Bush BBQ at the center of German lawsuit

By Stephen Lowman

HAMBURG -- A BBQ dinner of wild boar and beer, held for President Bush four years ago, is at the center of a lawsuit to be decided in Germany next week.

In 2006, on his way to the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, Bush toured Germany's Baltic Coast. Later in the evening, he was treated to a feast of wild boar with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the northern town of Trinwillershagen. At the time, the only protests regarding the BBQ came from a few hundred anti-war activists who greeted the president on his arrival.

But when it was reported that the BBQ's bill came to a reported 8.7 million euros, one taxpayer felt he'd been overcharged. Using Germany's freedom of information law, he filed a request to see the exact breakdown of expenditures

His request was originally denied for security reasons. Some 12,000 police officers from several German states were called in for protection at the event.

According to The Local , a court in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania could decide this week whether or not to release the cost breakdown of the BBQ.

When the cost of dinner was later revealed, some in the German press dubbed it "the world's most expensive BBQ."

But how was the wild boar?

The Washington Post reported that Bush was "intrigued" by the boar and that "at his news conference with Merkel, he mentioned it four times. Finally, a German reporter asked, 'Apart from the pig, Mr. President, what sort of insights have you been able to gain as regards East Germany?' Bush deflected the question, turning instead to a Middle East issue."