Bush friend says he regrets tapes
Washington An old friend of President Bush who secretly recorded their private conversations and released them to the media said he has regrets and is turning the tapes over to Bush.
Doug Wead allowed journalists to hear and broadcast the tapes in the past week as he promoted his new book on presidential parents. But he said he canceled plans to be on “Hardball” on MSNBC Tuesday night to talk about his regrets because “it would only add to the distraction I have caused to the president’s important and historic work.”
“Contrary to a statement that I made to the New York Times, I have come to realize that personal relationships are more important than history,” Wead wrote in a letter to the show’s host, Chris Matthews, that MSNBC released to the public on Wednesday. “I am asking my attorney to direct any future proceeds from the book to charity and to find the best way to vet these tapes and get them back to the president to whom they belong. History can wait.”
On the tapes, recorded over the course of the two years before Bush became the Republican presidential nominee, Bush discusses strategy for his presidential run and appears to acknowledge past drug use. He says he will refuse to answer questions about using LSD, cocaine and marijuana because “I don’t want any kid doing what I tried to do 30 years ago.”
The White House said Bush did not dispute the content of the tapes.
Ex-official seeks delay on oil-for-food charges
United Nations Benon Sevan, the suspended head of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, has asked for more time to answer U.N. charges against him, a U.N. spokesman said Wednesday.
Sevan, who was in charge of the $64 billion humanitarian program, and Joseph Stephanides, head of the U.N. Security Council Affairs Division who dealt with oil-for-food contracts, were informed of the U.N. charges against them on Feb. 9 and given two weeks to respond.
Sevan sent a letter “requesting an extension before replying,” U.N. associate spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “That request is being considered.”
Sevan and Stephanides were suspended with pay on Feb. 4, a day after former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker released an interim report.
Volcker accused Sevan of a “grave conflict of interest,” saying his conduct in soliciting oil deals from Iraq was “ethically improper and seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations.” He said Stephanides violated U.N. rules by actively participating in a process that “prejudiced and preempted” competitive bidding on an oil-for-food contract.
Shipment of African elephant parts seized
Amsterdam, Netherlands Dutch customs police have seized a shipment of African elephant body parts, including 22 feet, eight tusks, eight ears, three tails, a skull and an entire hide, officials said Wednesday.
The cargo, originating in Zimbabwe and bound for Germany, was halted at Schiphol airport in October without proper licenses. The find was announced this week following an investigation and will be permanently confiscated, spokeswoman Anita Douven said.
African elephants are an endangered species and can only be shipped with special licenses, but activists noted that illegal trade in animal parts is a huge industry.
“This is unusual – that there would be such a large find – but trade in ivory is sadly not at all rare,” Rosa Hill of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said.
The parts may have been intended for a collector who planned to use them as part of an exhibit, she said. Elephant feet also are used to make footstools as a “gruesome collectible” and elephant skin purses are sold at open air markets in London and other cities, she said.
The parts were intended for buyers in Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic, police said. No arrests have been made, though German authorities are still investigating.