Just days before the arrival of the Prez, the secret service deputed to ensure smooth flow of security for him checked in the same hotel and the hot story begins.
The controversy involving the 22 secret service and Military personnel not only caused embarrassment to the Press and public in general but also had other implications. Of this nearly eleven of them took 21 call girls back to their leader’s Colombian hotel after a booze-fuelled night out. The sex scandal would not have gained importance if one or two had committed, but the highhanded behavior of the officials during their stint at the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, just days before the President’s arrival raised eye brows. An angle of terrorism or Drug trafficking is also looked into. US senator Susan Collins said: “Who were these women? Could they have been members of groups hostile to the United States? Could they have planted bugs, disabled weapons, or in any other ways jeopardized security of the President or our country?” And most officials want to specifically know how many of the White house staff were actually involved.
The Secret Service apparently knows the identities of the sex workers who visited the hotel in Cartagena — they had to leave their IDs at the front desk before going to the Secret Service members' rooms. This might make it easier to determine whether they were ever trafficking victims or linked to organized crime. The scandal is getting much attention from the media glare and more could be expected for the embarrassment of the officials say sources. It may be noted that it was Dania Suarez who was the whistle blower on the incident which rocked the President Barack Obama’s government. The woman is still at large.
And the probe is being widened to include other overseas trips by the President – believed to include his state visit to the UK last May. The President and First Lady Michelle Obama stayed at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen during the trip. More than 200 Secret Service agents accompanied the couple on the high-profile visit. One US congressional committee probe is expected to look into the behavior of a number of those agents while they were in London. (With inputs from internet- AarKay)
