Sunday, April 15, 2012

American Intelligence Scandal Overshadows Obama Trip


Prostitution scandal overshadows visit of U.S. President Barack Obama in South America, became known after an undercover agent refused to pay one of the women, it emerged this weekend.

American intelligence officers were prostitutes in a hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, before Obama arrived for a summit meeting of America. Eleven officers were sent home and placed on administrative leave and investigated the scandal.

On Saturday, the U.S. Defense Department said five soldiers remaining in the same hotel, were placed in their rooms after curfew violation, and "may have been involved in inappropriate behavior," U.S. Southern Command said in a written statement. "The conduct allegedly occurred in the same hotel where U.S. intelligence officials reminded were placed."

The scandal proved to be major embarrassment for the White House meeting, where Obama will discuss trade and economic cooperation with 32 other heads of state.

The president is under fire from critics at the meeting on the impact of U.S. monetary policy in the region and its relation to Cuba.

Peter King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told NBC on Sunday: "It was a mistake from start to finish If the facts are what they seem, it can not be tolerated.".

Prostitution is legal in Colombia, the designated "tolerance zones".

Local police were called to the hotel Caribe in Cartagena prestigious Bocagrande after a quarrel with a woman in a room of one of the agents.

According to media reports, the staff were drinking before the arrival of the president and the women taken to the hotel last night on Wednesday. In the morning the woman involved in the dispute "in shock" after she had not been paid, and hit the walls and doors in the corridors of the hotel.

The king, who was informed of the situation described the scene for a more relaxed Washington Post, which broke the story. He said that in accordance with the policy of the hotel, guests must leave at night and a photo ID at the front desk and leave the hotel at 7:00 the next morning.

According to King, the woman at the center of the dispute, not out of the hotel by 7:00. Hotel officials called the police when the officer refused to open his room.

The woman refused to leave until it was paid, the Agent denies that he owes money. The incident is reported, the U.S. Embassy, ​​and then referred to the Secret Service.

The agents were withdrawn and replaced before the arrival of Obama on the day of Friday.

King said the Washington Post, that "they were all violations of good conduct."

"First of all, contact with prostitutes in a foreign country can leave you vulnerable to blackmail and threats," said King. "To be, or nearly all prostitutes in a safe place where you have to protect the president is absolutely false."

Caribe is located less than 1000 meters from the Hilton Cartagena, where Obama left off.

The Secret Service assistant director Paul Morrissey said in a statement that the situation "does not have any impact on the ability of the Secret Service to carry out a comprehensive security plan for the visit of President of Cartagena."

"This incident does not reflect the behavior of our employees as they travel every day across the country and around the world performing their duties in a special, professional level," he said. "We regret any diversion of Summit America, it has led."

This incident is a major embarrassment to the U.S. Secret Service in 2009, when the two start a reality show stars invaded the state of Obama's first dinner at the White House and was photographed with the president.

Michelle Bachmann, former Republican presidential candidate, said: "Americans should be outraged." She told NBC Meet the Press that the White House "is clearly embarrassed by this."

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