Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest

This is pure hand waiving. Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue should a former US President be arrested overseas? US Presidents are provided Secret Sevice detail for the rest of the lives. Bush cancelled his trip because he doesn't want to make diplomatic trouble for the US, not because he was afraid of being arrested. There is not a single government in Europe that would dream of detaining a US President, past or present.

Re: Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest

#5

Post by pan69 » Mon, Feb 07, 2011, 10:00 PM UTC

bradleyland wrote: post #4

This is pure hand waiving. Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue should a former US President be arrested overseas? US Presidents are provided Secret Sevice detail for the rest of the lives. Bush cancelled his trip because he doesn't want to make diplomatic trouble for the US, not because he was afraid of being arrested. There is not a single government in Europe that would dream of detaining a US President…

Regardless, it says something about the sentiment this man has created (mostly) outside the U.S.

Re: Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest

#6

Post by acon » Mon, Feb 07, 2011, 10:11 PM UTC

georgecmu wrote: post #3

Also posted yesterday: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2186895

Sorry. I missed that.

Re: Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest

#7

Post by mahmoudimus » Mon, Feb 07, 2011, 10:44 PM UTC

bradleyland wrote: post #4

This is pure hand waiving. Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue should a former US President be arrested overseas? US Presidents are provided Secret Sevice detail for the rest of the lives. Bush cancelled his trip because he doesn't want to make diplomatic trouble for the US, not because he was afraid of being arrested. There is not a single government in Europe that would dream of detaining a US President…

IIRC, Clinton is the last US president that will receive lifetime Secret Service detail. Bush Jr. is limited to protection for a span of 10 years after his service.

http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml

Re: Bush cancels Europe trip amid calls for his arrest

#8

Post by bradleyland » Tue, Feb 08, 2011, 2:09 PM UTC

mahmoudimus wrote: post #7

bradleyland wrote: post #4

This is pure hand waiving. Can you imagine the shit storm that would ensue should a former US President be arrested overseas? US Presidents are provided Secret Sevice detail for the rest of the lives. Bush cancelled his trip because he doesn't want to make diplomatic trouble for the US, not because he was afraid of being arrested. There is not a single government in Europe that would dream of detaining a US President…

IIRC, Clinton is the last US president that will receive lifetime Secret Service detail. Bush Jr. is limited to protection for a span of 10 years after his service. http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml

Wasn't aware of that, but I don't think it changes anything. I don't want my view to come off US-centric either. No one is going to detain/imprison Tony Blair either. Nor Angela Merkel. Nor Jacques Chirac. Nor Gerhard Schroder. I would posit that the indictment of any head of state -- present or former -- belonging to a superpower would involved the explicit action of said nation, or at least the full cooperation of many other nations bringing extreme diplomatic pressure on the government. You don't just snag them while they're on a trip to your country.