DUBYA GUZZLER

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Feb 5, 2006 | by BARRY WIGMORE

PRESIDENT George W. Bush ordered Americans to curb their addiction to oil last week - while guzzling his way through 4,000 gallons of fuel in ONE DAY. That would take 1,500 Mini Coopers from Land's End to John O'Groats and back.

To make his annual State of the Union address, in which he vowed to cut the nation's fuel consumption, he embarked on a 1,400-mile round trip from the White House to Nashville, Tennessee - using two presidential helicopters, his Air Force One jet, a back-up plane, a military transporter, one of his pounds 5million Cadillac limousines and a huge convoy of back-up and security vehicles.

He managed to rack up a fuel bill of pounds 20,750 as he warned: "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world."

Bush started his journey on Wednesday by hopping on to the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take him 10 miles from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base to board Air Force One, his adapted Boeing 747 jetliner.

There are always two helicopters - one carries Bush, the other rides shotgun as a decoy in case of terrorist attack. During their 80-mile round trip, they burn 540 gallons of fuel.

Air Force One - converted to become a flying White House - carries 45,000 gallons of fuel, which is enough to take it halfway round the world. It manages one mile to the gallon. The president usually flies with a back-up plane trailing behind, doubling fuel consumption to 2,300 gallons for the round-trip. And Bush's planes do not fly alone. Half a day ahead is a giant C-17 Globemaster III transport jet, which carries another presidential helicopter and one of two armour-plated Cadillac limos. The C-17 has worse fuel consumption than Air Force One, burning 1,250 gallons. The limo is waiting when Air Force One lands, and it did a round-trip of 40 miles in Nashville - surrounded by a motorcade of around 15 SUVs and an ambulance. That adds another 60 gallons, bringing the day's total to an astonishing 4,150 imperial gallons.

Prime Minister Tony Blair gets around in just one bullet-proof Jaguar with a couple of police escort cars.

And, as fuel concerns grow, experts predict the US will be consuming 26million barrels of oil a day within 20 years. The US National Environmental Trust in Washington warned: "It's time the president set an example."

& THE BIGGEST WASTE OF ALL.. See Page 3 2