Posted on 06/08/2004 3:51:04 PM PDT by El Conservador
SEA ISLAND, Ga. - President Bush (news - web sites) and other world leaders showcased a new harmony on Iraq (news - web sites) on Tuesday as they gathered for their annual summit, but prickly issues remained over both Iraq and Bush's plan to promote democracy across the wider Middle East.
Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) claimed victory with the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq. Blair called the vote "an important milestone for the new Iraq."
But even with the U.N. victory, Bush lowered expectations of gaining other countries' military support — one of the original hopes behind the resolution.
"I expect nations to contribute as they see fit," Bush said as he met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the start of the Group of Eight summit.
Of the powerful countries attending the summit on this secluded coastal resort island, only the United States, Britain, Italy and Japan have troops in Iraq. Japan's noncombat troops perform humanitarian missions.
Germany, France, Canada and Russia do not have troops in Iraq, and have said they will not send forces.
A social dinner Tuesday evening marked the formal opening of the summit, but Bush first had one-on-one meetings with Koizumi and the leaders of Canada, Germany and Russia.
Throughout the day, heads of state arrived at an Army airfield near Savannah and were taken by helicopter to Sea Island, a five-mile long private resort island that has been virtually sealed off from the mainland by barricades and fences.
Police and journalists far outnumbered protesters, disappointing activists who said heavy security scared away many others. Protest marches in Brunswick, the nearest coastal city, and Savannah, 80 miles to the north, drew around 100 activists each Tuesday.
The Security Council agreement on Iraq, approved by a 15-0 vote Tuesday, was an important victory for Bush at the summit's start, taking the sting out of recent disagreements with Europe. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a leading opponent of the U.S-led military campaign that toppled Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), called it "a good foundation for enhancing stability."
But Bush's proposal to promote democracy across the Muslim world has run into resistance from Arab and European governments that see it as heavy-handed.
Turkey's prime minister told reporters the plan's success depends on first resolving conflicts in Iraq and between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem is an urgent matter above everything else," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara before leaving for the summit.
Anticipating such criticism, American officials said their proposal will include a firm rejection of the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must stall democratic and human-rights reforms.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin voiced support for Bush's initiative and rejected criticism that it was an attempt to deflect attention from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. "Everybody wants to ease the tensions in the Middle East," he said.
Martin said Canada has no plans to commit troops to Iraq, but he said the country was helping in other ways such as providing reconstruction money for Iraq.
At their meeting, Koizumi told Bush that he had detected a slight warming by North Korea (news - web sites) to the idea of giving up its nuclear weapons, according to a senior Bush administration official who briefed several hundred reporters only on condition that his name not be used.
Koizumi recently met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, and publicly he expressed optimism about breaking the impasse, though he cited "hard and difficult conditions."
Koizumi won no concessions from Bush on another sensitive issue involving North Korea. Tokyo wants the United States to give "special consideration," and possibly amnesty, to Charles Robert Jenkins, an alleged U.S. Army deserter who married a Japanese woman in North Korea. His wife was kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1978, but was allowed to return to her homeland two years ago.
While Iraq and the Middle East overshadowed this year's agenda, summit participants on Tuesday announced agreement on fighting famine on the Horn of Africa, eradicating polio, cutting poverty and developing an HIV (news - web sites) vaccine.
And Schroeder said as he arrived in the United States that he expected high oil prices would be another issue at the summit. He did not elaborate on how it would be discussed or if any action could be expected.
Three recent developments on Iraq helped to defuse the controversy among allies: the forming of an interim government, last week's fence-mending trip by Bush to Europe, and the revised U.N. resolution defining the new Iraqi government's power.
"There were some who said we'd never get one," Bush told reporters about the resolution.
He said the resolution was a way of "saying to the world that members of the Security Council are interested in working together to make sure that Iraq is free and peaceful and democratic."
Bush invited a group of Middle Eastern leaders to Wednesday's session — including the new Iraqi president, Ghazi al-Yawer.
In Washington before heading south to the summit, al-Yawer brushed off any suggestion that there might be disagreement between U.S. and Iraqi commanders after the June 30 handover of political power. "We are working together," al-Yawer told reporters. "These people are in our country to help us."
I'm sure almost none of them are from GA. Atlanta and Athens, maybe, but not many from anywhere else.
That is complete BS/ And even if it were it would be people like the TUrks, the pakistanis or the Indians we would want in. Oh, and what about the 3000 the Koreans are sending.
It has been VERY quiet here in Savannah. They say that the police outnumber the protesters where ever they have dared to show.
On the local news in Jax, there was a sound bite from a disappointed anti-capitalist saying that they had expected 20,000 and only sixty people turned up!!! ;D
Crosslinked:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140331/posts
G8 and Its Protesters- Loyal Opposition, or Anarchy?
various FR links | 05-22-04 | The Heavy Equipment Guy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1140331/posts?page=78#78
"Police and journalists far outnumbered protesters, disappointing activists who said heavy security scared away many others."
That's the most uplifting news I've had this week. Heavy security scared them away? Given that security wouldn't do anything to them unless they broke the law or went where they shouldn't, you have to wonder what exactly did they have in mind?
Good point.
Bear in mind I live here, so here's one resident's perspective:
First off, these vermin hate America, capitalism, business, Israel, and a few other things. They are nihilists at heart. Businesses in the area were warned to expect shoplifting, vandalism, theft, and ballons filled with excrement. This is the sort of scum we're talking about.
Surfing their web forums, I was struck by how cheap they are- they really seem to think everything's free ( guess if you steal it, it is! ) and a lot wanted rides from Atlanta, Macon, etc.
They grossly underestimated the heat down here, as well as the vast distances between towns.
They had no idea of the near-impenatrable layout of the barrier islands, or the difficulty in just finding your way around. I grew up giving directions to lost & confused tourists. You really have to live here a while to get used to the weird street changes, names, and so on.
Even if they had mustered their chimeral 10,000, there were 20,000 police and National Guardsmen brought in, and nearly everybody down here is armed. And intolerant of rude, unpatriotic agitators.
The story I heard Friday said lawmen had counted 163 actual protesters.
The chef is preparing to serve Kerry a double thick slice of cooked goose.
Boy, back in my Socialist Workers Party days, that would have given me pause before hitching a ride down there to protest/party.
Well, folks in my neck of the woods are courteous, even courtly- almost to a fault. But we don't suffer fools gladly, either, especially when it comes to destroying property, or interferring with folks getting to work or going about their business.
A side note- during the last jury pool I was in, one of the lawyers got the bright idea to disqualify anyone who owned a gun, so the fool asks
"How many here own a gun?"
...and nearly every hand went up. Shot himself in the foot, metaphorically speaking.
LOL! Must be a transplant from up north. When I finish my doctorate and start looking for a job, the 1st criterion is that the school be in a right-to-carry state.
But we don't suffer fools gladly... especially when it comes to... interferring with folks getting to work or going about their business.
They keep threatening to start a union for grad students here on campus and to go on strike. I want some long haired, maggot infested, dope smoking, fm type to get between me and my j-o-b so I can beat the living hell out of one of 'em (which I probably won't have to do because these people are afraid of their own shadow and too weak from being vegans to actually put up a fight).
I wsas on a jury pool a few years ago for a capital murder trial a few years ago when the defense counsel asked the same question. I was one of the first jurors who was asked about my knowledge of firearms. After I related my experience as Brigade Armorer in high school and how I kinda kept up on military and some sporting arms the counsel did not have too much to say.
Needles to say I was not picked for that jury.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
"Dites-lui que c'est moi, Jacque! ... Allo? ...Allo?"
LOL!
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