posted on Dec, 5 2003 @ 06:28 AM
I'm having some serious questions about whether or not Bush even went to Iraq. Apparently, they are making up stories about this incident too.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday changed its story of a British Airways pilot's spotting of Air Force One during President Bush's
stealth trip to Iraq last week.
The original story -- which held that the airline's pilot had talked to Air Force One and that he kept the secret of Bush's Thanksgiving Day flight
to Baghdad -- had been told by White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett to reporters as he sought to portray the drama of Bush's trip.
But after British Airways denied such a conversation took place, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Wednesday the airline's pilot never
contacted Air Force One. "The conversation was between the British Airways plane and the London control tower," McClellan said.
It was also the London control tower, not an Air Force One pilot as in the original story, that misidentified Air Force One as a much smaller
"Gulfstream 5" aircraft, McClellan said.
He said Air Force One pilots overheard the conversation while flying over the west coast of England, and the British Airways plane could be identified
by its call sign when it spoke to the tower.
British Airways said it could not confirm the new account
McClellan explained the change in the White House story by saying, "I don't think everybody was clear on exactly how that conversation happened."
British Airways said it could not confirm the White House's new version of the Air Force One story. "We've had no reports from any of our pilots
with regard to Air Force One," airline spokeswoman Honor Verrier said.
This whole episode strikes me as very suspicious. Why did they make false statements about this, unless they were trying to put up a front? It just
doesn't make sense.