Posted on 06/27/2004 12:28:32 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS, Ireland, June 26 — President Bush declared on Saturday that the "bitter differences" between the United States and Europe over the war in the Iraq were over, and that NATO had a responsibility to help Iraqis with their own security.
But as Mr. Bush spoke at an outdoor joint news conference here with Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland and Romano Prodi, the president of the European Union, anti-Iraq war protesters blocked at least one of the main roads leading to Dromoland Castle, a 16th-century fortress turned luxury resort where Mr. Bush is staying. The protesters delayed the start of the news conference by half an hour because three buses holding reporters from the United States and Europe were held up on one of the traffic-clogged roads leading to the castle.
Mr. Bush said he hoped NATO would agree at a summit meeting opening Sunday in Istanbul to help with the training of Iraqi security forces. The training commitment, which is near agreement, represents a greatly lowered expectation on the part of the White House since it became clear in recent weeks that NATO was not willing to commit any troops to Iraq.
"NATO has the capability and I believe the responsibility to help the Iraqi people defeat the terrorist threat that is facing their country," Mr. Bush said, with the Irish and American flags flying from the turrets of the castle behind him. Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq, he noted, had asked NATO for training help and equipment in a recent letter. "I hope NATO responds in a positive way," Mr. Bush said.
[In Brussels on Saturday, the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, confirmed that the alliance had reached a deal to train Iraqi armed forces. "NATO heads of state and government are expected to approve this agreement at their summit meeting in Istanbul on June 28," he said in a statement.]
Mr. Bush also acknowledged that he is not especially well-liked in Europe. When asked by a White House reporter how he could explain his unpopularity in opinion polls here and whether Americans should be concerned about it, Mr. Bush replied that he was most concerned about his re-election campaign in the United States.
"I must confess, the first polls I worry about are those that are going to take place in early November this year," he said. "Listen, I care about the image of our country." He added that "as far as my own personal standing goes, my job is to do my job" and that "I'm going to set a vision, I'm going to lead, and we'll just let the chips fall where they may."
Mr. Bush said that Mr. Ahern had questioned him in a meeting on Saturday morning about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the American treatment of other prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay, as did President Mary McAleese of Ireland in her own meeting with Mr. Bush.
"I told them both I was sick with what happened inside that prison," Mr. Bush said, referring to Abu Ghraib in Baghdad, where Americans abused Iraqi prisoners. "The actions of those troops did not reflect what we think. And it did harm."
Mr. Bush said he told both Mr. Ahern and Ms. McAleese that the United States would deal with the investigations into the prison abuse scandal "in a transparent way."
Mr. Ahern said "these things happen."
"Of course, we wish they didn't, and it's important then on how they're dealt with."
Mr. Bush was in Ireland for an annual European Union-United States summit meeting, and both he and Mr. Ahern emphasized what they called the progress they had made: signing joint agreements on counterterrorism, counterproliferation, H.I.V. and AIDS and an agreement that enables the satellite navigation systems used in the United States and Europe to be used interchangeably by 2008.
By midafternoon in Ireland, it was unclear how many demonstrators had blocked the road leading to Dromoland Castle. They could not be seen from any of the press buses, which ended up taking such a circuitous route to the castle that a trip that normally takes 15 minutes took more than an hour.
Despite large demonstrations across Ireland on Friday night, when the police estimated that 10,000 had marched against Mr. Bush and the Iraq war in Dublin, protesters interviewed outside Dromoland Castle on Saturday said their numbers had been diminished by government attempts to frighten them away through widely stated warnings that violent confrontations were likely.
In the period leading up to the meeting, newspapers published front-page photos of columns of tanks and armored vehicles, and emphasized the fact that 6,000 soldiers and police officers would be patrolling around Dromoland Castle in the largest military operation ever orchestrated in the Irish Republic.
A helicopter hovered above the main protest march near Dromoland, but no other military presence was visible, except for the maze of 10-foot trenches and earth embankments that soldiers constructed across the fields of neighboring farms in order to dissuade anyone from approaching the castle.
