This jolted me out of my “it can’t get any worse, my expectations can’t get any lower” attititude. The key sentence for me: “Although Mr Tuttle, a Beverly Hills car dealer and major donor to George Bush’s re-election campaign, has been ambassador in London only since the summer, he is proving to be accident-prone.” If I donate enough money, can I be the one to drive the fighter jet/nuclear sub/aircraft carrier? Mr. President, can I make my mark by driving some species into extinction? Can I flatten the Appalachian mountains and destroy miles of natural beauty with my mining efforts if I donate enough money? Can I turn the key on the Minuteman missiles if I pay enough? Pretty please$$? Those positions are filled? But you’ll let me be Ambassador to the U.K? Well, OK, I’ll take it.

US Embassy Close to Admitting Syria Rendition Flight
By Ewen MacAskill
The Guardian UK

Tuesday 27 December 2005

Statement contradicts ambassador’s interview. Correction could leave Britain open to challenge.

The US embassy in London was forced to issue a correction yesterday to an interview given by the ambassador, Robert Tuttle, in which he claimed America would not fly suspected terrorists to Syria, which has one of the worst torture records in the Middle East. A statement acknowledged media reports of a suspect taken from the US to Syria.

Torture is banned in the US but the CIA has been engaged in a policy of rendition, flying terrorist suspects to countries in the Middle East and other parts of the world where torture is commonplace.

Although Mr Tuttle, a Beverly Hills car dealer and major donor to George Bush’s re-election campaign, has been ambassador in London only since the summer, he is proving to be accident-prone. Last month he vigorously denied British media reports that American forces used white phosphorus as a weapon in Iraq, only to be undercut by an admission from the Pentagon the next day.

Mr Tuttle gave an interview to the BBC Today programme on Thursday for broadcast yesterday morning. On Friday, the US embassy returned to the BBC with a lengthy statement of clarification, which was also broadcast yesterday at the end of the interview.