Laura Bush suggests in her memoir book (Spoken from the Heart will be published next month) that an attempt was made to poison George W. Bush at a G8 summit in Germany. On 7 June 2008, the Bushes enjoyed an official dinner in the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm at the opening of that year’s summit. The next morning, the President, his wife and some staffers all became mysteriously sick.
“Nearly a dozen members of our delegation were stricken, even George, who started to feel sick during an early morning staff briefing. One of our military aides had difficulty walking and a White House staffer lost all hearing in one ear. Exceedingly alarmed, the Secret Service went on full alert, combing the resort for potential poisons.”
“George felt so ill that he met with [Nicolas] Sarkozy and did not even stand up to greet him,” she adds. In fact, the president had already been forced to skip the first meeting of the day, with Sarkozy announcing to the media: “Bush is slightly indisposed this morning and will rejoin the working meeting as soon as he can.”
According to the New York Times, which has a preview copy of the memoir, the former First Lady then refers to several high-profile poisonings, and writes: “We never learned if any other delegations became ill, or if ours, mysteriously, was the only one.”
Writing in the Guardian today, Ed Pilkington observes that: “It is normal for the US secret service as a precaution against poisoning to prepare all meals for presidents travelling abroad, which adds to the mystery surrounding this visit.”
Laura Bush’s memoir is the first time the word “poison” has been used by a credible source in relation to the president’s illness at the G8 summit, and the theory has aroused considerable interest around the world.