Europeans wary of Bush's D-Day visit

Europeans wary of Bush's D-Day visit
Many leaders `see him as a disaster'

By Tom Hundley
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published May 24, 2004

snip---------------

In coming weeks, Bush and Blair will try to build international support for the June 30 hand-over, but the prospects of other European governments' helping with costs or sending troops, even under a UN imprimatur, are nil.

"Money and troops won't be forthcoming," said Cox of the London School of Economics. "Certainly no one is going to put their troops in a situation where they are going to be killed in a war not of their own making."

Despite Europe's warnings that the war in Iraq would be a mistake, there has been little gloating about the predicament the U.S. finds itself in. Instead there is a somber assessment that the deteriorating situation in Iraq makes the world more dangerous for everyone.

At the moment, there appears to be little Bush can do to salvage relations with Europe.

"The one thing the world wants him to say--that we got it wrong and it won't be repeated--won't be said," said John Palmer, director of the European Policy Center, a Brussels think tank.

While Iraq has become the lightning rod for widespread European hostility toward the U.S., most European analysts say the antipathy has nothing to do with anti-Americanism and everything to do with the administration of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

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(Mods, I know it's more than 4 paras, but it's a long article and 2 of the paras are one sentence.)

bump

article about a veteran who did the original parachute jump and was in excellent shape for his age (84, I think) was not allowed to do the jump this year.

He was the next to go in the previous jump when the guy ahead of him died due to parachute failure to open.

Now, George H. W. Bush still does the parachute jump on his birthday, much to the consternation of Babs.

So, why not? Could it be that this guy just isn't an ex-president?

This time flying the Stars and Stripes.

Their Helmets even look the same

remember how they ruined the Queens garden (are us taxpayers paying for it's repair or did they just blow it off?)

how they closed the whole town down in that African country he visited and all the businesses lost money and people were asked to stay in their houses.

for a few $5,000 a plate dinners for ex-pats at his stops. I mean, why waste a free trip abroad at taxpayer expense. It's enough of an irritation for shrubbie to have to take time out of his busy fundraising schedule.

...and dishonor them and the rest of the soldiers and civilians who died fighting for freedom from the Nazis....He's a Nazi himself...

I hope that Veterans turn their back on him while he speaks...

nt

at the D-day ceremonies? I sure hope so -- I for one hope that Bush will never, ever be able to go anywhere without people's expressing their repugnance of him and all he stands for.

it's a nice article, really.

because Bush is coming ...

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=515398§ion=news

Terror alert for French D-Day celebration

Fri 21 May, 2004 21:53

PARIS (Reuters) - France says it will raise its terror alert at the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, expected to be attended by the Queen and several world leaders.

France will raise its four-step terror alert known as the Vigipirate plan to the second-highest level, red, in the area of the ceremonies from May 24, the office of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said. The rest of France will be raised to red during the event on June 6.

U.S. President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are expected to attend, along with other world leaders and thousands of veterans and journalists.

France raised its alert level to red in airports and train stations after the Madrid bombings in March, which killed almost 200 people. The alert level for the rest of France is orange.