It’s the thought that counts

The American State Dept just released its list of gifts given by foreign heads of state to visiting American regime big wigs. Most of it’s pretty by-the-numbers stuff—Tayyip Erdogan gave George Bush a desk set sort of thing. Yaaaawn. But a couple of these things make you wonder what the message was. Abdullah II gave him a sniper rifle, I guess we’d have to read the note to find out if this was a jab at his foreign policy (anybody remember Ari Fleischer’s “one bullet� crack about regime change in Iraq?) or encouragement to become a better shot. The best one, though, has to be the Sultan of Brunei, who apparently handed over a copy of The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook. No need to listen for a double entendre here. This little gem, published by Chronicle Books back in 1999, offers (supposedly carefully researched) advice on how to get out of various sticky situations: Crocodile got your arm? Tap on its nose. Trapped in a sinking car? Open the window. Presidency in a tailspin? Well, maybe that’s where the sniper rifle comes in…

Oddly, there’s nothing listed there from Hosni. Is that because they don’t have to list stuff they paid for?