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Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, has given birth to baby girl Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager, it was announced on Sunday.

Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager was born in New York City at 8.43 p.m. on Saturday to Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager.

George and Laura Bush are grandparents for the first time. Former President George W. Bush said in a statement: “Laura and I are thrilled to announce the birth of our grandchild. We met our beautiful granddaughter today. Jenna and Mila are healthy. And our family is elated.”

Baby girl Mila was named after her grandmothers, like Jenna herself and her twin sister Barbara.

Jenna Bush Hager has given birth to baby girl Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager in New York on Saturday night

Jenna Bush Hager has given birth to baby girl Margaret Laura “Mila” Hager in New York on Saturday night

The Bush family has frequently named babies after their predecessors. Other examples include George, Prescott, Walker, Ellis, Pierce and Dorothy.

The previous week Today show correspondent Jenna Bush, who announced her pregnancy with husband Henry Hager, 34, in December last year, held a baby shower with her NBC co-workers Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie.

According to People magazine, the gift table was piled with dozens of her co-worker’s favorite childhood books – each inscribed with a piece of parenting advice.

Jenna Bush Hager and her husband, who got married in 2008 on former President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch, will be celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary in June.

Jenna Bush is an editor-at-large for Southern Living magazine as well as a contributing correspondent on the Today show.

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Former US President George W. Bush was given a series of direct warnings throughout 2001 about the possibility of a terrorist attack by Al Qaeda – but failed to take them seriously, it was claimed today.

On the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it has been reported that the White House received multiple briefs between May and August 2001 about an attack with explosives and numerous casualties.

But George W. Bush continually failed to take any significant action and questioned the thoroughness of the briefings – leading to huge frustrations within the CIA.

These repeated warnings came before the famous top secret briefing – which has previously been reported – given to George Bush on August 6 with the heading “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.”.

Just a few weeks later on September 11, terrorists smashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City – killing nearly 3,000 people and horrifying the world.

Details of the other briefings given to George W. Bush and his administration – which have never been made public – have now been revealed by The New York Times.

And they paint a startling picture of negligence at the heart of the U.S. government before 9/11.

The White House was made aware of potential attacks in the spring and, by May 1, was told by the CIA that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist attack, the Times reported.

In another daily brief on June 22, the administration was told that Al Qaeda strikes could be “imminent”.

President George W. Bush was given a series of direct warnings throughout 2001 about the possibility of a terrorist attack by Al Qaeda

President George W. Bush was given a series of direct warnings throughout 2001 about the possibility of a terrorist attack by Al Qaeda

However, the new neoconservative leaders at the Pentagon told the White House that the CIA had been fooled.

They believed that Osama Bin Laden was pretending to plan an attack to distract the U.S. from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Following this, the CIA prepared another daily brief for June 29 in which they listed over a page the evidence which they had built up.

This included an interview with a journalist from the Middle East in which aides of Bin Laden warned of an upcoming attack.

The briefing also included: “The U.S. is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden.”

It also included details from people close to Osama Bin Laden which claimed the expected attacks would have dramatic consequences with many casualties.

Another warning on July 1 said despite the attack being delayed it would soon take place.

But despite these warnings the White House did not appear to take them as seriously as the CIA was demanding.

The Times reports that officials within the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center became increasingly angry and in one meeting an official suggested the staff request a transfer so they could not be blamed when the attack occurred.

The White House was also told that the extremist Ibn Al-Khattab – known for his links to Al Qaeda – told his followers in Chechnya that there would “be big news soon”, the Times reported.

George W. Bush was told on July 24 that the attack was still being prepared but added that it had been postponed by a few months. However, he did not think the briefings were adequate and requested a much more detailed analysis of Al Qaeda.

This was to be the famous briefing of August 6 which was eventually declassified by the White House in April 2004 and made public.

“The administration’s reaction to what Mr. Bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed,” Kurt Eichenwald wrote in the piece for the New York Times.

“In other words, the August 6 document, for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came before it.”

Following the devastating attacks on 9/11, the White House – which was receiving criticism it had ignored CIA warnings – said it had never been told when or where the attacks would take place.

Yet many have claimed that if the government had been on high security alert over that summer they may have found out about the planned attack – and saved the lives of thousands.

Yet George Pataki, New York state governor on 9/11, laid into Eichenwald during a joint appearance on MSNBC for writing the New York Times article about the briefings.

“I just think this is incredibly unfortunate, to be perfectly honest. Because first of all, having been there, on September 11th and for weeks, months thereafter President Bush provided inspired, effective leadership,” George Pataki, a Republican, said.

“On September 11th everything changed and to look 11 years later and say, <<Aha, this was happening before September 11th in the summer>> and go though and selectively say, <<You should’ve done that, you should’ve done that>> I think is incredibly unfair and a disservice to history.

