Posted on 10/22/2003 3:26:34 PM PDT by mhking
US President George W Bush had a low-key arrival in Canberra as he touched down in his third country in a day.
Mr Bush and his wife Laura were met by Prime Minister John Howard and his wife Janette, both of whom boarded the President's Air Force One 747 aircraft for a private welcome.
The four then emerged together before meeting government officials at the foot of the stairs.
The Australian visit marks the third country in a day for Mr Bush, who visited Singapore and the Indonesian island of Bali on his way to Australia.
Despite the significance of the visit, his first to Australia, there was no formal welcome or 21-gun salute at Canberra's Fairbairn airport for the arrival.
Mr Bush's 32-car motorcade then passed about 50 protesters who gathered outside the US embassy to voice their opposition to the war on Iraq.
Hundreds of Canberrans who parked along the main roads from the airport to the city were disappointed when the motorcade left through a back entrance of the airport for a secret route to the embassy.
Mr Bush will receive a formal welcome to Australia at Parliament House, where up to 5,000 protesters are expected.
The visit has sparked Australia's biggest security operation for a foreign visitor, with more than 500 extra police on the streets of Canberra for Mr Bush's 21 hours in Australia.
At the same time, armed RAAF F/A-18 Hornets were on constant patrol high over Canberra with permission to shoot down any planes that encroach on secure airspace.
Mr Bush will address a special joint sitting of parliament, where he will thank Australia for helping in the war on terror and the war on Iraq.
He is expected to strongly praise the ANZUS alliance, invoked for the first time by Australia when it offered troops and support for the war in Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Mr Bush and Mr Howard are also set to discuss progress with the proposed free trade agreement between Australia and the US, which both leaders want signed by Christmas.
Mr Bush will also meet Opposition Leader Simon Crean, who was outspoken critic of the war on Iraq and is under pressure from his own party over Labor's support for the Australia-US alliance.
The president will then attend an Aussie barbecue at The Lodge, where Mr Howard will repay the hospitality displayed to him during his visit to Mr Bush's ranch in Texas, where the two enjoyed traditional American hot dogs.
Mr Bush will later visit the Australian War Memorial, where he will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
He will then hold a private meeting with 30 defence personnel who took part in the war on Iraq, including members of the elite SAS Regiment who patrolled behind enemy lines in Iraq.
However, when Mr Bush addresses Parliament, he will be reminded of the two Australians, Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, who remain in a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
Hick's lawyer Stephen Kenny, and Habib's wife Maha Habib and her eight-year-old son Ahmed, will be guests of the Australian Greens in the public galleries for Mr Bush's speech.
Mrs Habib has written a letter to Mr Bush pleading for the president to either charge her husband, or set him free.
She hopes to hand-deliver her letter if she gets the opportunity to meet Mr Bush face to face.
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