The US’ biggest spending tourist arrives in Sydney!
In what appears to be normal in the USA [see today’s aviation section], an AAP report says that US President George W Bush’s aircraft Air Force One arrived late in Sydney last night with the security arrangements at an unprecedented level in Australia.
With many city streets closed from 8:00pm last night, police cleared a path through Sydney for the president’s 30-car motorcade to travel unhindered to the Intercontinental Hotel in the city’s CBD, which is sealed off from non APEC delegates.
President Bush leaves on Saturday to return home in time for September 11, 2001, terror attack commemorations.
An amazing 700-strong entourage including US Administration officials, Secret Service agents, bodyguards, close friends and media are travelling with Mr Bush….now that is some family and today he will meet John Howard and members of the federal cabinet before lunching with Australian troops.
He will meet Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd on Thursday, when they will discuss Australia’s involvement in the war in Iraq.
President Bush was met at the airport by dignitaries including NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, with John Howard having chosen to go the Dally M awards rather than meet the President, with the trip to the city taking only 15 minutes after the enormous motorcade started rolling off the Sydney airport tarmac.
Air Force One is a specially converted Boeing 747-200B costing $400 million and it was escorted by two other 747’s one acting as back-up, and two giant C17 Globemaster III air transports carrying other aircraft and equipment.
On board the planes were 50 White House political aides, 150 national security advisers, 200 specialists from other government departments and more than 250 Secret Service agents.
The president’s men were even believed to be bringing their own sniffer dogs.
Mr Bush’s motorcade of 30 vehicles drove to his city harbourside hotel, the Intercontinental, where he is booked into a seven-room suite at a cost of $4300 a night.
The president arrived shortly after the release of a new poll showing 52 per cent of all Australians believe he is the worst president in American history, the Galaxy poll found just 32 per cent of respondents disagreed that he was the worst-ever US leader, while the remainder were undecided.
While we may get the impression that Mr Bush is the only delegate attending APEC, twenty other economies are represented at APEC, including China, Russia, Japan and South Korea, together accounting for 60 per cent of global gross domestic product.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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