Argentine lamb trumps Saudi jewels in foreign leaders' gifts to Bush

[Shallah Kali]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040802/pl_afp/us_diplomacy_gifts_040802195552

Quote
Saudi Arabia's de facto leader lavished nearly 130,000 dollars of fine jewelry on US President George W. Bush (news - web sites), his wife, children and top aides in 2003 but the weightiest gift presented to the first family last year came in the form of hundreds of pounds of raw meat, according to documents released.

While Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's exquisite baubles may have cemented US-Saudi friendship amid tension over Iraq (news - web sites), Argentine President Nestor Kirchner's 300 pounds of lamb most likely did more to slake the Bushes war-time appetites.

Photo of Bush & the prince
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040802/photos_pl_afp/040802195552_5oa9c5ts_photo1&e=5

[Sugarbleus]

1. Why do leaders do crap like this?!

What's shrubya going to do with "baubles" out in Crawford anyway. :eyes:
I like lamb and my refrigerator is empty right now. Eat 'em up big Georgie Porgie.......

[Stephanie]

2. 130,000 dollars of fine jewelry ??? Isn't that.....unseemly?

How is that legal?

[progressivebydesign]

4. Yeah.. that smells bad!

Jewels?? What in the WORLD would a simple cowboy like Bush, and his lovely.. yet retiring wife, and quiet children want with jewels?? That just so.. so.. not them, not their values! /sarcasm off.

[daleo]

3. Does he get to keep it?

I was under the impression that things like this (the gems) became government property in these cases. At least I would hope so, or otherwise it opens up some pretty huge opportunities for corruption and influence peddling.

[shraby]

5. I believe it's against the law for

him to take gifts like that.

[Bhaisahab]

6. that's nothing compared to shrub's most precious possession!

which would be saddam hussein's pistol
sllllrrrup.. dubya looooves it!

[daleo]

7. Gifts have to be reported and turned over to archives or displayed

"Under US law, almost all gifts to the president and his top aides -- from the most humble to the most extravagant -- must be reported and either turned over the National Archives or other institutions for display."

You wonder what the point of buttering up the leader with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gems is, then.

[maxsolomon]

8. what about the precious iraqi crude?

thanks for giving us that fresh supply of junk, iraq!

[northzax]

9. it's a cultural thing

in the islamic (as in most of the rest of the) world, you would never go to someone's house without bringing a gift along, and that gift must be in accordance with your means. And the gifts belong to the people of the United States, unless they are from personal friends (obviously, a friend can still buy an elected official a gift worth more than $50 without it beloning to the state) sometimes the line is a little hard to see, though.