OOPS!

www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13652625_method=full_siteid=106694_headline=-GROUND-FARCE-1-name_page.html

GROUND FARCE 1

Nov 23 2003


Queen's fury as Bush goons wreck garden

Exclusive By Terry O'Hanlon


THE Queen is furious with President George W. Bush after his state visit caused thousands of pounds of damage to her gardens at Buckingham Palace.

Royal officials are now in touch with the Queen's insurers and Prime Minister Tony Blair to find out who will pick up the massive repair bill. Palace staff said they had never seen the Queen so angry as when she saw how her perfectly-mantained lawns had been churned up after being turned into helipads with three giant H landing markings for the Bush visit.

The rotors of the President's Marine Force One helicopter and two support Black Hawks damaged trees and shrubs that had survived since Queen Victoria's reign.

And Bush's army of clod-hopping security service men trampled more precious and exotic plants.

The Queen's own flock of flamingoes, which security staff insisted should be moved in case they flew into the helicopter rotors, are thought to be so traumatised after being taken to a "place of safety" that they might never return home.

The historic fabric of the Palace was also damaged as high-tech links were fitted for the US leader and his entourage during his three-day stay with the Queen.

The Palace's head gardener, Mark Lane, was reported to be in tears when he saw the scale of the damage.

"The Queen has every right to feel insulted at the way she has been treated by Bush," said a Palace insider.

"The repairs will cost tens of thousands of pounds but the damage to historic and rare plants will be immense. They are still taking an inventory.

"The lawns are used for royal garden parties and are beautifully kept. But 30,000 visitors did not do as much damage as the Americans did in three days.

"Their security people and support staff tramped all over the place and left an absolute mess. It is particularly sad because the Queen Mother loved to wander in the garden just as the Queen and Prince Charles do now.

"Some of the roses, flowers and shrubs damaged are thought to be rare varieties named after members of the Royal Family and planted by the Queen Mother and Queen.

"Other Royals had their own favourite parts of the garden as children and some of those areas have been damaged."

The Queen's insurers have told her she is covered for statues, garden furniture and plants she personally owns, but the bill for repairing damage to the lawns and the structure of the Palace will probably have to be picked up by the Government.

The Americans made alterations to accommodate specialised equipment. The mass of gadgetry meant the Royals couldn't get a decent TV picture during the visit.

So

[>(]

waaaaaahhhh

Get over it.

Aww come on guys, how would you feel if the Brits came over here and did that to the White House?  If Bush's security detail unnecessarily destroyed Palace property, then Bush should see to it that those responsible get a proper dressing down.  People shouldn't go to someone else's house and shit on the floor.  This is Western civilization we're talking about here, not Afghanistan.

Stuffy, uptight limey bastards.
Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

Seriously, is that a real story?

It's hard to believe that they would just allow three helicopters to land in some historic flower garden.

Does Bush even bring Marine 1 on overseas visits?

How 'bout if we subsidized the ten Scots, etc., regiments the British Army wants to disband?....think that might make things a wee bit better?

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=216580&page=1#2136398

Hell with them, I would have salted the ground.

Fuck that old bag.

We just wont visit again

Talk about liberal spin,  fuck that story,  it's bullshit.

Maybe we wouldn't have had to tear up gardens if British security at the Palace was worth a shit.

 The grand ol' bat should be thankful it wasn't the Arizona ARFCOM crew....that woulda been a mess!!!  ( and a HELL of a good time!!! )

wgaf?

Quoted: Seriously, is that a real story? It's hard to believe that they would just allow three helicopters to land in some historic flower garden. Does Bush even bring Marine 1 on overseas visits?

Yes, they used a helicopter to transport GWB due to the possibility of his motorcade being affected by the protesters in the streets.

This is just an example of a hostile British press using whatever excuse they can to bash our president. I sincerely doubt that they weren't aware ahead of time that a helicopter would be landing on their grounds.  That would have been coordinated and well-known far ahead of time.

