Julian Borger
June 18, 2006
Are world leaders trying to tell George Bush something, asks Julian Borger in Washington.
A BRAIDED leather whip, a sniper rifle, six jars of fertiliser and a copy of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook were among the presents foreign leaders have given George Bush. They are clearly trying to tell him something.
The inventory of official gifts from 2004, published by the State Department, reads like the wish list of the sort of paranoid survivalist who holes up in his log cabin to await Armageddon.
The President received a startling array of weapons, including daggers and a machete from Gabon. The braided whip was from the Hungarian Prime Minister.
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, a gift from the Sultan of Brunei, has tips on how to use some of these weapons in a tight spot. It also explains how to wrestle an alligator, escape from a mountain lion and take a punch.
But the small arsenal of guns presented by Jordan's King Abdullah, including a $10,000 sniper rifle, would presumably render much of that advice unnecessary. The king also gave Mr Bush six jars of "various fertilisers" on a rotating wooden stand.
According to the Jordanian embassy, the jars contained neither manure nor the sort of chemicals that can be turned into bombs but rather an array of volcanic soils found around the country.
In each instance listed by the State Department, acceptance of the gift is justified by the phrase "non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and US Government".
But acceptance clearly has its own embarrassments. Mr Bush received a vocabulary-expanding game called Forgotten English, from Brunei.
Meanwhile, it is hard to imagine Donald Rumsfeld summoning much enthusiasm for an aromatherapy gift set from the Jordanians. That gift was passed on to the government department that disposes of unwanted presents.
If the top members of the Bush Administration met to compare gifts, Donald Rumsfeld would no doubt have been looking enviously over the President's shoulder at some of his weapons, or at the special edition of The Art of War Dick Cheney got from the Chinese Vice-President.
But Mr Cheney also received presents for his fun-loving side: a "Happy Day" clock from the Swiss President, gold silk pillows, scented candles and a pottery incense burner (the Jordanians again).
It is apparent that a lot of the foreign dignitaries do not do much research before buying gifts. Mr Bush, a reformed drunk, was given a cellarful of wine in 2004.
Officials are only allowed to keep gifts worth under $US305 ($A413) after they leave office. Others are consigned to libraries or archives, where they are occasionally displayed to show the America's warm ties with the rest of the world.
Despite standing shoulder to shoulder in 2004, Mr Bush got nothing from Tony Blair, for Christmas or his birthday.
GUARDIAN |
