{"article":{"id":17837,"heading":"Bush Texans, bullies at G8","author":"G8er","created":"2002-07-17 02:15:23","modified":"2013-11-10 23:43:28","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 06:43:28","article":"

> Ottawa says Bush 'Texans' tried to bully G8 host

> 'In your face with a boxing glove'

>

<http:\/\/www.nationalpost.com\/home\/story.html?id=<\/a>{5CC39E73-A239-4A2E-9F5E-AA0

> 0AA900FF5}>

> Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief National Post

>

>

> OTTAWA - Canadian officials say George W. Bush's entourage at last month's

> G8 summit in Alberta behaved like bully-boy Texas cowboys as they tried to

> take control of the agenda set by Jean Chrétien.

>

> Officials said the Americans got into shouting and swearing matches with

> their Canadian counterparts over everything from photo-ops to the topics

to

> be discussed by the leaders of Canada, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany,

> Japan, Italy and Russia.

>

> One official said he began to take it as a \"compliment to be called a

> 'f------ Canadian' by the Americans\" after resisting countless U.S.

> demands, including special access to Kananaskis for the White House press

> corps.

>

> The Prime Minister wanted African development to be the centrepiece of the

> summit, but Mr. Bush's advisors tilted the agenda to the President's

> Israeli-Palestinian peace plan and a U.S. scheme to safeguard Russia's

> nuclear weapon stockpiles, officials say.

>

> \"They wanted control of the sessions. They wanted to change the agenda.

> They just wanted to orchestrate everything,\" said an official, speaking on

> background.

>

> The Canadians were frustrated at the \"very nasty\" attitude of the

Americans

> because all the countries had agreed in advance about the Africa agenda

and

> the organization of the two-day meeting in Kananaskis.

>

> But a week before the leaders arrived, U.S. officials arrived at

Kananaskis

> and began to insist on changes to the agenda and special arrangements for

> White Houses journalists covering the President, officials say.

>

> Officials described the Bush team as \"mostly Texans\" who displayed an \"in

> your face with a boxing glove approach\" in demanding special privileges

for

> the U.S. delegation.

>

> Under the rules agreed to by all countries, only a limited pool of

> reporters from each of the G8 countries was allowed at the summit site,

> while the rest were kept in Calgary. The Americans wanted the entire White

> House press contingent to stay in Canmore, a nearby community, and be

bused

> in daily to the Kananaskis lodge, where the leaders stayed.

>

> Canadian officials rejected the U.S. demands and fought other requests

> dealing with photo opportunities and use of the press conference

> facilities, but not without bitter resentment on both sides.

>

> Yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa had no comment on the Canadian

> complaints. The official responsible for the G8 summit at the White House

> could not be reached for comment.

>

> The G8 dispute highlights tensions between the Republican President and

the

> Liberal Prime Minister, who had a warm relationship with Bill Clinton, Mr.

> Bush's predecessor.

>

> Just before the summit began, Mr. Chrétien dismissed the President's trade

> subsidy policies as \"stupid\" and said he would never let him push Africa

> from the top spot on the G8 agenda.

>

> It has been reported Mr. Bush refers to Mr. Chrétien as \"dino\" -- as in

> dinosaur -- and that he has not forgiven him for derogatory remarks he

made

> about his father, George Bush Sr., the former president, when Brian

> Mulroney was in power.

>

> Canada is one of the few major U.S. allies whose leader has never been

> invited to stay at either Blair House, the U.S. government's official

> residence reserved for world leaders visiting Washington, or at the

> President's ranch in Texas.

>

> Tony Blair of Britain, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Crown Prince Abdullah of

> Saudi Arabia and Mexico's Vicente Fox have stayed at the President's Texas

> ranch.

>

> At the G8 summit, Mr. Chrétien tried to keep the focus on promoting

> democratic and economic reforms in Africa in exchange for large infusions

> of aid from the West. Mr. Bush decided to focus instead on the Middle East

> crisis and the policy he had put forward immediately before the summit.

>

> Mr. Bush had his way on the first day with the Middle East dominating the

> talks. Part of the second day was spent on a U.S. plan to keep Russian

> nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

>

> Mr. Chrétien managed to focus part of the final day's talks on African

> development, when the leaders announced an action plan calling for

> corruption-free governments in Africa. But the African Action Plan fell

far

> short of a commitment sought by Mr. Chrétien, who could not convince the

> U.S. President to earmark 50% of new development aid to the continent.<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Ottawa says Bush 'Texans' tried to bully G8 host\r\n> 'In your face with a boxing glove'","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/07\/17837.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":17910,"heading":"BUSH-ido, the U.S. War Bully","article":"Why can't we see this display of international bullying by the "Texas of Evil" on CNN? Maybe if we're lucky, the CBC might have some revealing clips of the "gentler & kinder" tactics of the Imperial Behemoth.\r\n\r\nThe american corporate media may be able to present W as the smiling(Village Idiot turned King) CEO of the White House, but in most of the civilized world, Mr. Axis of Evil is increasingly seen as the Idi Amin of North America(only trouble is, this "Bully Amin" has nuclear weapons pointed at 60+ potential "enemies," and his cabal of Rumps-felt warmongers won't hesitate to use them in a unilaterasl First Strike.)","author":"DL","parent_id":17837,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2002-07-20 20:07:40","modified":"2002-07-20 20:07:40","fileurl":""}]}