This is just an example of the British press playing politics.

it's hard to be royalty these days...booohooo old hag

[jamesbond]But of course, Dear[/jamesbond]
Wonder what Hitler would have done to the fucking flowers?

Quite frankly I would not be pondering if the flamingos were traumatized enough "to never return"

What, did they TALK to the birds about it? "Uh, excuse me, Mr. Flamingo... are you traumatized?"

You will just have to excuse Bush if the direct landing with the helicopter caused damage, I'm certain that driving around on the streets were to big a security risk for him to take. It is either a tiny bit of damage to your "precious" garden, or an entire country wanting blood because your citizens attempted to or succeeded in murdering our leader.


Edited to add: I doubt the credibility of this story.

I am amazed that some of you think (if this story is true) that its okay to fuck up an allies property.

If this were China, France or Canada hell yes I say piss and take a dump in the rose garden.

But at least the Brits are fighting and DYING next to US troops in a war that the world would love to see us loose.

At least show some respect for the grounds of British leaders.

Like I said if this story is true, if it is true however I am pretty surprised in some of your replies.

I thought she was died.....humm.....guess not.

The Queen Mum died, not the Queen.

Don't you know your British royalty? [;)]
[size=1][white]As if anyone gives a shit about them.[/white][/size=1]

M4_Aiming_At_U:

i am not sayign it is alright, i am saying there are more important things in the world than your damn lawn

it's just proof of how worthless she is, she could be using her "power" i use that term loosely, and money, to do things about terrorists or starving children or homeless, nooo nooo the flamingos !

i wonder how much money their government spends every year just to keep that "reality show" going, that all it is now just a soap opera, who's the prince dating now and who's butler is prince charles being gay with this week, pointless

[rolleyes]

While I do agree that this is probably being exaggerated by the anti American British press, if the Secret Service was being overly sloppy and showing absolutely no courtesy for the royal grounds, then Bush should see to it that they are compensated.

I shudder to think of the out cry by you people had the British done this to the White House.

BTW ETH, revenge? I would have expected better of you. Either the British are our enemies or our allies. If the latter, then this "revenge" you speak of should not exist. If the former, then why are they in Iraq with us?

THAT is funny!!!!!! [:D]

I do hope the story is BS.  No point in tearing up nice stuff.

Must be she doesn't get many visitors; I can't believe that they don't already have a helipad already installed on the grounds, or the technological upgrades that were installed for this visit.

They burned it in 1814. to hell with a few plants.

Somebody stepped on a flower?

Someone should have seeded her garden with good'ol American crabgrass.

LOL!

First off, I can scarcely imagine that no one bothered to get permission to do all these things before doing them.  Preparations for a state visit are usually pretty intense requiring months of advance work to accomplish.

So it's not like Bush just landed unannounced. I am certain the security detail from the Special Branch worked it all out.  

"Thousands of Pounds" is a nice vague figure. Landscaping costs ain't cheap.  Thousands of Pounds could be the cost to splice up a few cracked branches and lay in some new sod in a few places. It's also a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the visit.  

Some groundskeeper probably blew a gasket, sent a message up the chain, got a nice sympathetic note back from the Queen or her staff and then blew it to the press for a few quid more.   Remember folks, the British practically INVENTED the yellow press.  Even their most established papers have a bit of the Enquirer in them.

More Euro-trash Bush bashing if you ask me.

Exactlt.  First I thought this story was made up - like something out of the Onion, but I think icemanta has it right on.

The english are masters of gardening (and can be really anal about it) and on gardens of this scale and quality "a few thousand pounds" is NOTHING - just a drop in the bucket.

Amen. If our guys made a mess in their house, send them back to clean it up. It's not like we were in Baghdad, you know...

oh no!!!!!!!!!!  not scrambled porn?!?!!??!?!? [rolleyes]