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The clown's own travelling circus.....

George W lands in Sydney tonight - and as the media is reporting the entire city will come to a standstill. All reports out of Sydney are that the place is on effective lock-down.

That the Bush entourage is nothing short than a travelling circus is shown by this piece, and revelation, in the SMH from the paper's Washington correspondent:

"When President George Bush takes off from the White House for the short trip to Andrews Air Force Base in Marine One, not one but three identical helicopters rise into the sky, in an airborne pea-and-thimble trick.

No one knows which helicopter is the President's. It is the same with the motorcades that regularly bring Washington's traffic to a standstill. The smoked windows of the dozen official cars and huge Chevrolet Suburbans that race through the streets with sirens and horns blaring, with a vanguard of motorcycle police frantically waving people out of the way and blocking intersections, make it impossible to know just who is where.

Washingtonians say there are decoy motorcades, too, but who, apart from the Secret Service, would know?

It will be the same in Sydney for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum. Be ready for a show of firepower and big black cars the likes of which we have not seen since, well, the last presidential visit.

Mr Bush's entourage is a secret - the US Secret Service says it does not talk about security arrangements - but other overseas trips give an idea how much equipment will be brought here."

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