From the Guardian (UK)
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Knives, rifles and a whip. Are Bush's gift-givers trying to say something?

Julian Borger in Washington
Friday June 16, 2006

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 this week 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, having long ago severed all ties with the rest of the world.

The president received a startling array of weapons, including assorted daggers, and a machete from Gabon. He got the braided whip with a wooden handle from the Hungarian prime minister. The "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook", a gift from the Sultan of Brunei, has some tips on how to use some of these implements in a tight spot.

The paperback also explains how to wrestle with an alligator, escape from a mountain lion, and take a punch to the body. 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 President Bush six jars of "various fertilisers", on a rotating wooden stand. It sounds like the sort of present likely to cause offence when coming from a mother-in-law or sibling. But according to the Jordanian embassy, the jars contained neither manure nor the sort of chemicals that can be turned into home made bombs, but rather an array of fertile volcanic soils found around the country.

In each instance listed by the state department, the 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.

For example, it is hard to imagine the tough-talking non-nonsense Donald Rumsfeld summoning much enthusiasm for the gold bracelet he got from the Egyptian minister of defence, or the aromatherapy gift set from those cheeky Jordanians. There will, however, be no calming scents wafting around the Pentagon any time soon, as the gift was hastily passed on to the general services administration, a government department that disposes in unwanted presents.

If the top members of the administration met to compare gifts at the end of the year, Mr Rumsfeld would no doubt have been looking enviously over the president-s shoulder at some of his weapons, or at the special presentation edition of "The Art of War" Dick Cheney got from the Chinese vice president.

But Mr Cheney also received presents clearly intended to enhance his gentler, 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 from this document that a lot of the foreign dignitaries do not do much research before they go looking for appropriate gifts. President Bush, a reformed drunk who does not touch alcohol, was given a cellar full of wine over the course of 2004.

CIA agents seem to get a lot of presents from abroad, although the recipients (other than the director at the time, George Tenet) are not named. Nor are the donor governments although it is usually easy enough to guess from the gifts, many of which are from the Middle East or Pakistan.

Under government rules, officials are only allowed to hold on to the gifts worth under $100 after they leave office. Others are consigned to presidential libraries or the national archives, where they are occasionally put on display to illustrate America-s warm ties with the rest of the world.

There will be nothing to show for the much-vaunted special relationship. Despite standing shoulder to shoulder in Iraq and around the world in 2004, President Bush got nothing from Tony Blair, for Christmas or his birthday.

Lapdogs don't give gifts; their role is to simply receive them, graciously.

How odd!

A lot of them seem bizarre. The Aromatherapy gift to Rumsfeld is pretty funny, though. Love him or hate him, the guy isn't very relaxed.

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Ralph

1985 300D Turbo, CA model
248,650 miles and counting...

[QUOTE=Botnst]From the Guardian (UK)
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Knives, rifles and a whip. Are Bush's gift-givers trying to say something?

Julian Borger in Washington
Friday June 16, 2006

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.

Ahhh the "impeachable offense- you can't own a gun in DC.

Much has not been made of this gift from a highly placed personage.

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