Bush to attend D-Day ceremonies in France

Reuters | Friday, March 19, 2004

[JohnHuang2]

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac on Friday that he will attend ceremonies in Normandy on June 6 marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day landings, the latest sign of a gradual thaw in U.S.-French relations.

Bush and Chirac also discussed last week's deadly bombings in Madrid, and the French president "expressed that France shares our commitment to showing strength and resolve in the fight against terrorism," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

U.S.-French relations hit a low last year over Paris's opposition to the U.S.-led Iraq war. Some top U.S. officials asked whether France still considered itself an ally and said it could expect punishment for the way it conducted its anti-war campaign.

Since then France has promised substantial debt relief for Iraq once power has been handed over to a sovereign government and Washington has relented on an initial ban on French firms bidding for major reconstruction contracts there.

During their phone call, "President Bush raised the importance of forgiving the vast majority of Iraq's foreign debt," McClellan said.

McClellan said Bush told Chirac that he "looks forward" to attending the ceremonies in Normandy.

The ceremonies will mark the Allied campaign on June 6, 1944, to storm the Normandy beaches and drive Nazi forces from France, a milestone on the way to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War Two. Thousands on both sides were killed in the invasion led by American, British and Canadian troops.

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, March 19, 2004

Quote of the Day by Smartass

[al baby]

remember the story of the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, don’t you? There’s Clinton walking alone down the Normandy beach as the cameras on the cliffs above grind away. He seems to be lost in thought. He stops when he spies a little cluster of rocks on the beach. He kneels down and arranges those rocks into the shape of a cross.

Cameras grind away, crowd goes wild.

Later some reports filter through that it was all staged. White House aides had reportedly placed those rocks on the beach earlier that morning. "OK, Mr. President. You’ll like be walking down the beach, you know, and you’ll like see this pile of rocks, and you’ll, like, you know, kneel down and like arrange these rocks into a cross, you know. "

What a master of emotional manipulation. He

[glennherman]

Two Words on great Normandy speeches : RONALD REAGAN.

[Rutles4Ever]

Hopefully he's going over with a transport ship so we can get our dead back from that poisoned soil...

[lilylangtree]

Hope the President carries extra soap because the stench from standing anywhere near Chirac will be bad.

[PRND21]