Death of a President

international | arts and media | opinion/analysis Tuesday October 10, 2006 11:54 by Eli Eli

A cinematic triumph

On More 4 last night I watched a stupendous masterpiece of filmmaking.
"Death of a President" a faux documentary is about the future assassination of President George W. Bush in Chicago on Oct 18, 2007 and the human and political fall out his shooting.
Told in flash back with archive footage and interviews with a Bush's speechwriter, the dead of the Secret Service Death, the chief FBI investigator into the assassination, a forensic expert, witnesses and many others it has the appearance of a real documentary.

Airforce One land at O'Hare airport, Bush emerges smiling and waving and meeting local dignitaries and politicians before his motorcade takes him into downtown Chicago where there is an atmosphere of "hate."

An enormous protest by anti-war protestors gets out of control as protesters breach the cordons and attempt to surround the limousine before the President is whisked to safety into the undergound carpark of the Sheraton hotel.

Riot police arrive and a full scale battle ensues.

Meanwhile Bush arrives to give his speech to delegates in the Sheraton and gives a rousing speech promising victory In Iraq and decisive action against Iran and North Korea.

Outside one man is arrested briefly because he announces to the crowd details of the Presidents itinerary which are supposed to be known solely to his security detail but is released again after questioning.

Later as darkeness has fallen Bush emerges from the hotel shaking hands and greeting enthusiastic supporters.

As he approaches the open door of his limousine two shots ring out.
Two bullets strike him in the chest and in seconds he his bundled into the car and rushed to hospital.
Pandemonium ensues.

The word spreads that he has been shot and protestors greet the news with joy.

The same man who was arrested earlier is again arrested as he attempts to enter through the revolving door of a nearby building. He has a long object slung over his shoulder while later turns out to be a poster of Bush being shot in the head that he planned to unfurl in full view of the world's media.

Over 300 people are arrested including a black Iraq War veteran now a drug addict who is later released after questioning. The veteran was not a supporter of Bush but had not interest in useless demonstration that Bush could easily ignore.

An Syrian named Jamal Al Sikry arrives home to his wife acting like a hunted man and panicks that his past is catching up to him.

The investigators find a rifle with telescopic sight on the 20th floor of a high ride over looking the plaza in front of the hotel and find latent prints and evidence to help them hunt for the shooter.

Meanwhile Laura Bush arrives at the hospital to be with her husband before he dies of his gunshot wounds.

Bush's is given a typically heroic funeral and President Dick Cheney uses the same eulogy speech he gave at the funeral of Ronald Reagan three years earlier. Bush is considered a slain American hero like Lincoln and Kennedy before him.

Jamal Al Sikry is arrested because he was filmed by security cameras leaving the area just after the shooting. He was in the Syrian Army, had links to Al-Qaeda groups in Chicago and had travelled to Afghanistan in 2001 prior to 9/11 before travelling to the US. The latent finger print at the scene has a 9 point match to one of his fingerprints while gun residue is found on his clothing.
He is prime suspect and convicted months later and sentenced to death.

Relations between American and Syria are now at a war footing as Syrian authorities reject the links to Al-Sikry.

However the Iraq War veteran discovers that his father, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf War, had allegedly come to Chicago to save his drug addicted son from self-destruction but had gone to a rural area and shot himself in the head. His other son had recently died in combat in Iraq.

A note is discovered with a confession of assassinating Bush.
The patriotic father wanted to save his remaining son and save America from Bush's immoral war.
Deeply shocked his son reforms himself and is clean of drugs but he is not taken seriously by the authorities.
The alleged assassins wife, a supporter of Bush and the Iraq war who despises Cindy Sheehan type protestors refuses to believe that her husband could have killed the President.

Jamal Al-Sikry remains on death row for the President's murder.

Cheney brings forward the new Patriot III Act which authorises crackdowns on Islamic terrorists and extremist anti-war demonstrators.

There is a sickening sense of some darker motivations behind Bush's death.