“And by the way if you look back there are those who could have said that President Roosevelt was at fault for Pearl Harbor. But the government didn’t look back and say, <<let’s blame the President>>; we came together to fight an important war.”

  

IGNORED WARNINGS: THE CIA BRIEFS ABOUT AL QAEDA ATTACK

May 1, 2001 CIA told White House that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation “with explosives”

June 22, 2001 CIA brief reported that Al Qaeda attacks could be “imminent”

June 29, 2001 Warning that the government needed to take briefs seriously. Added evidence included Osama Bin Laden aides warning of an attack and operatives claiming it would have “dramatic consequences”

July 1, 2001 Brief said the operation had been delayed but “will occur soon”

July 9, 2001 Extremist in Chechnya linked to Al Qaeda told followers there would soon be big news – and within 48 hours the information was passed to the White House

July 24, 2001 George W. Bush told the attack was still under preparation but that it had been postponed

August 6, 2001 George W. Bush received review of threats posed by Al Qaeda with headline: “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.”

 

 

Former US President George W. Bush showed his compassionate side by spending Fourth of July at an orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia.

George Bush, 66, and his wife Laura visited the Kasisi Children’s Home in Lusaka, one of the largest orphanages in the country.

Pictures released during George Bush’s one-week stay in Africa show him tenderly hugging a young boy and holding a baby while his wife looks on.

George Bush can be seen interacting with the children at the center which is home to 230 orphans – 60 of whom live with HIV.

George Bush during his mission to renovate a women's cancer screening center in Zambia

George Bush during his mission to renovate a women's cancer screening center in Zambia

The former president appeared to be a hit with the children, who lined up to shake his hand and listened intently as he read to them.

His visit was part of a mission to raise awareness of a cervical cancer detection and treatment program he has set up in Zambia, which has the second highest number of cervical cancer cases in the world.

Many Zambian women infected with the disease are also living with HIV and have weakened immune systems, according to the Catholic Online.

“The saddest thing of all is to know a lady’s life has been saved from AIDS but died from cervical cancer,” George W. Bush told the website.

“And so starting in Zambia, the Bush Center, along with our partners, are going to put on a cervical cancer crusade to save lives.”

George Bush described his trip as “a labor of love” which was born out of a commitment to save lives.

Also on Independence Day, the former first family visited University Teaching Hospital where they opened the Center of Excellence for Women’s Cancer Control, which aims to reduce deaths from women’s cancers in the African region by raising the standards of care through education, training and research.

During his remarks at the hospital, George Bush said: “On our country’s birthday, it is important to remember the blessings of freedom and the blessings of being an American and to give back.”

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Republicans are calling for a boycott of HBO’s fantasy series Game of Thrones after the creator’s “despicable” decision to include former US President George W. Bush’s severed head in several scenes.

In the tenth episode of the first season, George Bush’s decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt.

HBO and the show’s creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have apologized for the incident.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who noted the appearance in the series’ DVD commentary, insist it wasn’t a political statement – just a prop they got from a production company.

But the image has provoked outrage from at least one Republican politician and a backlash on Twitter.

In the tenth episode of the first season of Game of Thrones, George Bush's decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt

In the tenth episode of the first season of Game of Thrones, George Bush's decapitated head is seen impaled on a wooden spike, covered in filthy long hair and slathered in dirt

HBO called the scene “unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste”.

“We made this clear to the executive producers of the series who apologized immediately for this inadvertent careless mistake. We are sorry this happened and will have it removed from any future DVD production,” HBO said in a statement.

The creators said the regret pointing out that one of their prosthetic heads looked like the former president. They said the rent prosthetic body parts in bulk and no on even noticed the head looked like George W. Bush’s until after they were done shooting the scene.

The finale of the first season of Game of Thrones, Fire and Blood, one of the series’ beloved characters Ned Stark is beheaded by new King Jeoffrey for treason.

In one brutal scene, King Jeoffrey brings his bride-to-be to gaze upon the severed head of her father.

Sansa Stark refuses at first, but then looks up to see not only her father, but also George W. Bush.

The surprise sighting went largely noticed until a user on Reddit pointed out the presidential prop.

When the show’s creators revisit the scene in the DVD commentary, they make sure viewers notice the former Head of State.

“People may not have noticed this but back up…the last head on the left is George Bush,” one says.

“George Bush’s head appears in a couple of beheading scenes,” the other adds.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss say it was no condemnation of George W. Bush and his policies.

“It’s not a choice. It’s not a political statement,” one says.

“It’s just.. we had to use what heads we had lying around.”

Craig Eaton, chairman of the Brooklyn Republican Party, was disgusted by the former president’s “appearance” on the show.

“I think that it’s despicable. As a country, Democrats, Republicans, we have to have respect for the office and the individuals,” he said.

“Once we lose that respect, the United States looks weak.”

He continued: “Think about what people outside the country think when they see how Americans are disparaging their own former presidents.”

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