval from sovereign officials of that country? Come and go from the State of Iraq of the Unted States of America. It really struck home to me that we pulled off a 100% pure imperialistic take-over of that country - with the ability to arrive and leave at will. Their people are helpless. And we are the most arrogant people on the earth. I'm ashamed of this takeover in a revitalized way. Or did their puppet government official give his puppet approval?

Well, we can look at it this way - no other presidential publicity stunts will ever top this. Our big 'brave' leader.

[opihimoimoi]

18. Yeah, who the hell stamped his pass ports.?? er, the whole plane load?

What? no need for Pass ports? Wha did you say? "We own the friggen place?"

OMG. its all over, the Bushes have laid claim to the place,

[karlschneider]

20. Interesting point. If I want to go to Baghdad, where do I get my visa?

hmmmmmmm

[The Animator]

21. I wonder if they had to...

... set up a free speech zone at the Bagdad base. I'm sure there were more than a handul of soldiers in the area who would have loved to have given the chimp what for and a whole lot more, had they known he was coming. Two ofthe most obvious reasons I can think of keeping his visit secret:

A: With a sufficient heads up, many soldiers could have organized a massive protest to their pressence in Iraq. Photos of Chimp in Bagdad in front of US soldiers holding up "I Wanna Go Home" posters, could be fairly embarassing.

B: A large portion of the soldiers currently in Iraq are suffering phsycological damage from their prolonged deployments. Even military mental health experts have said that its unhealthy phsycologically for these soldiers to be in harms way for as long as they have been. Many of these soldiers are becoming increasingly disenfranchised, angry, sometimes viloent. Many hold Bush* personaly responsible for their suffering, and they have access to military grade weaponry.

[alfredo]

22. It appears the British pilot story was anothe Bush lie.

the Brits deny that any of their pilots were there.

I guess they wanted to add some drama to the trip. Assholes.