Expatica news

Bush chimp photos embarrass Dewael

31 March 2005

BRUSSELS – Belgian interior minister Patrick Dewael has been embarrassed by a Belgian police training manual containing photos comparing US President George W Bush to a chimpanzee, it was reported on Thursday.

Dewael insisted he did not know that the pictures had been included in the manual, which is being used by police officers in Bruges.

“I had not seen these photographs and I find them in in bad taste,” he told Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

The newspaper printed copies of the photos in question.

They showed a series of Bush’s facial expressions next to those of a chimpanzee making similar faces.

The idea behind the pictuires was to make police officers aware of the importance of body language.

The revelation was doubly embarrassing for Dewael as he had signed a letter to Belgian police chiefs urging them to use the manual.

“This collage was not an initiative of the interior ministry,” he said.

Dewael added that he intended to ask Bruges authorities to remove the controversial pages from the manual.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news