"They've made it very difficult to get here," said Rose Finn, a 33-year-old elementary school teacher who drove to County Clare from Dublin with her husband and baby daughter for the demonstration.
But around 2,000 people did walk three miles from the town of Ennis to a small bridge over the Rine River, where 50 police officers stopped them about one mile from Dromoland. The dozens of rainbow-colored flags and the streaming sunshine created a festive atmosphere. People on bicycles, running children and dogs all wove through the crowd as it moved along a deserted and remote country road towards the castle.
Once they reached the barricades, the protest leaders staged several theatrical pageants, including a mock version of Macbeth, and portrayed a makeshift jail cell that held a protester wearing a Bush mask. Ciaran O'Reilly, wearing dreadlocks and face-paint, said he was protesting in sympathy with American soldiers sent to Iraq against their will, then read a list of American war dead, including their ages and rank. Like most demonstrators, he focused on the perceived role the Irish government played by permitting American military planes to land at the airport nearby for repairs and refueling.
About 1,000 protesters were kept outside the gates at Shannon Airport, where Mr. Bush left on Saturday afternoon for Ankara, Turkey, where he was to stay Saturday night and hold meetings Monday morning. He will then leave for Istanbul and the NATO summit meeting.
Brian Lavery contributed reporting for this article.
Bush Looks to Seal NATO Deal on Iraq Aid
U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) waves to the media as he prepares to board his motorcade, upon his arrival at the Esenboga Airport in Ankara, June 26, 2004. Bush is due to have talks with Turkey's president and prime minister on Sunday before joining other world leaders at a NATO (news - web sites) summit in Istanbul. REUTERS/Str
Sounds to me like the protests were pretty pathetic by Irish standards.
"The President: Amid Protests, Bush Sees Thaw in Europe"
GLOBAL WARMING! Bush's fault! ;)
There will be no sustained media coverage of Bush's leadership. They'll focus on the negative in their ongoing mission to depress any success for the war on terror.
You've got that right!
I still don't see why we curry favor from Euro-Weasels. They are corrupt ignorant little sheep, about as "sophisticated" as a French whore.
"I think the bitter differences of the war are over," Bush said at a news conference after a three-hour summit between the United States and the 25-member European Union. "Some people didn't agree with the decision that I made, and others made as well. But we all agree that a democratic Iraq, a peaceful Iraq . . . is in all our benefit."….
They must become involved. Terrorism involves the entire world. It took Bush a long time and he paid a lot of political capital to stand as the leader against worldwide terrorism.
The President of the US is carrying the world on his back powering through to a new era in the Middle East - all the while the world is kicking and screaming.
If the Iraqis can now pick up the ball and run with it, it will be a miracle.
All in the face of a national election.
Historic stuff.
Great post!!
Ditto! I like your imagery.
Ditto! I like your imagery.
They usually only protest at the sectarian marches.
But I didn't see the Irish protest when the IRA were blowing up shopping malls in Manchester either, then again the IRA were another socialist terroist organisation.
Of course the article stops before relating President Bush's comments about the lack of world investigations concerning Saddam's atrocities, several of which he mentioned. The leftist press wouldn't want people remembering the tyranny of Saddam... /sarcasm off.
Not only did the article stop- but the newscast stopped for a few minutes - then went back- hmmmmmmmmm-
Didn't Bush ask a rude Irish questioner at one point if they'd have preferred to leave the Iraqi nation to Saddam's tender mercies and shredders --- and got silence for an answer? What's the matter with these people? Can't they see what's coming down the road in their direction? Useful idiots. Well, we'll be hated for dealing with Iran and Syria and North Korea. They'll even complain when it's done and we've saved their collective asses again, that we didn't do it fast enough.
These puny protests are pathetic compared to the "million man marches" the Euroscum turned out in the 80's to protest President Reagan's efforts to save their skinny butts.
Bush is exactly right to dismiss them without further ado.
Yes. And this July promises to be a momentous, potentially pivotal month in the history of the Middle East.
The world watches, transfixed--Europe quivers in fear and envy--America acts with authority.
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