WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush’s foreign policies may be unpopular in the Middle East, but Arab leaders showered his top diplomat with jewelry worth nearly a third of a million dollars last year.
While Bush himself didn’t fare nearly as well, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raked in at least $316,000 in gem-encrusted baubles from the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia alone, making her one of top recipients among U.S. officials of gifts from foreign heads of state and government and their aides in 2007.
In January, Jordan’s King Abdullah II gave Rice an emerald and diamond necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings estimated to be worth $147,000, according to the State Department’s annual inventory of such items released Monday just in time for Christmas.
Unfortunately for the Bushes, Rice and other recipients, they won’t be able to enjoy the gifts, as they have been turned over to the General Services Administration and government archives in accordance with federal law, which bars officials from accepting personal presents in almost all circumstances.
Jordan’s king and his wife, Queen Rania, also gave Rice a less expensive necklace and earrings along with a jewelry box valued at $4,630.
Not to be outdone, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia presented Rice with a ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings, bracelet and ring worth $165,000 in July. The inventory also includes a $170,000 flower petal motif necklace the Saudi monarch gave to Rice in 2005, which the department says was not previously disclosed.
From the same Arab leaders, Bush received just over $100,000 in gifts in 2007, the list shows.
Other gifts include an $85,000 sapphire and diamond jewelry set and a $10,000 piece of artwork depicting a desert scene of bedouins, camels and a tent made of gold given to first lady Laura Bush by Saudi King Abdullah.
The inventory, prepared by State Department’s Office of Protocol, catalogs all gifts given to top administration officials. The presents range from the modest — a $6 assortment of nuts and dried fruit from the Dalai Lama to Laura Bush — to the extravagant — Rice’s jewelry — and the odd — a $570 Brush Cutter with “comfort grip handles” from the Swedish prime minister to the president, presumably for use at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Bush got a $150 bronze platypus paperweight from an Australian official. The prime minister of Singapore gave Bush $450 worth of fitness equipment, including a “uSurf Wave Action Exerciser” and an “iGallop Core and Abs Exerciser,” according to the documents, which offer a window into the tastes of foreign leaders.
The wife of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be an animal lover, having given Laura Bush two red, white and blue hand-embroidered pillows with American flag designs and the names and images of first dogs Barney and Miss Beazley worth $100 last year.
