anger at rudd phone call leak

This man is a total menace.
No-one is going to trust him now.

From the Sunday Tele;

Anger at Rudd's leaked Bush callArticle from: Font size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print Submit comment: Submit comment By Glenn Milne and Nick Leys

November 02, 2008 12:00am

THE leaking of a sensitive phone call between Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and US President George W. Bush, and inaccuracies about what was said, will have ongoing consequences for relationships between the two countries.

Details of the call, a pre-arranged conversation to discuss the global financial crisis, were broken eight days ago on the front page of The Weekend Australian, but have since been denied by White House sources.

After the call, on the evening of Friday, October 10, Mr Rudd reportedly told guests he had insisted to Mr Bush that the G-20 was the appropriate vehicle to co-ordinate a response to the ongoing crisis affecting world markets.

"What's the G-20?'' Mr Bush reportedly replied.

That remark, and the notion Mr Bush had not already been considering the G-20's role have been denied by a US national security official who monitored the 30-minute conversation.

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Senior diplomats at the highest levels of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) have confirmed to The Sunday Telegraph that Mr Rudd's indiscretions have put at risk Australia's alliance with the US.

"Gobsmacked'' was the way one senior diplomat described the reaction of colleagues in Washington to the story in The Weekend Australian.

"Our people in DC spend a lot of time building up confidence levels about the exchange of information which, by its very nature, must be confidential,'' the senior DFAT official told The Sunday Telegraph.

"The view in DC is that as a result of that article, a lot of hard work done over a very long time has now been impacted adversely.

"From the point of view of other countries, the view will now have to be that their leaders will have to be much more guarded in their dealings with Kevin Rudd.''

Two days after the extraordinary report of the conversation, The Washington Post newspaper ran a denial of the story.

"A US official who monitored the call denied that Bush made any such remark,'' Washington Post reporter Dan Eggen wrote.

"In addition, the official said, Bush told Rudd during the phone call that other leaders were also advocating a G-20 summit and that he was considering it.''

A well-placed White House source confirmed to The Sunday Telegraph details of what was said between Mr Rudd and Mr Bush.

The West Wing source said: "In the phone call, Rudd said, `Please consider bringing the G-20 together.'

"The President said, 'Other leaders have suggested it, I am considering it.' Rudd said, `Thanks, please do, glad you are.'''

Last week, Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt reported the White House denial, as did The Australian's foreign-affairs editor, Greg Sheridan.

Also present during the phone call was a prime ministerial staffer who took notes.
Mr Rudd's office has confirmed Mr Bush did not make the comment.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "The president did not make the reported comment you refer to. In fact, he has been deeply engaged with the G-20 and the role the G-20 will play in dealing with the global financial crisis.

"This was the topic of the conversation between Mr Rudd and President Bush, and the actual reason why Mr Rudd made the call to President Bush.''

The Sunday Telegraph has been told Mr Rudd's guests that night included Chris Mitchell, editor-in-chief of The Australian.

Mitchell did not return The Sunday Telegraph's phone call yesterday.